Word: oistrakhs
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...Musicians avoid it so studiously that even major orchestras find it difficult to hire string-section replacements. But Stern and four other greatly gifted players have lifted the solo violin to an eminence any age could envy. Standing with Stern as the world's finest: Zino Francescatti, David Oistrakh, Nathan Milstein, Jascha Heifetz...
...DAVID OISTRAKH, 53, was already a legend before he briefly left Russia to conquer the U.S. in 1955. Son of a poor Jewish bookkeeper in Odessa, he started playing a one-eighth-sized violin when he was five, supported his family as a wandering fiddler after graduation from the Odessa Conservatory. With his 1935 victory in the Leningrad Concours and a 1937 victory in the first Brussels violin concours, he became the leading violinist of Russia. Western audiences were delighted by his warmth and humor: for all his success, noted a Westerner who traveled with him, he still seemed like...
...romantic of the old school, Oistrakh favors far slower tempos than most modern violinists, often imbues the music of Brahms, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky with the sort of kindling warmth that has reminded many a listener of Oistrakh's early idol, Fritz Kreisler. Whatever he plays-classics or occasional moderns-Oistrakh exudes conviction. "When the difficult parts come," says Violinist Francescatti, "he does not try to go around them. In fact, he shows you how difficult they are. He slows down, and this is the honesty of a great artist...
JASCHA HEIFETZ, 60, is considered by many of his associates to be the greatest violinist living. Says Oistrakh: "There are many great violinists, but Heifetz, he is in a class by himself." Ever since Heifetz made his astounding debut in Carnegie Hall when he was 16,* two generations of record listeners have luxuriated in the luscious Heifetz tone, making its creator one of the biggest sellers-1,700,000 albums-in classical-record history. The Heifetz left hand, in its agility and strength, is unsurpassed, and it enables him to play with a fleetness and accuracy that so astounded Arturo...
...Inhibitions. Although Ricci has never quite overtaken the early critical estimate of Prodigy Ricci, his performances have earned him an honored place among the world's best violinists. "After Oistrakh," remarked an astonished Moscow critic last spring, "Ricci was designed by nature to play the violin." Ricci himself gives part credit for his style to his "Latin descent," is embarrassed that his passport still identifies him as Woodrow Wilson Rich, a name he picked up at birth after his onetime-trombonist father had decided to Anglicize the family name. Woodrow Wilson was presented with his first violin when...