Word: oistrakhs
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...dearest friends," as he told one interviewer. The great cellist laid flowers on the grave of Dmitri Shostakovich, who once taught him composition (Rostropovich quit the Moscow Conservatory when Shostakovich was dismissed for having offended Stalin's sensibilities). He laid more at the graves of Sergei Prokofiev, David Oistrakh and Emil Gilels. The next day, at another cemetery, he paid his respects to his mother Sofia and to Andrei Sakharov, whom he called "the greatest man of the 20th century...
Bach: Six Sonatas for Clavier and Violin (Violinist Henryk Szeryng, Harpsichordist Helmut Walcha, Philips; 2 LPs). Several virtuosos have recorded these crystallizations of the baroque sonata style (Oistrakh, Menuhin, Laredo), but none can beat the suave brilliance of this set. Szeryng plays with an impassioned aristocrat's clarity, grace and brio. Walcha, a virtuoso in his own right, is appropriately brought to the fore by Philips' bright tonal presence...
Tongue-in-cheek, Menuhin describes the typical violinist as "more sensual than intellectual, somewhat narrow in outlook, and probably vain." But for those who might in actuality be considered his rivals he has nothing but praise, defending Jascha Heifetz against charges of coldness and mourning the late David Oistrakh as "a friend beyond price...
...mother and father were both professional violinists. Gidon's maternal grandfather handed down his fiddle when the boy was still in his teens; it just happened to be an 18th century Guadagnini. At the Moscow State Conservatory, Kremer caught the eye and ear of the late David Oistrakh and worked with him for eight years. In 1970 at the age of 23, Kremer won Moscow's esteemed Tchaikovsky Competition. Last week he arrived in the U.S. for the first time, and once again he was a winner. The occasion: a brilliant New York debut at Lincoln Center...
...enthusiastic audience, which included a large proportion of emigre Russians, students and critics, fastened on Kremer's gaunt, almost spectral appearance as well as his spellbinding playing. Whatever a Soviet fiddler should look like (Oistrakh was round and beefy, his rival Leonid Kogan short and slender), Kremer does not fit the image. His is more that of an intellectual rock-'n'-roll star badly in need of a square meal. He weighs but 125 lbs. and consequently looks a foot taller than his 5 ft. 9 in. He wears his brown hair long and his sideburns...