David Oistrakh: The Complete EMI Recordings [Box set]

Ludwig van Beethoven (Composer), Johannes Brahms (Composer), Jean Sibelius (Composer), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer), Sergey Prokofiev (Composer), Edouard Lalo (Composer), Max Bruch (Composer), Dmitry Shostakovich (Composer), Aram Khachaturian (Composer), Sergey Taneyev (Composer), Cesar Franck (Composer), Karol Szymanowski (Composer), Josef [Composer] Suk (Composer), Zoltan Kodaly (Composer), Henryk Wieniawski (Composer), Aleksander Zarzycki (Composer), Claude Debussy (Composer), Manuel de Falla (Composer), Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (Composer), Eugene Ysaye (Composer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Jean Sibelius, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sergey Prokofiev, et al.
• Audio CD (September 16, 2008)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 17
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B001ASVXSE
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,710 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #3 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Symphonies > Sinfonia Concertante
  • #6 in Music > Classical > Chamber Music > Trios
  • #10 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Concertos > Concertinos

Track Listings

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

112 of 117 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oistrakh Jubilee, October 4, 2008

By 

Violin MD "music fan" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: David Oistrakh: The Complete EMI Recordings (Audio CD)

A violinist's violinist who was simultaneously adored by the general public. EMI presents in one compilation the entire recorded legacy of David Oistrakh. I simply wanted to list the works and co-performers in this collection. The recordings really do not need any cerebral reviews as they are undeniably wonderful. Enjoy!

DAVID OISTRAKH with:

Lev Oborin / Sviatsolav Knushevitzky -
Philharmonia Orchestra / Malcolm Sargent - Concerto for Violin Cello Piano and Orchestra in C op.56 'Triple Concerto' (Beethoven)
Piano Trio No.7 in B flat op.97 'Archduke' (Beethoven)
Piano Trio No.1 in B flat D898 (Schubert)

Lev Oborin - Violin Sonata No.9 in A op.47 'Kreutzer' (Beethoven)

Sviatoslav Richter / Mstislav Rostropovich / Berliner Philharmoniker / Herbert von Karajan - Concerto for Violin Cello Piano and Orchestra in C op.56 'Triple Concerto' (Beethoven)

Cleveland Orchestra / George Szell -
Mstislav Rostropovich - Concerto for Violin Cello and Orchestra in A minor op.102 'Double Concerto' (Brahms)
Violin Concerto in D op.77 (Brahms)

Stockholm Festival Orchestra / Sixten Ehrling -
Violin Concerto in D op.61 (Beethoven)
Violin Concerto in D minor op.47 (Sibelius)

Orchestre National de la Radioffusion Francaise -
Andre Cluytens - Violin Concerto in D op.61 (Beethoven)
Otto Klemperer - Violin Concerto in D op.77 (Brahms)

London Symphony Orchestra / Lovro von Matacic -
Violin Concerto No.1 in D op.19 (Prokofiev)
Violin Concerto No.1 in G minor op.26 (Bruch)

Berliner Philharmoniker
Violin Concerto No.1 in B flat K207 (Mozart)
Violin Concerto No.2 in D K211 (Mozart)
Violin Concerto No.3 in G K216 (Mozart)
Sinfonia Concertante in E flat K364 (Mozart)
Violin Concerto No.4 in D K218 (Mozart)
Violin Concerto No.5 in A K219 'Turkish' (Mozart)
Adagio in E K261 (Mozart)
Rondo Concertante in B flat K269 (Mozart)
Rondo in C K373 (Mozart)
Igor Oistrakh / Concertone in C K190 (Mozart)

Philharmonia Orchestra -
Maxim Shostakovich - Violin Concerto No.1 in A minor op.99 (Shostakovich)
Aram Khachaturian - Violin Concerto in D minor (Khachaturian)
Nicolai Malko - Suite de Concert op.28 (Taneyev)
Jean Martinon - Symphonie espagnole op.21 (Lalo)
Violin Concerto No.3 in G K216 (Mozart)
Alceo Galliera - Violin Concerto No.2 in G minor op.63 (Prokofiev)
Pierre Fournier / Alceo Galliera - Concerto for Violin Cello and Orchestra in A minor op.102 'Double Concerto' (Brahms)

Vladimir Yampolsky -
Six Pieces op.7 : No.1 Love Song (Suk)
Three Hungarian Folksongs (Kodaly)
Legende op.17 (Wieniawski)
Mazurka in G op.26 (Zarzycki)
Suite bergamasque : Clair de lune (Debussy arr Poulenc)
Suite populaire espanola : Jota (Falla)
Scherzo-valse op.34 (Tchaikovsky)
Extase op.21 (Ysaye)
Violin Sonata No.32 in B flat K454 (Mozart)
Violin Sonata No.3 in E flat op.12/3 (Beethoven)
Violin Sonata No.3 in D minor op.108 (Brahms)
Violin Sonata No.2 in D op.94 (Prokofiev)
Violin Sonata in A (Franck)
Violin Sonata in D minor op.9 (Szymanowski)
Violin Sonata op.1 (Karen Khachaturian)
Violin Sonata in G minor 'The Devil's Trill' (Tartini arr. Kreisler)

Peter Bondarenko / Mikhail Terian / Sviatoslav Knushevitzky / Vladimir Sorokin / Joseph Gertovich / Joseph Stidel / Jacov Shapiro - Octet in F D803 (Schubert)

Clam-shell box packaging - recorded 1953-1972

125 of 139 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Nice Part of His Legacy, But..., October 29, 2008

By 

Anton Alterman (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: David Oistrakh: The Complete EMI Recordings (Audio CD)

As a violinist who has occasionally been known to utter things like "Oistrakh is God!" I am very happy to see this collection come out and I may well pick it up, even though I have almost all the recordings on vinyl. But a few words of caution might be in order, given what I can glean from the track listings and the review that lists the performers and tracks more thoroughly.

First I should say that there are many great recordings here. The Cluytens/Beethoven Concerto is certainly up there with the greatest recordings of this piece, as is the Brahms Double with Szell and Rostropovich. And no one plays Mozart better than Oistrakh; the set is surely worth owning for the Mozart concerti alone. His EMI recordings of the Khatchaturian and Shostakovish #1 concerti are the definitive versions of those works (with one caveat: he does not play Khatchaturian's original cadenza, which is fine with some people, but I personally wish he had.) The recordings of both Prokofiev concerti and the Violin Sonatas are also all but definitive; I know of none better, though occasionally someone comes close. Of great interest to me is the recording of the Lalo Symphonie Espagnole with Jean Martinon; my collection of more than 40 Oistrakh disks includes a great performance of this piece with Kondrashin, but I have never heard the one in this set.

That said, I have several reservations about this edition. First, I am of the remastering school. I have hardly ever heard a CD transfer, classical or otherwise, that was not improved by a careful remastering job (though a lousy job can surely destroy a recording too). I do not see any reference to remastering in the listing, so I assume it is a straight transfer. Which would be too bad, because no recorded legacy is more worthy of careful remastering than that of David Oistrakh. On the other hand, the set would surely have doubled in price, so I suppose there is something to be said for mass availability.

Second, I'm afraid this does not look to me like the complete EMI collection. Some of the things I noticed missing are the second Shostakovish violin concerto (not equal to the first, but necessary for completeness), and the recordings made with Frida Bauer: Didone Abandonata and Devil's Trill sonata of Tartini, and Brahms Sonata #1. These gaps are based on a quick perusal of my recordings; it would surprise me if they were the only ones. Incidentally, the track listing (in both the Amazon track list and the user review) includes a Mozart violin sonata "#32 in B-flat, K.454". There is no such work. The work is probably the Mozart violin and piano sonata #15, K.454, and it is in E-flat.

Third, while this should not discourage anyone from acquiring this rich collection of recordings, I cannot help but be reminded how many of Oistrakh's most important recordings were not on EMI. His mesmerizing recordings of the Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Glazunov and Dvorak concerti are nowhere to be found here. Neither is his greatest recording of the Sibelius concerto, with Ormandy. His recording of the Bach sonatas for violin and harpsichord, released on DG, are surely among my desert island disks. There is no recording here of the Chausson Poeme, at which he is one of the great masters. Ditto the Ysaye Ballade and the Debussy Sonata, both released on a Phillips collection. The first Schubert Piano Trio is there, but the David Oistrakh Trio also recorded the second one for Melodya, which jointly released it with a German label. And there is not a single example of his joint recordings with Igor, who was, by some bizzare miracle of nature, almost as great a fiddler as his father.

So all in all, my advice is: enjoy this collection, but don't forget it just scratches the surface of the work of this musical genius.

75 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Flawless sound quality, December 27, 2008

By 

Kevin M reviewer (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: David Oistrakh: The Complete EMI Recordings (Audio CD)

My only hesitation in ordering this CD set was questioning the quality of the sound. I have numerus other recordings on CD of Oistrakh and most sound like bad vinyl records. This set is flawless. Not a single hiss, pop, or cough. Every note is as clear as if the violinis was playing live in the same room. The other reviews speak adequately to the artist and the works in the set.