Search - Bach Violin Concerto in A minor & Beethoven Violin Sonata No. 5 / David Oistrakh on DVD

75 Minutes is Not Too Short

BLee | HK | 05/27/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"75 minutes is too short?Well, yes and no. Yes, who wouldn't like more? And no, because we are almost given everything we could possibly expect from any DVD.The photography of this DVD is most excellent, even better than the Menuhin issued in the same year. The crews here obviously knew a lot about music: how we play a violin and the piano. It's filmed from an angle that is most natural. The studios in Paris were so homely. In Spring Sonata, the room was well furnished, decorated with one or two portraits of Beethoven, and there was even a vase full of blooming flowers in the background! There are also reasons to believe that this was filmed not only for amusement but also as a teaching aid. Very often , we can see Oistrakh's fingerings, phrasings, vibratos, bowings sometimes at the same time and occasionally from a most illuminating angle! The photographer obviously understood that it's a Sonata for both the violin and piano. There are also close-ups of the pianist ( sometime including and sometimes just his hands and fingers like doing the staccatos, legatos and legatos on repeated notes etc) wherever appropriate. The pianist was Lev Oborin, the first Chopin Competition gold medalist and teacher of Ashkenazy. Both played beautifully and poetically. Every minute is enjoyable, no matter it was the painist or the violinist or both. It's so close to Rachmaninoff/Kreisler, and any difference is really marginal (I mean both parts, and the latter was recorded in 1930's and we only have audio CD.) To those who have been listening to Oistrakh's Beethoven Sonatas for years, it would certainly be a joy to see him playing it. Spring Sonata alone is worth every cent of the money, the rest is gratuitous! Their Schubert is likewise superb. I am enchanted by Busch/Serkin's Schubert and also by Cortot/Thibaud. This one is no less enjoyable, particularly so when we can see exactly how they're playing it. And Oistrakh's Clair de lune and Prokofiev's Melodies are all wonderful stuff: they are each a jem in their own right. The latters were accompanied by Bauer instead where we scarcely have any close-ups of the accompanist: quite right. For his Bach and Brahms Concerto, he was supported by different English Orchestras, under different conductors, the first one under Sir Colin Davis.I don't exactly like his son's playing: the difference is just too obvious even though his son also became a professor in violin in a renowned Russian Conservatory. Fortunately, it's very short, only a few minutes. The rest of the repertiore is very enjoyable too. My real complaint about this DVD being it's sound. It's exactly like Oistrakh's audio (EMI) Beethoven Sonatas: nothing less and nothing more. Why aren't they redigitalised? The result, we hear a voilin sound that is so opulent that almost borders upon the sound of a viola. But look, the balance between the violin and the piano is so perfect, so much so that we wonder if that is, as a whole, part of the later Russian style. It's quite different from Busch, Szeryng, Milstein or Heifetz. But I do remember Heifetz's sound wasn't so lean in the LPs. It was rather different from the CDs."

Good, but not as good as other Oistrakh anthologies

Nabih B. Bulos | Baltimore, MD USA | 06/05/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"One can't help but feel somewhat tricked with this DVD. Why? Simply because there are far more clips of Oistrakh that were worthy of inclusion, including the entire Brahms concerto, Locatelli Labyrinth, Sibelius Concerto, Khachaturian Concerto, numerous Kreisler pieces, etc... Those clips were, to my mind, a good deal more interesting than most of the offerings on this well-photographed, well-restored, and all-round decent DVD. Nonetheless, it is always a pleasure to see Oistrakh, as his artistry is truly wonderful. Not just for die-hard Oistrakh fans, but also not my first choice for videos of him."