Search - David Oistrakh: Brahms/Sibelius/Tchaikovsky on DVD

Finally, a DVD transfer of this phenomenal video

Nabih B. Bulos | Baltimore, MD USA | 03/23/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Essentially, this EMI/Classic Archive release of David Oistrakh is a re-mastered, DVD transfer of the 1995 "Archival Treasures" Video of David Oistrakh. Indeed, it contains almost all of the pieces on that fantastic video, the Schubert "Valse Caprice" excepted, for some odd reason. Nonetheless, this is an unbelievably fabulous DVD and an essential learning tool for violinists everywhere. The transfer is impeccable, and having spent many years watching this video on my VCR, it is a joy to behold the remastered images and the improved sound, getting as close as it can be to a live performance of this great violinist (what a joy it must have been to see him live!). The only gripe is that EMI had to tease us with two, somewhat piddling releases of Oistrakh material they got to this one. Hopefully, more of his videos will be transferred, including the Monsaigeneon Documentary "Artist of the people", which has already been converted to DVD in the UK.
A must-have for Oistrakh aficionados and violinists alike. Not an ounce of wasted effort!"

Not for computers

Joseph Hart | Visalia, CA United States | 04/11/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've noticed that reviews that complain about defective DVDs usually get inundated with negative responses. Since nearly every word out of my keyboard gets that, I might as well plunge on. This DVD has something called a DVD-ROM built into it. I didn't try it. It's supposed to allow you to print out a booklet of info presumably about the music and David Oistrakh. However, the DVD itself will not play right on a computer, which is where I usually watch DVDs. When you click on play the whole program, it plays the first piece (numbered the 2nd), then shows the title of the 2nd piece, but plays a snippet of the last piece and then cuts off and goes on to the 3rd piece (the Brahms). I spent years unsuccessfully trying to correct this and gave up. However, each selection has its own title in the "menu," and by clicking on each title individually, you can hear the music okay. It just won't play the whole DVD from beginning to end. I thought the thing was defective but decided not to return it, very inexpensive and I could always adjust, then got an idea, took it home and played it on a regular DVD player and it played perfectly. My friend who is a computer tech explained to me why this happened, but it went over my head. I'll just watch it at home and be content. None of the other reviewers mentioned this, so I thought I would. And yes, the sound was fine, the picture was clear as water, the music was beautiful and Oistrakh was brilliant. His fingers flew over the strings, his slurs were perfect, his bow was straight as an arrow and (in accord with Menuhin's dictum), his thumb was just even with the fingerboard. It was wonderful."

Holy Grail

Scott68 | Columbus, Ohio United States | 08/13/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Oistrakh has always been my favorite violinist, I refer to him as the voice of god because of his musicality, lush tone, expressive vibrato, and the ability to create musical drama. Emotion seems to gush out of his instrument willingly. The playing on these videos aren't always perfectly in tune and not always executed consistently without rubatos (like the chord sequence of the Brahms), but this is still an awesome display of how Mr. Oistrakh made all those gorgeous sounds. For many people like me, this video was unattainable or unknown for a long time so when it was reissued as a DVD it is sort of like finding the holy grail, a wonderful thing. So for me, this one was a must buy.

I can't help but to wonder how much more footage there is out there of Oistrakh that hasn't been released yet. If they keep releasing more footage of oistrakh, I will definitely keep buying them.

I have alot of emi dvds and about half of them don't work anymore not because of anything I did. I was never able to record them in case something happened because there is some kind of anti copy thing on the dvd that wont let you record. Another reason I wanted to record the dvds I buy that have the emi red label on them is because I have to keep hitting the play button at the beginning of every video clip. I don't want to have to do that, I just want to put it in and have it play without having to do anything at all."

The best violin DVD can buy

Bach H. Nguyen | MA | 05/17/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This DVD has 3 famous concertos by Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and Sibelius. Beside, it also has Beethoven's "Kreutzer" sonata (rehearsal), a beautiful capricci of Locatelli, a piece of Lalo, and one of Kreisler. So, what more do you need in one DVD? Compare to many DVDs (and CDs), I believe Oistrakh played 3 concertos above the best. Like Sibelius concerto, this issue much better than Ferras or Vengerov in DVDs, and better than Heifetz or Marcovici in CDs. Moreove, the sound quality is amazing good."