Historical Recordings

David Oistrakh Plays Debussy: “The Girl with the Flaxen Hair”

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La fille aux cheveux de lin (“The Girl with the Flaxen Hair”) is the eighth piece in Book I of Claude Debussy’s solo piano Préludes, written around 1910. The title was inspired by an 1852 poem by Leconte de Lisle. We explored this dreamy, ephemeral piece in a previous post. David Oistrakh performed this transcription for violin and piano as an encore during a 1972 performance at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. He is …

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Gluck’s “Melody” from “Orfeo ed Euridice”: Ginette Neveu

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In his book Great Masters of the Violin, musicologist Boris Schwarz remembered the powerful musicianship and magnetic stage presence of French violinist Ginette Neveu (1919-1949): No one who saw or heard her could forget that impression—the serious concentration, the complete immersion in her task, the burning yet controlled intensity. To speak of technique is pointless because it never served for display—it was always subordinate to a musical goal. At the age of 15, …

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“Polichinelle”: A Fritz Kreisler Miniature

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Derived from the Italian “Pulcinella,” Polichinelle is a French puppet character. A staple of French street theater since the late 1500s, he is known to be a vulgar prankster. There is no vulgarity in Fritz Kreisler’s charming miniature for violin and piano, Polichinelle—only an undercurrent of scherzando mischief. Kreisler (1875-1962) wrote the piece, subtitled “Serenade,” in the United States in 1917. It comes two years before the Broadway opening of his operetta, …

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Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” Sonata: Zino Francescatti and Robert Casadesus

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Beethoven composed ten sonatas for violin and piano. The giant of the set, in terms of technical demands and dramatic weight, is Sonata No. 9 in A Major, Op. 47, the “Kreutzer” Sonata. The work was dedicated to the French violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer who called it “outrageously unintelligible” and never performed it. Beethoven and the Afro-European violinist George Bridgetower (1778-1860) premiered this convention-shattering music at Vienna’s Augarten Theatre. Beethoven was so late …

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David Oistrakh in Recital

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Warmth, sincerity, and nobility are words which have been used to describe the artistry of the Soviet Russian violinist, David Oistrakh (1908-1974). My teacher, Oleh Krysa, who was a student of Oistrakh, commented that “In his playing there had never been any pointedness of expression or surgery sentimentalism, there had never been a trace of affectation aimed at winning over the public.” (The Way They Play, Book 14) Instead, Krysa found that …

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Manuel Ponce’s Serenade, “Estrellita”: Heifetz in Mexico

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“When he was on world tour, Jascha Heifetz liked to include music on the program by a composer of the country in which he was performing,” recalled Ayke Agus, a former student of the great violinist. She continued, In 1923 he was in Mexico City and realized he didn’t have any work by a Mexican composer. While in a cafe there, he heard a local musician sing a popular song written by …

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Fauré’s Berceuse, Op. 16: Christian Ferras

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A berceuse is a “cradle song,” set in a gently rocking 6/8 meter. Gabriel Fauré composed the beautiful and fleeting Berceuse, Op. 16 for violin and piano about 1879. This remastered performance by the French violinist Christian Ferras and pianist Ernest Lush was released in 1951. Born in 1933, Christian Ferras was one of the greatest exponents of the elegant, sonically colorful Franco-Belgian school of violin playing. Illness led to his early and tragic death in …

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