David Oistrakh was a giant among 20th-century musicians, a violinist whose outward calm still showed us his genius as a performer and the circumstances of his life and career as an artist.
With the warm, powerful tone that he obtained from the instrument, and the amazing virtuosity of his playing he represented a peak of the Russian violin school.
At his New York début in 1951 he gave the first US performance of Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto, and he played two movements from Prokofiev’s Second Violin Sonata at the composer’s funeral in 1953.
Here is Mr. Oistrakh performing Mozart’s sonata KV 481:
