ISAAC STERN: THE GREAT VIOLIN CONCERTOS (10 CDS) DOCUMENT

For a soloist of classical repertoire, Isaac Stern (1920 – 2001) attained an unusually high profile and, above all, popularity in the United States of America. Important composers of the 20th century composed and devoted important works to him: Penderecki, Peter Maxwell Davies and Dutilleux dedicated their violin concertos to him, Leonard Bernstein his “Serenade”. Stern was only a year old when his parents emigrated from Ukraine to the United States. He took piano lessons as a child, later switching to the violin and, after early studies with the great Louis Persinger, gaining a place in the San Francisco conservatory of Music where he gave his first concert as an eleven-year-old with the local symphony orchestra under Pierre Monteux. After debuting in New York in 1937, he returned to study with Naoum Blinder at the SFCM for another two years. He subsequently felt prepared for a career as a soloist, which he began with a terrific concert success New York in 1939. He demonstrated his quality as a chamber musician when he attended Pablo Casals festivals in the south of France at the cellists invitation at the beginning of the 1950s. This 10-CD set presents impressive examples of these appearances as well.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35

I. Allegro moderato – Moderato assai
II. Canzonetta: Andante – attacca subito
III. Finale: Allegro vivacissimo

Sergei Prokofiev – Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 19

I. Andantino
II. Scherzo: Vivacissimo
III. Moderato

Béla Bartók – Violin Concerto No. 2, Sz. 112

I. Allegro non troppo
II. Andante tranquillo
III. Allegro molto

Béla Bartók – Rhapsody No. 2 For Violin and Orchestra, Sz. 80

I. Lassù: Moderato
II. Allegro moderato

Max Bruch – Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 26

I. Allegro moderato
II. Adagio
III. Finale: Allegro energico

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy – Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64

I. Allegro molto appassionato
II. Andante
III. Allegretto non troppo

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Violin Concertro No. 1 in B Flat Major, K. 207

I. Allegro moderato
II. Adagio
III. Presto

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Violin Concerto No. 2 in D Major, K 211

I. Allegro moderato (Cadenza: F. Küchler)
II. Andante
III. Rondeau: Allegro (Cadenza: F.Küchler)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Sinfonia Concertante in E Flat Major, K. 364

I. Allegro maestoso
II. Andante
III. Presto

Ludwig van Beethoven – Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61

I. Allegro ma non troppo
II. Larghetto
III. Rondo: Allegro

Johannes Brahms – Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77

I. Allegro non troppo
II. Adagio
III. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace

Antonín Dvorák – Violin Concerto in A Minor, Op. 53

I. Allegro ma non troppo
II. Adagio ma non troppo
III. Finale: Allegro giocoso ma non troppo

Edouard Lalo – Symphonie Espagnole For Violin and Orchestra, Op. 21

I. Allegro non troppo
II. Scherzando: Allegro molto
III. Intermezzo: Allegro non troppo
IV. Andante
V. Rondo: Allegro

Alban Berg – Violin Concerto – In The Memory Of An Angel

I. Andante – Allegretto
II. Allegro (ma sempre rubato) – Adagio

Jean Sibelius – Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 47

I. Allegro moderato
II. Adagio di molto
III. Allegro ma non tanto

Franz Schubert – String Quintet in C Major, Op. 163
II. Adagio
III. Scherzo: Presto
IV. Allegretto

Ludwig van Beethoven – Violin Concerto in D Major, Op.61

I. Allegro ma non troppo
II. Larghetto
III. Rondo: Allegro

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35

I. Allegro moderato
II. Canzonetta: Andante
III. Finale: Allegro vivacissimo