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By Olga Fyodorova
It is 1937 in Brussels. They have just announced the results of the Eugene
Izayi first international violin competition and the morning newspapers
rush to make it headline news.
“Sensation! The first prize goes to a 29 year-old violinist
from Soviet Russia! We thought that country was too devastated by revolutions
to think about culture, but this young man has proved us all wrong! David
Oistrakh was by far and without a doubt the best of them all! David Oistrakh!
Remember this name because the whole world will soon be proud to say it!”
David Oistrakh was three years old when his father gave him a toy violin
the boy played imagining he was a street musician – one of the many street-corner
entertainers one could see in the early-century Black Sea port of Odessa
where the would-be virtuoso spent his child years. David immediately
fell in love with the instrument and savored the opportunity of going from
house to house belting out with a medley of popular tunes now joyful, now
melancholic…
Two years later he got his real violin and started learning to play
in earnest and with enviable diligence…
David’s first and main teacher was Pyotr Stolyarsky. An outstanding
pedagogue, he taught him more than technique, he tried to bring up a real
musician long on fantasy, not just flash alone. Apparently realizing that,
the boy was working like crazy and improving all the time…
During his first concert David played Bach, then unaware that the music
by the great German composer would light up all his life and that 25 years
after, he, already a world-famous maestro, would team up on stage with
his son, Igor, playing that very same piece…
David Oistrakh’s first trip abroad came in 1935 when he put up a brilliant
performance during the Wenjawski international competition in Warsaw but
only to get the second prize. His second place surprised many people
who openly questioned the jury’s impartiality. Oistrakh was unperturbed:
“The next time I will play even better and they will have to give me the
first prize anyway,” he parried. Two years later, in Brussels, he
was a hands down winner no one could even come near...
Acting on the strength of those two major wins, David Oistrakh joined
the exclusive circle of the precious few Soviet performers whom Stalin
allowed to go abroad to showcase the Soviet cultural advances…
Oistrakh’s Jewish origin also appealed to the authorities giving
the lie to those who accused them of harassing the Soviet Jewry.
The great musician was thus becoming a toy in the hands of Stalin’s regime...
Did he realize that, did he really understand what was happening?
Of course he did! But he also realized all too well what might happen if
he dared to stick out his neck. That’s why he devoted himself so wholly
to music, which, as we know, is something you either do all the time, or
you are just not happening…
He normally practiced from early morning and then moved on to rehearsing
with the orchestra or a pianist, working with his students at the conservatory
and performing, recording and touring, day after day, year after year…
In the early Forties David Oistrakh was already an established authority
playing major concert venues with the world’s best orchestras and conductors…
The very best composers were now writing expressly with his playing manner
in mind and Sergei Prokofyev entrusting him with the first performance
of his violin sonatas and Aram Khachaturian his excellent violin concerto…
His 40-year teaching stint at the Moscow Conservatory was interlaced with
regular concert tours but each lesson of his gave his students a wealth
of new and crucial information about their future work…
His classes always attracted a student too much because everyone was eager
to learn something from the world-famous maestro. He never tried to play
a big-time guru, was very democratic and easy-going, his workaholic attitude
immediately brushing off on everyone around him. Sometimes, while
explaining something in class, he took up the violin and passionately played
on and on, blissfully oblivious of anything else… Those mini concerts told
his student much more than hours of conventional lecturing.
David Oistrakh never considered teaching as a drag, but, rather, as an
all-important part of his creative endeavor. “I wish you knew how many
useful things I have learned from my students,” the maestro often said.
Conducting was a lifetime dream for Oistrakh who craved the heady sensation
of having the orchestra’s multitimbral richness at his very fingertips.
The virtually endless repertoire was also a major attraction for the maestro
who had played absolutely everything that had ever been written for the
violin and was now out to expand his professional horizon.
David Oistrakh never received any formal schooling as a conductor. He simply
watched the big time masters who kept coming his way and one day he ventured
to take up the baton. The moment he did it, however, his arms went limp
and his heart pounded like hell. A seasoned musician, he quickly
collected himself, and, before very long, he felt that heady sensation
of doing something he had never tried before…
From 1962 on Oistrakh started conducting on a permanent basis and even
though he did not have an orchestra, he was regularly invited to conduct
both in and out of this country. He proved an excellent accompanying
conductor lead players, especially violinists really loved to perform with.
He never missed a chance to take time out to play chess, though, his phenomenal
memory and open mind bringing him almost up to par with the best players
around. Sergei Prokofyev was the only fellow musician who equaled
Oistrakh’s amazing talent for the game, their historical face-offs immediately
sending the Moscow beau monde abuzz…
His other non-musical flame was, of all things, cookie making! Which does
not mean he was a chef, of course, just a gourmet, that all…
Before long, however, his culinary affliction started telling on his waste
line…
And then his health too, causing all kinds of heart problems… Hard everyday
work was not making things any easier because serious musicians work like
slaves, without weekends and holidays…
During the Seventies David Oistrakh increasingly felt the pinch of his
failing heart which eventually killed him on October 24, 1974 in Amsterdam.
The great maestro was only 66…
Decades on, we have yet to see any one to come along to match David Oistrakh’s
larger than life caliber. Some have flash, some have expression, but Oistrakh’s
unique combination of phenomenal virtuosity, sharp mind and big heart was
absolutely astounding!
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