“For many, Oistrakh remains the violinistic ideal,” wrote The Strad magazine in 2019. “His winning combination of tonal sumptuousness, clear interpretative focus, musical humility and effortless technical poise across a broad repertoire remains unmatched to this day. When Oistrakh played, one felt there was nothing coming between the composer and the listener … He combined fingers of steel with a heart of gold.”
The art and achievement of David Oistrakh – who died in 1974, still in his prime as a performer – is richly documented by this 61-disc box: his complete Warner Classics catalogue, remastered in HD from the original sources, is complemented with a wealth of rare audio and video recordings – not least a number of world premiere releases. These treasures have been unearthed by Bruno Monsaingeon, an acknowledged expert on Oistrakh and director of the film documentary David Oistrakh: Artist of the People?, which rounds out this revelatory collection.