Composers

• Elgar, Edward William (1857–1934)
• Haydn, Franz Joseph (1732–1809)

Works

• Elgar: Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61
• Haydn: Keyboard Concerto No. 6 in F major with violin and strings, Hob. XVIII:6 'Double'

Groups & Artists

• Oistrakh, Igor

Firma Melodiya presents recordings of Joseph Haydn’s and Edward Elgar’s violin concertos performed by Igor Oistrakh.

Igor Oistrakh is the son of David Oistrakh, one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century. He studied violin under famous teacher Pyotr Stoliarsky, graduated from the conservatory and finished his

post-graduate course under his father. Since he was young his play was distinguished with high technical mastery and bright individuality without copying his father’s style. Suffice it to mention his triumphs at the international competitions in Budapest in 1949 and Poznan in 1952, his appearances with some of the best musicians of the century such as Pablo Casals, Yehudi Menuhin, Leonid Kogan and Vladimir Spivakov, and his work with the leading conductors such as Herbert von Karajan, Otto Klemperer, Eugene Ormandy, Carlo Maria Giulini, Georg Solti, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Evgeny Svetlanov and Gennady Rozhdestvensky.

Igor Oistrakh was the first Soviet violinist to play the Violin Concerto by Edward Elgar, a prominent English composer who raised national music to the global level for the first time in two hundred years. Dedicated to violinist Fritz Kreisler, the concerto unveils the violin’s rich virtuosic, timbre and emotional potential and is a fertile ground for a true master of violin performing art. Igor Oistrakh is accompanied by the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra led by talented violinist and conductor Valentin Zhuk.

The album also features Joseph Haydn’s Double Concerto for violin and piano. Igor Oistrakh performs it together with Natalia Zertsalova, his long-standing ensemble partner and a pupil of Yakov Flier.