Violin Concerto in D major, Op.35 / Violin Concerto in D major, Op.77 (Rec 1960/61)

"David Oistrakh's discography is crammed with memorable recordings of both these works, the Brahms Concerto especially, so any viable newcomers need to be exceptional. This latest arrival is interesting in that the Tchaikovsky chronicles a reading conducted by one of our most underrated musicians of the recent past. Norman Del Mar engages - no, spars - with Oistrakh by stretching the tempo this way or that and indulging in a maximum of expressive licence. It's certainly a dangerous performance, more feisty than a Portuguese live relay from six months later (see December's Replay) where Oistrakh and the conductor Pedro de Freitas Branco offer an equally valid but much straighter account.

Anyone who fancies spot comparisons should try either the first-movement tutti> that leads into cadenza - where Del Mar whips up an accelerating storm and Freitas Branco holds a tight leash - or Oistrakh's cadenza at the start of the finale which has far more swagger under Del Mar. In other respects the interpretative template that Oistrakh had already established by the mid-1930s is still recognisable, the tone still deliciously rounded. Odd minor mishaps soon vanish from memory in the heat of the moment, and although playing so obviously to the gallery will, I suspect, wear thin after a while, it's one hell of a performance.

The Brahms Concerto is again distinguished by notable conducting, this time from Sir Malcolm Sargent, always a superb accompanist and more to my liking than Del Mar's excitable Tchaikovsky. Sargent's urgency (witness his opening tutti) never precludes flexibility and the same might be said for Oistrakh, whose muscle-rippling first entry, where he pulls on the tempo so as to maximise a feeling of power, has colossal impact. Here it's less a case of danger than true empathy. Differences between this and Oistrakh's many other recordings mostly concern the changing complexion of his tone which at this particular period was still exceedingly warm.

In both cases the mono tapes are passable, though the Tchaikovsky is less clear than in the rawer but more closely balanced Portuguese recording on Strauss. Fiddle buffs will need no prompting from me, even those who already have half a wall filled with Oistrakh's recordings (it's easily done). Those for whom even a single cough or sniff is anathema might prefer one of Oistrakh's studio recordings but, obvious though it is to say so, 'live' usually means more impulsive, more real - and that's certainly the case here."
(Gramophone)