"On stage, Oistrakh produces an impression of a colossus. He firmly stands on the ground, he holds his violin proudly, and he creates music that finds expression in an endless stream of beauty and grace", wrote the great violin player Isaac Stern.
Among the numerous famous performers the 20th century gave to the world, David Oistrakh ranks especially high. "… one of the really great violinists of our time. Oistrakh is great not because he is a virtuoso, but because he is a genuine, inspired musician," wrote the press during his first coming to the United States in 1955. Oistrakh had to play the very first concert of that tour on the same day with performances of Nathan Milstein and Mischa Elman (Joseph Szigeti played on the same day at another venue in New York). Fritz Kreisler who was in the house expressed his admiration for Oistrakh after the concert.
Firma Melodiya presents a set of recordings by the great musician of this country. Oistrakh recorded violin concertos by Bach, Mozart, Viotti, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Dvorak, and Taneyev in the 1950s and 1960s in the prime of his performing career jointly with some of the best conductors of the previous century such as Nikolai Malko, Herbert von Karajan, Alexander Gauk, Kirill Kondrashin and Gennady Rozhdestvensky.
The performances of Brahms's and Franck's sonatas by David Oistrakh and Sviatoslav Richter also featured in this set once was unanimously recognized by domestic and foreign audiences as one of the best achievements of the 20th century in the field of chamber music.
