From the archives

Isaac Stern’s playing matches his character as described by his friends and colleagues: warm, generous, engaging, humane and entertaining. He was the violinist who linked Jascha Heifetz’s generation of musicians with the classical superstars() takes us back to the mid-1940s just after the Carnegie Hall recitals that established Stern’s reputation. In the first of the four recordings here of the Tchaikovsky Concerto, made in Philadelphia in 1949, Stern was still in his 20s, but his lyricism and unhurried expressivity that were hallmarks of his playing are already in evidence. A historical curiosity is the first recording of Franz Waxman’s , later revised for Heifetz but originally for the film ; Stern was engaged to record the soundtrack, cheaper than his illustrious peer. On the other hand, Stern’s 1951 recording of the Sibelius Concerto with Beecham and the RPO lacks the searing beauty of Heifetz. Stern’s Baroque concertos are dated, but his Bach and Vivaldi with David Oistrakh still appeal for well-matched generosity of tone.