David Oistrakh is internationally recognized as the best Russian violinist of the middle years of the twentieth century with a long list of superlative recordings to prove it. Nikolai Golovanov is barely known outside Russia, but from the '20s through the '50s he was the preeminent conductor in Moscow, serving as music director of the Bolshoi Theater, the Moscow Philharmonic, and the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra. This disc returns to the catalog recordings made near the start of Oistrakh's career and near the end of Golovanov's. From 1951 comes a magical Mozart A major Concerto and from 1949 comes a magisterial Beethoven Triple Concerto with Oistrakh's frequent partners, pianist Lev Oborin and cellist Vladimir Knusevitsky. Oistrakh is at the first peak of his maturity, playing with unbelievable lyricism and incredible virtuosity, and he has matched Golovanov, who brings a lifetime of experience working with soloists at the Bolshoi. Alone together, Oistrakh and Golovanov find all the airy elegance and beguiling grace of Mozart's concerto and, together with Oborin and Knusevitsky, they discover all the affecting warmth and infectious rhythms of Beethoven's concerto. Coupled with Oistrakh's hair-raising 1950 recordings with pianist Vladimir Yampolski of Vitali's Ciacona in G minor and four of Brahms' Hungarian Dances, this disc will be welcomed by anyone who already loves Oistrakh's playing and a wonderful surprise to those who don't already know his playing. Archipel's sound is amazingly good considering where, when, and under what conditions it was recorded.
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