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Preiser is known overwhelmingly
for its series of vocal reissues but
here we have something different. They’ve
recently issued a series of recordings
that have returned to the catalogues
the Oistrakh Trio discs of the late
1940s. Many of these have not seen the
light of day for a number of years and
even some initiates will be unfamiliar
with this facet of Oistrakh’s career.
The Oistrakh-Knushevitzky-Oborin trio
was rivalled in Russia only by the Kogan-Rostropovich-Gilels
group, one which gained greater currency
in international discographies. Still,
the older trio did do some fine excavation
work, unearthing works by Rimsky Korsakov
and, as here, the Chopin as well as
more standard fare, seeing service in
the West on such labels as Colosseum,
Westminster and Monitor.
None of the discs are
dated here but I suspect they derive
from Moscow sessions made in 1947 or
thereabouts. Nothing much can be done
about the acoustic in D929 – I hope
Preiser will be releasing D898 as well
in its reissue programme – which was
always very boxy and constricted. The
performance is splendidly balanced and
bold with an equal distribution of tenderness
and declamation. Lyric tension is sustained
throughout and Knushevitzky’s solo to
open the slow movement has all the requisite
warmth one could desire. Their Scherzo
is particularly martial and the finale
robust and characterised by homogenous
tonal blend between the two string players.
This is strongly delineated playing,
highly characterful and with no beautifying
tendencies. The Chopin makes, except
for matters of chronology perhaps, something
of a strange disc-mate – but then it
would whatever the repertoire. Maligned
though it may be, this is a convincing
traversal. Oborin proves expert in the
sweetness and alternating angularities
of the first movement and in the elegance
of the rhythmic to-ing and fro-ing in
the Scherzo. Admirers of the string
players can listen to the sensitivity
of their consonant vibrato usage in
the Adagio, where their opening statements
are heavily vibrated before gradual
lightening of finger, wrist and bow
pressure allows even greater colours
to emerge. For an example of the trio’s
approach to rhythm try the finale –
fine accented attacks and corporate
virtuosity. The sound here is also rather
more open than in the Schubert – the
higher frequencies in particular are
more sympathetically caught.
The Schubert is also
on Doremi, where it’s coupled with D898.
Both companies have struggled to open
out the sound in the case of the E flat
major. Nevertheless admirers of Oistrakh,
in particular, and the now undersung
greatness of his chamber colleagues,
will welcome the return of these performances.
Jonathan Woolf
David Oistrakh (violin)