David Oistrakh - Prokofiev & Shostakovich: Violin Concertos

David Oistrakh — Prokofiev & Shostakovich: Violin Concertos

200-gram numbered 2LP Sapphire Edition clear vinyl limited to 500 numbered copies!

Meticulously restored from original analog tapes

Lacquers cut by Marie Pieprzownik

Pressed at Phoenix Pressings in West Yorkshire, U.K.

Box and tip-on gatefold jacket printed in Italy

It's impossible to talk about the violin without thinking of David Oistrakh, just as it's impossible to mention the great concertos written for this instrument without citing those of Prokofiev and Shostakovich. Let's imagine that these three geniuses shared the same era, the same language, the same passions, and such close ties that they mutually inspired one other. Improbable, yet...

These recordings discovered from the former East Germany Archives, are true pieces of music history. Exceptional is the only word for it: two legendary conductors and two legendary orchestras — Kurt Sanderling with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and Evgeny Mravinsky conducting the Leningrad Philharmonic — recorded by the best engineers of their time.

Released from perfectly preserved original analog tapes, these recordings are nothing short of a miracle.

His playing, both powerful and deeply human, carries a rare intensity — "a sound that seems to come from the Earth itself," as described by Sviatoslav Richter.

"For decades, German radio stations refused to play vinyl records directly on air: they would first make a tape copy to avoid any risks during broadcasting. Seventy years later, they often cannot distinguish between invaluable recordings they themselves produced from copies of vinyl records intended for promotion on their airwaves.

It was in January 2026 — thanks to the tenacity of Michel Navarra and Ulf Drechsel — that after more than two years of effort, we finally listened to the first original tapes from the archives of former East Germany, not far from Berlin.

For anyone listening to these rare gems, recorded as they were, live, at the concert, it is akin to contemplating the universe: it is hard not to perceive in them something divine.

33 1/3 RPM lacquer cut — Marie Pieprzownik

Pressed at Phoenix Pressings

Musicians:
David Oistrakh, violin
Kurt Sanderling, conductor
Evgeny Mravinsky, conductor

LP 1

Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 19

1. I. Andantino

2. II. Scherzo: Vivacissimo

3. III. Moderato: Allegro moderato

Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 63

4. I. Allegro moderato

5. II. Andante assai

6. III. Allegro, ben marcato

LP 2

Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 77

1. I. Nocturne: Moderato

2. II. Scherzo: Allegro

3. III. Passacaglia: Andante-Cadenza

4. IV. Burlesque: Allegro con brio-Presto

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