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How do you arrive at a list of the greatest violinists of all time? It\u2019s the instrument that inspired solo masterpieces from Bach to Bart\u00f3k, that leads the way in chamber groups and symphony orchestras, that is equally at home in gypsy, klezmer and jazz groups<\/a> alike. Just where would music be without the wonderful violin<\/a>?<\/strong><\/p> And in the right hands, few instruments can match the violin for displays of thrilling virtuosity, for expressing the full gamut of human emotions and for sheer beauty of sound. As a result, few instrumentalists have had quite the same legendary status as enjoyed by the greatest violinists. <\/p> In fact, stories concerning the violin and those who play it have sometimes gone beyond the realms of reality \u2013 for instance, at his prime in the 1820s, Niccol\u00f2 Paganini was believed by some to made a pact with the devil himself.<\/p> We asked 100 of today\u2019s best players to tell us the violinists who have inspired them most. Each had three choices, with the stipulation that they must have heard them either on disc or live (scroll down the bottom of the page to see how they voted). We then totted up the results to produce the following Top 20 of the greatest violinists of the recorded era\u2026<\/p> You may also enjoy our list of the greatest violin concertos<\/a><\/strong> of all time.<\/p> (1908-74) Ukrainian<\/strong><\/em><\/p> Oistrakh used to recall that his dream of becoming a violinist started when, aged three-and-a-half, he was given a toy violin. His father, himself a keen amateur violinist, also introduced him to klezmer tunes, their expressive style and virtuosity becoming an essential part of the budding young violinist\u2019s musical make up which he eventually passed to his students.<\/p> Oistrakh was five when he began lessons with his only official teacher, Pyotr Stolyarsky. A pit musician from the Odessa Opera, Stolyarsky was a mediocre player, barely able to play simpler studies by Kreutzer and Mazas. Yet he was a remarkable pedagogue, also teaching such luminaries as Nathan Milstein and Elizaveta Gilels. <\/p> Stolyarsky instilled in his pupils the habit of picking up their violin and warming up first thing before breakfast and last thing before going to bed. Oistrakh maintained this habit for the rest of his life. Stolyarsky also nurtured the long legato bow of which Oistrakh became master, telling his pupils: \u2018Imagine your bow is your salary. You need to spend it all, but over a single long period.\u2019<\/p> Continuing his studies with Stolyarsky at the Odessa Conservatory, Oistrakh graduated aged 18 in 1926, performing Prokofiev<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s First Violin Concerto just three years after its Parisian premiere. Still a local celebrity, he was spotted two years later by the great conductor Nikolai Malko, who invited Oistrakh to make his Leningrad debut with the already celebrated Philharmonic Orchestra. <\/p> Shortly afterwards, Oistrakh settled in Moscow where he married and had a son, Igor (eventually almost as celebrated a violinist as his father). Oistrakh\u2019s modest and collegial personality, contrary to the bitter, ulcer-inducing rivalry of so many Soviet musicians, readily won him friends among fellow musicians, and his appointment on the staff of the Moscow Conservatoire in 1934 reinforced his association with such violinists as Abram Yampolsky and Lev Tseitlin, and the pianists Heinrich Neuhaus and Vladimir Sofronitsky, all of whom deepened Oistrakh\u2019s musical perception and intelligence. <\/p> Following his success in several competitions, including winning second prize at the 1935 Wieniawski Contest in Poland (Ginette Neveu winning first prize), Oistrakh triumphed in the 1937 Ysa\u00ffe Concours in Brussels, so establishing himself as the Soviet Union\u2019s leading violinist. He worked with all the leading Soviet composers, inspiring and closely collaborating on the creation of several major works including violin concertos by Shostakovich<\/a><\/strong>, Myaskovsky<\/a><\/strong> and Khachaturian<\/a><\/strong>, and violin sonatas by Prokofiev and Shostakovich.<\/p> His technique \u2013 note-sure and cleanly articulated even in the most virtuosic passagework \u2013 was crowned by a seamless, singing legato, apparently unbroken by any change in bow direction. Yet Oistrakh\u2019s playing is recognisable not because he coasted, as have so many celebrated violinists, on a generic \u2018sound\u2019. <\/p> Oistrakh was incisive when appropriate \u2013 for instance, when playing Bart\u00f3k<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s First Violin Sonata or Shostakovich\u2019s Violin Concertos. He also had a remarkable ear and feel for sonority, finding an ideal colour for whatever he was playing. Witness the veiled tone quality with which he plays the furtive opening of Debussy<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Sonata, creating a shadowy yet still expressive tone by bowing over the fingerboard (sul tasto<\/i>), only blossoming into a full-throated sound when the music finally becomes impassioned at the movement\u2019s end. <\/p> Yet he never indulged in histrionics: as his great admirer and friend Yehudi Menuhin said, Oistrakh would \u2018dramatise with discretion\u2019, having considered every note and every phrase of the works he performed. Oistrakh so closely identified with whatever repertoire he played \u2013 whether Bach<\/a><\/strong>, Brahms<\/a><\/strong> or Shostakovich \u2013 that his listeners became no longer aware of his instrument and the technique with which he played it, but rather heard, as if unmediated, his \u2018voice\u2019 and its expression.<\/p> ESSENTIAL RECORDING:<\/strong> Brahms: Violin Sonata, Op. 100; Prokofiev: Violin Sonata No. 1 With Sviatoslav Richter (piano) Orfeo C 489 981 B<\/em><\/p>Greatest violinists ever<\/h2>
The greatest violinist of all time<\/h2>
01 David Oistrakh<\/h3>