Isaac Stern

During the 1950s and ’60s, when violinist Isaac Stern was at the height of his powers, his urgently spontaneous playing style made even the most hackneyed of pieces sound freshly composed. Whether performing mainstream Romantic repertoire with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Eugene Ormandy (the Brahms and Tchaikovsky concertos were particular favourites), or playing chamber music with distinguished colleagues—including pianists Eugene Istomin and Emanuel Ax, and cellists Leonard Rose and Yo-Yo Ma—his charismatic intensity seemed to define the essence of a violin virtuoso. Born in Kremenets, Ukraine, in 1920, Stern and his family moved to San Francisco when he was a year old. Although a late starter, he made up for lost time following a career-making 1943 Carnegie Hall debut, cutting the first of more than 100 albums by 63 composers for CBS Records (later Sony) in 1945. Initially it was Stern’s dazzling technique that caught the public’s attention, but over time he developed a penetrating sound of striking fervency, activated by high-pressure, fast-flowing bow strokes often sustained daringly close to the bridge. A much sought-after mentor and adviser, Stern played a major role in preventing Carnegie Hall from being bulldozed in 1960, and in 1979 made an unprecedented tour of China, captured memorably in the documentary film From Mao to Mozart. One of the most revered violinists of the 20th century, Stern died in 2001 aged 81.