The Archive - Isaac Stern

The Archive - Isaac Stern

This episode of ‘The Archive’ pays homage to violinist Isaac Stern. In a 1965 concert for the Jeunesses Musicales de France, the Musical Youth of France, we find him at the height of his powers, accompanied on the piano by Alexander Zakin. Although Isaac Stern was born in the Ukraine, all of his musical training took place in the USA, where his parents had moved when he was barely a year old. This American training, which combined styles from several different European schools of music, endowed Stern with a facility for addressing a wide range of repertories. In the recital we are about to hear, along with Kreisler’s ‘Schön Rosmarin’, Isaac Stern introduces us to a little-known piece by Francesco Geminiani. He also performs the ‘Adagio and Fugue’ from Bach’s first sonata for violin alone. This is an exceptional recording, as Isaac Stern rarely approached these scores, despite their popularity with violinists. Indeed, he never recorded Bach’s complete ‘Sonatas and Partitas’.