Violinist David Oistrakh Died On This Day in 1974

He was a former prize winner at the Wieniawski and Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competitions, and premiered a number of important new cornerstone works including Khachaturian and both Shostakovich Violin Concerti

Legendary Soviet violin virtuoso David Oistrakh died on this day in 1974 – aged 66.

He is widely celebrated as one of the preeminent violinists of all time.

He was a former prize winner at the Wieniawski and Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competitions – and premiered a number of important new cornerstone works including Khachaturian and both Shostakovich Violin Concerti. His only teacher was Pyotr Stolyarsky, with whom he studied under for thirteen years.

From 1934 he taught violin at the Moscow Conservatory.

In 1951 he gave his New York debut, where he presented the first U.S. performance of Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto.

In 1953 he performed two movements from Prokofiev’s Second Violin Sonata at the composer’s funeral.

Oistrakh is known to have performed on at least seven Stradivarius violins that belonged to the Soviet Union.

Throughout his illustrious career, he received numerous prestigious awards, including the title of People's Artist of the USSR in 1953, the first-class Stalin Prize in 1943 and the Lenin Prize in 1960.

He was honored by winning the Grammy Awards for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance at the 13th Annual Grammy Awards in 1971 for his performance of Brahms’ Double Concerto, and again at the 17th Annual Grammy Awards in 1975 for Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1. In recognition of his outstanding contributions to music, he was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2003.

The Moscow International David Oistrakh Violin Competition is a biennial event for young violinists, established in 2006 to honor the legacy of David Oistrakh. Its goal is to promote and advance the rich traditions of Russian violin performance while discovering new talent among young musicians.

Oistrakh suffered a heart attack and died in Amsterdam, aged 66.

DAVID OISTRAKH | BRAHMS | VIOLIN CONCERTO IN D OP. 77 | KIRILL KONDRASHIN & THE MOSCOW PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA | 1963