Obituary, Igor Oistrakh (1931 - 2021)

The violinist Igor Oistrakh, who performed regularly with his father David as well as forging a significant independent solo career, has died aged 90.

Born in Odessa in 1931, Oistrakh received his earliest lessons from his father before studying in Moscow, first at the Central Music School and subsequently at the Moscow Conservatory (where he became a faculty member just a few years after graduation); early successes included first prizes at the International Violin Competition in Budapest (1949) and the Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in 1952.

The following year Oistrakh made an acclaimed London debut at the Royal Albert Hall after coming to the attention of the impresario Victor Hochhauser, who devoted much of his energies to promoting Soviet artists in the West; Cold War restrictions notwithstanding, Oistrakh remained a regular visitor to the UK throughout the next few decades, often appearing alongside his father (who first joined him on the London stage in 1954) and on occasion with Yehudi Menuhin.

The Oistrakhs also joined forces to great effect in the studio, most notably for Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins, which they recorded together in London in 1961 with Eugene Goossens and members of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; their shared discography also includes Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante (with Oistrakh Senior taking the viola-part) and sonatas by Telemann, Bach and Benda. Though the synergy between the two is readily apparent on their recordings, Igor also emerges as a distinct personality in his own right, his sound rather slimmer and wirier than his father’s but no less authoritative.

Another regular collaborator on disc and on the concert-platform was the pianist Natalia Zertsalova, whom Oistrakh married in 1960; their recordings together include the complete Mozart, Brahms and Beethoven sonatas, with the latter project earning them joint Honorary Membership of the Beethoven Society in Bonn.

Like his father, Oistrakh also enjoyed a significant secondary career as a conductor, founding a soloists’ ensemble at the Moscow Conservatory and recording works including Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos and Corelli Concerti Grossi. He was also a passionate and much-loved teacher, both at his alma mater and the Royal Conservatory in Brussels, where he was made a professor in 1996. He continued to make occasional concert-appearances into his seventies, performing the Mendelssohn concerto at the Barbican in 2004 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of his father’s London debut, with The Independent describing his interpretation as ‘unbearably poignant and autumnal’.

Oistrakh’s accolades included the title of People’s Artist of the USSR, honorary membership of the Jascha Heifetz Society and the Wieniawski Society, and Fellowship of the Royal College of Music; an asteroid (42516) was named for him and his father in 1993.

Oistrakh’s death on 14th August was announced yesterday; he is survived by his son Valery, also a violinist and viola-player, with whom he often performed.

Igor Oistrakh - a selected discography