Isaac Stern: Complete Columbia Analogue Recordings

Isaac Stern: Complete Columbia Analogue Recordings 1945-1980. Isaac Stern would have turned 100 in 2020. To mark this beloved artist's centenary, Sony Classical is proud to present a new edition of his entire American Columbia analogue discography: 75 CDs of the recordings that established the Ukrainian-born American violinist's worldwide reputation as one of the outstanding musical figures of his time.

Like so many other of history's famous fiddlers, Stern was a child prodigy, entering the conservatory in San Francisco (where his family had settled) when he was only eight. In 1936, at 16, he made his recital debut and played with the San Francisco Symphony under Monteux and the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Klemperer. His first New York appearance came in 1937, his European debut after the war, in 1948. By then, much of the world had already heard if not seen him, performing classical showpieces under Franz Waxman's baton on the soundtrack of the popular 1946 Warner Bros. film Humoresque. An album of selections from the movie, first issued by Columbia on 78s in 1947, appears on CD for the first time in this new set. They include Waxman's Carmen Fantasy, a thrilling arrangement for Stern's "Hollywood debut".

Also on full display is Stern's extraordinary love and affinity for chamber music: much of the sonata repertoire explored with his longtime preferred accompanist, pianist Alexander Zakin, including the first time on CD for their mono recordings of violin sonatas by Mozart, Franck, Brahms (all three) and Bartók; the great piano trios surveyed with his regular partners Leonard Rose and Eugene Istomin; and treasured collaborations with Pablo Casals and his festival ensembles that featured such distinguished players as Alexander Schneider, Milton Katims, Paul Tortelier and Myra Hess - including the first CD releases of the Brahms Second String Quintet and Schumann Piano Quintet from 1952. Like that Sibelius recording and so many others in this vast new Isaac Stern edition, they haven't aged a day.