The Ottawa Journal from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • Page 41

Tuesday, April 24, 1979 Ottawa Journal The greatest of Stern coming back Page 41 Redford plays warden HOLLYWOOD (AP) Robert Redford play the warden of a southern U.S. prison who fights, corruption in Brubaker, now being filmed in'. Columbus, Ohio. Yaphet Kotto also stars in the movie, being directed by Bob Rafclson from a screenplay by; W. D.

Richter. Jacob version is so marvellously understated that it is still my favorite among performances by American violinists. Stern plays with an accuracy here that he never -quitn aptnrpH later nn, and whirh he has rarely found in person. Montrealers had the chance to hear him in recital at the Place des Arts last night in a varied program. Hearing these recordings again this past week reminded me how truly great an artist he once was and how much was lost when he decided to become a figure in the music world rather than a musician.

Siskind base notes iJlollp jfHctgunx'S "If! Ottawa Fl Iran nwuHwrwoi. Join iMfw (righto! riSft Put) fun and frolic. (' Appearing this week lJTsl THE -v panist of the period. The recordings were madcin the 1940s and appeared in 78 r.p.m. versions when first iff i-itr r- tn wi arm.

PLOUGHMAN'S LUNCH" every Thursday and Friday Pork and Beef Pie Hard Boiled Eggs Onions Cheeses Fresh Crhsty Rye Bread andiButter $1195 These are, then, direct-to-disc. performances, made before tapes allowed retakes. The playing is superb, filled with vitality and understanding. There arc newer versions on the market, but none better. Nowadays few people play Bach with a piano, but in the early 1950s it was the only way.

Stern recorded three Bach Sonatas with Zakin in performances that are as exciting to hear today as they were 25 years ago. Again, understatement is the name of the game and Stern was discretion personified (Odyssey 35224). AThe final Stern reissues to, come my way this week are albums containing violin concerti. Odyssey 35225 contains the Wieniawski Concerto No. 2 in minor and the Viotti Concerto No.

22 in a minor in performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy. are later vintage readings and I am less impressed by Stern's Wieniawski than I was by his earlier recording of the work with Efrem Kurtz. But there is also the Sibelius Violin Concerto in the first Stern version with Sir Thomas Beecham conducting the Royal Philharmonic (Odyssey 35200). Stern recorded the work again, later, with Ormandy and the sound' of the later version is much more true to his tone quality, but this earlier The Isaac Stern sellabration continues. Columbia records have issued a number of new recordings by Stern in the past month.

Now they have begun to mine older lodes and have reissued pi'i lit' iTimdi'd in the and 50s, when he was at his prime musically and technically. Isaac Stern is a strange phenomenon among performers. When he first burst onto the musical scene in the 1910s he was hailed as a musical genius. In his person were combined some of the finest qualities of the great interpreters of that period. lie had the technical polish of Jascha Heifetz, the greatest violinist of this century and possibly of all time; he had the musical depth of Joseph Szigeti, acknowledged to be the finest musician to play the volin in our time.

There were those who felt that Heifetz lacked depth in his interpretations; everyone agreed that violinistically Szigeti left a great deal to be desired. Stern was the first important violinist of the new generation the people who had the fluency of Heifetz combined with the musicianship of Szigeti. Hut that was the 1910s. Somewhere along the line Stern's career was derailed. Like Rossini, he preferred luxury to hard work and he abdicated his preeminent position.

His playing took on characteristics he once ridiculed in others. Where once he had admired rhythmic precision, he now affected a rhythmic freedom that bordered on licence. Where before the playing had been a model of restraint, with few slides and a vibrato of incredible subtlety, he now slid about his instrument with the wilfullness of a Mischa Klman. whose playing he once despised. His (one quality seemed now in search of tone and variety for its own sake, not in the service of the music.

In short, many of his admirers fell deceived. Worse, he began to influence a whole new generation of violinists who admired him and his success, who begun to imitate his later style of playing. Just listen to his recent performances of the standard concerti and you will see what I mean. They still contain masterful violin playing and interesting ideas but they are far from the standard he set for himself. It is almost as though he determined as a young man to win for himself a reputation as a serious, thoughtful, musician.

Once that was gained and he had created that image. with the public, he decided to throw it all to the winds and play as he felt rather than as the music dictated. There are those who say he was influenced greatly by Pablo Casals. But Stern is too strong an Fantastic TWO ACADEMY THE BUDDY AWARD HOLLY STORY WINNERS! AFTER 'LIGHTS OUT its GROSS OUTT DOUBLE BILL Irs fMBM 1. I II In TCT i-aw.

ssbm iraiiTriiiTtaiMMiiKi. "Friday" 7:10 P.M. mm L'k" "Budy Holy" 9:00 PM- Photo reprints Reprints of JournalCP pictures appearing In The Journal can be obtained by contacting The Canadian Press photo department at 238-4142 or by writing to: The Canadian Press, Picture Service, P.O. Box 595, Stn. Ottawa, KIP 5P7.

The office is located at 140 Wellington St. PLUS THE CHERRY, II I SV SECOND EROTIC FEATURE individualist to have been influenced by unless that was his own bent to begin with. The recent reissues show you what a superb player and musician he was when he was making his way to the top. Showcase Attractions 'f jJ II III A triumphant Mend of live action The first album (Odyssey 352 M) contains the first of two recordings he made of the Sonata in A major by Cesar Franck, and the Sonata No. 4 by Paul Hindemith.

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