Stern/Ormandy: Brahms Violin Concerto - Fontana 876 006 CY ("full stereo" - ED1)

Jacket EX / LP NM

This beautiful LP from Fontana (876 006 CY, Dutch pressing, plum/silver “Full Stereo” label – ED1) features Isaac Stern’s Olympian account of Brahms’s Violin Concerto in D Major Op. 77, recorded with conductor Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra in the warm acoustics of Broadwood Hotel, Philadelphia, on 1 November 1959.

This is playing that can withstand the most exalted comparisons, be it with Heifetz, Kreisler, Menuhin, Perlman, et al.

The US version of this album (Columba Masterworks MS 6153) s stated on the jacket that this album was released “In celebration of his [Stern’s] 25th season as a concert artist”. On the reverse side of the jacket, in addition to liner notes (uncredited) for Brahms’s Violin Concerto, there are reviews by various distinguished critics (Louis Biancolli, Alfred Frankenstein, Paul Hume, Winthrop Sargent, Alexander Fried, et al., all attesting to Stern’s extraordinary artistry. The strking cover photo of Stern is uncredited.

Incidentally, the interior panels of the gatefold jacket contain much documentary information, archival photos and illustrations surrounding the history of Brahms’s Violin Concerto. There are also extensive liner notes (uncredited) – printed in German only.

This is quite easily the finest possible pressing of this enormously impressive performance.