People say that Oistrakh suffered such nerves when he came out to play the violin, that’s why he took up conducting. But when I listened to Oistrakh play I never sensed he was afraid. True, he was a self-conscious violinist, and perhaps he did worry – I recall that whenever he performed with an orchestra, he was always trying something on the violin during the tutti – but at every solo entrance, he played effortlessly and confidently, apparently calm and controlled. […] I always listened to Oistrakh the violinist with enormous pleasure. I liked his attractive, typically Russian style. Now such Russian style is disappearing . . . But I wasn’t fully satisfied with Oistrakh’s Tchaikovsky. The Russian soul is good up to a point, but Tchaikovsky, especially, can suffer from an excess of emotion. You end up with Russian kitsch. << less