Every time I hear David Oistrakh in recordings from the 1950s, I think that here he is on the top violinistically. Musically he was always on the top. But during the 1950s he had a concentration in his sound that changed later. One can hear it so well in the recordings that he made with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Ormandy, and with the New York Philharmonics and Mitropoulos, when he came to the United States for the first time in 1955, I think it was. I heard him three times; at the end of the 1960s in Stockholm and twice in the beginning of the 1970s in Göteborg, Sweden. His sound didn't have the concentration as in this recording, more transparent. Whatever, these concerts were worth being born for.
I agree about the sound and I believe it was directly related to the choice of instruments which required different ways of playing. To my ear in this live recording he is using "Conte de Fontana" Strad which he also used in many other recordings in those years (Beethoven with ORTF, Scottish Fantasy etc.). Later he switched to "The Marsick" Strad which sounds brighter and not as deep or warm IMHO. I don't know exactly at what point he switched to Steel A string!
