Boris Goldstein

Boris Goldstein performs Carl Flesch's transcription of Handel's 'Gebet' (Prayer) from Te Deum for violin and piano.

Boris Goldstein (Busya Goldshtein) (25 of December 1922, Odessa - 8 of November 1987, Hanover, Germany) was one of the brightest stars of violin.

A fantastically talented Soviet violinist whose music career was greatly hindered by the political situation in the USSR at that time.

As a young prodigy, he started violin studies in Odessa with the eminent pedagogue, Piotr Stolyarsky. As a teenager, Boris Goldstein, was singled out by Heifetz as being USSR's most brilliant violin talent.

He won the fourth prize of the 1935 Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition in Warsaw; Ginette Neveu from France came first, David Oistrakh second, and Josef Hassid from Poland received the honorary diploma.

In 1937, at one of the most prestigious international competitions of its time,
the International Ysaye Competition, Stoliarsky students caused a sensation.
Top prizes were garnered by David Oistrakh, Boris Goldshtein (Goldstein), Yelizaveta Gilels and Mikhail Fikhtengoltz. The Soviet Politburo was indeed riding the propaganda machine to its fullest. "The results of the sessions created a profound impression: the Soviet school, with an assurance that bordered on arrogance, carried off all the prizes from the first down.

The latter was awarded without the slightest discussion to the great David Oistrakh. Everyone else had to be content with crumbs; the Belgian violin school, though still a source of pride, failed, and its absence at the final was much commented on; Arthur Grumiaux and Carlo Van Neste, both young and inexperienced, were not able to convince the jury."

Later he was forced to emigrate from Russia.....arriving in Germany, he taught and nurtured many budding musicians (but his solo career never recovered).

The composer Mikhail Goldstein was his brother.
Notable students of Boris Goldstein include Zakhar Bron and Alexander Skwortsow.