My memories of my friendship with Isaac Stern, violin virtuoso
One particular memory that stands out is Isaac Stern’s performance of the violin concerto written for him by George Rochberg. After the performance, I was with Isaac Stern in his dressing room and had a chance to see the violin part in its hand written version, which he used in the performance. We discussed “Caprice Variations” (a set of solo violin variations based on the 24th Caprice of Nicola Paganini that Rochberg had written and dedicated to me) and the remarkable violin concerto. I truly felt honored to be part of such a great moment in musical history with two of the giants in both performance and composition.
“Caprice Variations” has since been recognized as one of the most important solo violin works in this century. I gave the world premier of this work as part of my doctorate dissertation at Catholic University in Washington, DC. and then went on to give other performances of it in Asia as well.