Music: Buttered Beethoven

At 33, Isaac Stern is one of the world's finest violinists. He has a big tone, an impressive technique and immense warmth. In Manhattan's Carnegie Hall one afternoon last week, Stern and his fiddle were in top form. Playing Beethoven's Violin Concerto with the New York Philharmonic-Symphony under George Szell, Stern flaked warm, buttery tones off the violin with deep tenderness. As his bow drew the music from the strings, his body seemed to play its own accompaniment. Now he rose on his toes, now he shrugged with a phrase, now he twisted and bent forward. The hall's matinee audience had...

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