- Paperback: 372 pages
- Publisher: Da Capo Press (13 Dec 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0306810069
- ISBN-13: 978-0306810060
- Product Dimensions: 1.5 x 2.3 x 0.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 536,721 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
There is no more beloved musician in the classical world than Isaac Stern, revered not only as a great violinist but also as a generous personality and a crucial figure in the world of the arts. One of the few people who has known every major classical musician of the last two-thirds of the twentieth century, he shares his personal and artistic experiences in this warm, passionate account of his life: the story of his rise to eminence; his feelings about music and the violin; and his great friendships and collaborations with colleagues such as Leonard Bernstein and Pablo Casals. Stern the man, the musician, and the cultural institution come alive in the most readable and revealing musical autobiography of the decade.
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First Sentence
ARLY ONE October morning in 1937 I boarded a double-decker but at 72nd Street in Manhattan and disappeared. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
ARLY ONE October morning in 1937 I boarded a double-decker but at 72nd Street in Manhattan and disappeared. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The book gives a fascinating insight into the American music scene from the late 1930s to the end of the century.
Isaac Stern at the top of his game was a truly phenomonal player, but interestingly considers himself more of a musician than a fiddle player.
It is a very candid account and his weaknesses are not ignored. Poignantly Stern died not long after the book was written.
Isaac Stern at the top of his game was a truly phenomonal player, but interestingly considers himself more of a musician than a fiddle player.
It is a very candid account and his weaknesses are not ignored. Poignantly Stern died not long after the book was written.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
8 reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
I agree with "thepageturner"
18 Feb 2000
Format:Hardcover
My first reaction when I started reading this book was exactly the same as the first review in the list here. Isaac Stern is a man with many fascinating stories, but in the book they don't have time to breathe. There's little detail, the book jumps from one subject to the next in short, bland paragraphs, and there's little of Stern's wit and insight. We also don't get much about how Stern feels about the music he plays, or the composers who created it. In short, the book skims the surface of a potentially fascinating subject. Pity.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Disappointing, considering the author's life
8 Jan 2002
Format:Hardcover
I picked this book up as a used trade paperback, and I'm glad that I [didn't spend to much] for it. I was expecting much more. The narrative is quite choppy, with not much of a sense of continuity. Some of the critical issues/events, such as his refusual to perform in Germany and his divorce from his first wife are discussed with a severe lack of candor. The German thing bothers me the most, I feel like he felt the need to be politically correct - I would not fault him for feeling very negative feelings and being unable to overcome them even after many years. But he keeps saying that the Germans are a fine people, cognisent of their own history, and does not address his feelings on the matter in a fully satisfying way. I guess this is the flaw of the autobiography, though some authors have given their lives an unsparing look, to both their and the readers' benefit. There is much writing about his life of touring and of saving Carnegie Hall, but I never got a sense of the personal feelings and struggle that went into this staggeringly busy and full life. There are hints here and there, but it reads like an extended New Yorker puff piece much of the time. If you want an overview of a great life, but not much detail or meaningful introspection, then this book will serve your needs. For everyone else, wait for the first "unauthorized" biography.
31 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Rushed telling of an amazing life
29 Nov 1999
Format:Hardcover
The best thing about "My First 79 Years" is that it put Isaac Stern on book tour. Hearing him in an interview is such a delight; you wish the conversation with this intelligent, charming, generous, and of course, gloriously musical man would go on forever.
So why is this book so much less satisfying? Especially when it was co-written with Chaim Potok. Isaac Stern's voice does not seem to shine through, nor does his music. Why does the telling of some of his most remarkable feats (saving Carnegie Hall or visiting closed China) seem flat when they shimmer with excitement when he tells them on radio or film? I hope Isaac Stern lives another 79 years and takes a second crack at recording his remarkable life.
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