When the serious Süddeutsche Zeitung prints a concert review on the title page, summing up with "A new star is born", the concert must have been a highly exceptional one. That is exactly what took place on 25 April 1969 - the debut of the 21-year-old Pinchas Zukerman, then utterly unknown in Europe. As befits such occurrences, the concert was not originally planned to include Zukerman he stepped in on short notice for the ailing Nathan Milstein. Rafael Kubelik was definitely to be thanked for this phenomenal breakthrough, as he was ready to take a chance on the young wonder of the violin, then unknown to him, who had been recommended by a New York agency. The further course of Mr. Zukerman's career is well known. An epoch-making event in concert history can be re-experienced with this recording of the debut concert on 24 April 1969 in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz. Zukerman fascinates the listener with his technical mastery, utterly unshaken by the Tchaikovsky Concerto's perilous difficulties, and even more with his entirely natural musicality. He finds congenial partners in Kubelik and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. They also interpret Tchaikovsky's dramatic Fourth Symphony in the second half of the concert with their customary expressive strength.

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Live Rec. 1979