Ossy Renardy's real name was Oskar Reiss but when on tour as a young teenager in Italy, he changed -on the instigation of his first manager- his name into Ossy Renardy which should give him more fame than the serious and stiff Viennese 'Oskar Reiss'.

The liner notes on Remington R-199-152 read:

"Ossy Renardy was born in Vienna, April 26, 1920 and in this city of music he had an early opportunity to start his career. Renardy was an accomplished violinist by the time he was eleven and though he appeared publicly on tour at this age, he returned to Vienna, completed his studies and made his formal debut at thirteen. In 1937 he came to America and toured the United States during the four seasons preceding the war. He was already playing for the USO (United Service Organization - ed.) in 1941 and the following year he entered the United States Army. It was two years after the war was over, before Renardy appeared again in public life. He had spent those two years working and studying, preparing himself for a return to the concert stage, and in 1948 he was once more performing throughout the North American continent, Europe and Israel, appearing with the Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Chicago, the St. Louis, Los Angeles, San Francisco Symphony, in fact, all the major orchestras of the United States, as well as Canada and Europe. One of the feats for which Renardy is famous is his playing of all twenty-four of the Paganini Caprices on the second half of a recital at Carnegie Hall, after having performed the Nardini Concerto, a Sonatina of Dvorak and the Lalo Symphony Espagnole (Symphonie Espagnole) in the first half. Every violinist in town turned up for the concert. Renardy looks back on this performance of fourteen years ago and says he would not do it again. He has however, made available to everyone, his performance of these twenty-four fabiously difficult and incredibly beautiful Caprices in recording them for Remington Records. The last twelve (Nos. 13 to 24) are contained on this Volume II; the first twelve (Nos. 1 to 12) are in Volume I (R-199-146)."

Ossy Renardy (26 April 1920 - 3 December 1953) Picture from Testament CD enhanced and edited by R.A. Bruil

In New York he studied with the famous pedagogues Theodore and Alice Pashkus in order to prepare himself for appearing anew on the stage after the war.

The list of his shellac recordings is quite substanial.

US Columbia (these are from the late 1930s):

* 17119-D Handel-Flesch: Prayer
* 17119-D Vecsey: Caprice No, 2 "Cascade"
* 17132-D Paganini: Sonata No. 12 in E minor
* 17132-D Burmester: Viennese Serenade
* 69152-D Corelli: Sonata in E minor, Op. 5, No. 8 (2 sides)
* 69403-D, 69404-D Schubert: Sonatina No. 1 in D (3 sides)
* 69404-D Schubert: Sonatina No. 3 in G minor - 3rd, 4th movements
* 69543-D, 69544-D Dvorak: Sonatina in G, Op. 100 (3 sides)
* 69544-D Dvorak: Slavonic Dance, Op. 46, No. 8
* 69621-D Sarasate: Romanza Andaluza & Jota Navarra
* 69622-D Sarasate: Zapateado & Adios montañas mias
* 69655-D Piatti: Sonata No. 1 in E minor
* Set X-116 Schubert: Sonatinas
* Set X-129 Dvorak: Sonatina & Slavonic Dance No. 8
* Set X-134 Sarasate: 4 pieces.
Note: Corelli Sonata accompanied by Leo Taubman, all others by Walter Robert.

Renardy recorded for RCA-Victor in 1941:

* 16276/8 (Album M-672) Paganini Caprices Nos. 1 to 12 (6 sides)
* 17479 Saint-Saens: Concertstück, Op. 20 (2 sides) with W. Robert at the piano
* 17636/8 (Album M-738) Paganini Caprices Nos. 13 to 24 (5 sides)
* 17638-B (in M-738) Paganini: Sonata in A
* 18032-A Mozart: Adagio in E, K. 261
* 18032-B Brahms: Allegro in C minor ("F-A-E" Sonata)
* 18294-A Dvorak: Ballade in D minor, Op. 15
* 18294-B Zarzycki: Mazurka, Op. 26
* 11-8113 Ernst: Hungarian Airs, Op. 22 (2 sides)
Note: All the above, including Paganini Caprices, accompanied by Walter Robert. Several of these 78 RPM recordings were released on CD on the Biddulph label.

By 1948 these recordings were out of print. The Gramophone Shop Encyclopeadia of Recorded Music lists just one 78 RPM recordset: Columbia CX 134 on which Renardy plays Pablo de Sarasate: 'Adios montañias mias', 'Jota Navarra', 'Zapateado' and Romanza Andaluza'.

English Decca made several Lp recordings (the month and year of release are in brackets):
* LM 4542 Solo Sonata No. 1 (Bach) (1/52)
* LM 4536 Solo Sonata No. 3 (Bach) (5/51)
* LXT 2685 Violin Concerto (Brahms) (recorded 13-14 September 1948, released on Lp 7/51)
* LK 4024 Popular Recital: Le streghe - Witches' Dance, Caprices 17 and 24 (Paganini); Liebeslied, Liebesfreud, Caprice Viennois and Tambourin Chinois (Kreisler); Scherzo tarentelle (Wieniawski); Ave Maria (Schubert).
The dates of release are taken from the Gramophone Long Playing Classical Record Catalogue, December 1954.

The releases on the London label (USA):
* LS 423 Solo Sonata No. 1 (Bach) LS 259 Solo Sonata No. 3 (Bach)
* LL 1 Violin Concerto (Brahms) (recorded 13-14 September 1948, released on Lp 7/51)
* LL 159 Violin Recital: Le streghe witches' dance; Caprices 17 and 24 (Paganini); Liebeslied, Liebesfreud, Caprice Viennois and Tambourin chinois (Kreisler); Scherzo tarentelle (Wieniawski); Ave Maria (Schubert).

"Among the eminent of our day" and "plays Paganini's 'Cannon Joseph' Guarneri, 1743" is printed on his Columbia Artist Management folder of February 1952. Note: It is suggested that Renardy's instrument was not the original del Gesù Cannon made for Paganini, but a copy of it made by J.B. Vuillaumme of Paris who in 1834 was asked to repair the Guarnerius del Gesù Cannon. The opportunity presented itself to take the exact measurements of the instrument and make a copy. (Artist Management Folder - the SoundFountain Archive.)

Renardy's performance of the Brahms Concerto with the Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Charles Munch was not a dramatic one. To a certain extend the recording technique (dynamics, frequency characteristic) can be blamed for this. After all the recording was made in 1948 when the Lp and the technique of transferring 78 RPM recordings to Lp were in its infancy.
The Violin Concerto was first released on a 5 x 78 RPM set, Decca L-Set 87. Irving Kolodin reviewed the set in "The New Guide To Recorded Music" (Double Day, New York, 1950):

"There is no single merit in the Renardy to give it precedence over the Szigeti or Heifetz or Neveu, save a richer serving of the colors in the score than previously provided by any source. However, Renardy's is a very live, youthful, and ingratiating performance, which has its own authentic alertness, consistently controlled. The Munch background is extremely good."

Mark Todd told me: "...according to several reviews in Record Guide and the EMG Monthly Letter, the sound on the 78s was excellent, but unfortunately the LP transfer had a very dim sound. Both Record Guide and EMG's Monthly Letter comment on how the quality had deteriorated in the transfer. This applies not fully to the Everest Lp version which is quite palatable. There have been two CD versions of this performance. One, on a French label, is of average quality, but the official reissue approved by Decca is on the Dutton label (CDEA 5024). They have done a wonderful transfer from the 78s so the sound is revealed as never before. This reissue was made a year or so before the Testament reissues."

The set of 78s was exactly the basis for a new transfer done by Andrew Rose from Pristine Audio in July 2005. Listen to a sample by activating this link Pristine Audio. The transfer is available on CD and can also be downloaded in mp3 format. The sound is extremely good and the violin tone is very realistic. One can hear the very nature of the violin and the way young Renardy plays, sometimes with uncertainty and hesitation and at times he feels very secure about what he is doing. In this transfer the balance of the orchestra is rather well preserved, despite the cleaning up of the audio signal, with the violin placed close to the microphone. The dynamics are very good as is partly the benefit of the Pulse Code Modulation of the digital format, but is also the result of Andrew Rose's choice of the appropriate needle tip and the fact that he took care of many a minute detail.

Nevertheless the Decca/London Lp is of interest to collectors. And the release on Everest 3314 remains a very nice item because it is analog, despite the use of enhancers and despite the simulated stereo (which can be 'by-passed' by coombining left and right channel to mono).
Renardy's playing on the Remington discs however is vivid and his interpretations have energy when required, although the sound recordings lack warmth and do the violin no justice.

The Decca recordings of Bach's Solo Sonatas Nos. 1 and 3, the Violin Recital and other performances can be found on various Testament CDs.

Don Gabor, who in the nineteen forties worked at RCA, probably did meet Ossy Renardy when he recorded for Victor. And it could well be that Laszlo Halasz was also instrumental in contracting Renardy to perform for the Remington label.

Ossy Renardy (who had become a US citizen when enlisting in the Army in 1943) was killed in a car accident at the age of 33 in 1953.

Ossy Renardy on Remington:

R-199-146 Paganini: Caprices 1 - 12 (the accompanied version of Ferdinand David) with Eugene Helmer, piano

The covers for Ossy Renardy's Paganini Caprices were designed by Alex Steinweiss.

R-199-148 Ossy Renardy performs Franck's Sonata in A and the Sonata of Ravel with pianist Eugene List.
Note: This recording was released in December 1953 (the month of his death) together with the recording of the Caprices 13-24. The first volume of the Caprices had already been released a few months earlier.

R-199-152 Paganini: Caprices 13 - 24 (the accompanied version of Ferdinand David) with Eugene Helmer, piano

Rudolf A. Bruil - page first published June 2003
(early 78 RPM discography submitted by Bryan Bishop)