‘Stern’ Goes Beyond the Usual Musical Profile

You’d expect a documentary on violinist Isaac Stern to be full of great playing and ringing testimonials from his music colleagues. “Isaac Stern: Life’s Virtuoso” (tonight on KCET-TV) is all that. But it’s so much more.

Drawing on archival photos, the program shows Stern performing in front of mesmerized American soldiers stationed on Guadalcanal during World War II. One veteran recalls how the GIs kept Stern playing for hours and even how a Japanese soldier managed to sneak into the audience--and disappear safely after the show.

“I guess the Japanese love classical music too,” veteran Curtis Pfaff says.

Then there is powerful footage of Stern visiting injured Israeli soldiers hospitalized during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. In a singular act of bravery--which he later modestly discounts--he is also seen continuing to play in front of a Jerusalem audience through an air raid that occurred during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, even as many in the audience don gas masks.

Other footage includes Stern’s successful efforts to save Carnegie Hall from demolition in 1960 and snippets from the 1979 documentary “From Mao to Mozart,” chronicling his teaching trip to China. He is also shown coaching the young, gifted Miro String Quartet.

Stern’s fans include former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former Israel Prime Minister Shimon Peres and tennis star Jimmy Connors, among others.

Colleagues remark on his playing. “You don’t notice his fantastic technique,” conductor Zubin Mehta says. “That’s how it should be. . . . Listen to the music. It has it all. It doesn’t happen by itself, believe me.”

Flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal calls his sound “fleshy.”

“It’s something you can eat,” he says.

Summing up what many of us have thought of Stern’s interpretations for years, violinist Itzhak Perlman says, “That’s the way it goes. There’s no other way it should go. That’s it.”

The skillfully edited program, part of PBS’ “American Masters” series, is produced by Susan Lacy.

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* “Isaac Stern: Life’s Virtuoso” airs tonight at 8 on KCET-TV.