My First 79 Years

As one might expect, the more engaging elements in this autobiography occur when Stern, world-renowned violinist (or as he would have it, ""fiddler"") and music education activist, discusses playing--and not just his own. Stern seems most excited when discussing performances by others (mainly classical musicians and conductors), including Naoum Blinder, Pierre Monteux and Leonard Bernstein. The virtuoso also details his childhood and formal training: Stern, it seems, had very little of either. Born and raised by middle-class Russian-Ukrainian immigrant parents in San Francisco, Stern credits his interest in the violin to a childhood friend: ""My friend Nathan Koblick was playing the violin; therefore, I wanted to play the violin."" Rather than bloat his talent or sense of destiny, Stern is given to frank statements such as, ""It seems I may have been the first American violinist to do a tour of the major Soviet cities."" Coauthor Potok's (The Promise) narrative touch is clear; instead of technical jargon, classical pieces are described through setting and emotion. Occasionally, lifeless passages diminish substance--e.g., long transcriptions of personal tapes Stern sent his family while out on the road; and there are windy clich s: on meeting President Kennedy, Stern writes, ""I felt as though I were inside a golden coach drawn by four pure-bred white horses into the glitter of mythic Camelot."" But after three marriages, four kids and a 60-plus-year career that spans playing in Carnegie Hall to saving it from demolition, to touring the world dozens of times over, a man is entitled to a few clich s. Photos. (Oct.)