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Solo & Chamber Music
The Great Virtuosos
As with the great conductors, one finds tremendous amounts of personality, charm, and virtuosity among the finest soloists and chamber musicians of this era. Violinists Fritz Kreisler and Jascha Heifetz are certainly the best known violinists of the time, but many other performers on this instrument are also worth hearing, particularly Eugène Ysaÿe, Albert Spalding, Jan Kubelik, Mischa Elman, and Efrem Zimbalist. Among the great pianists of the time, look for issues by Serge Rachmaninoff, Josef Hofmann, Percy Grainger, Walter Gieseking, and Arthur Schnabel (who was the first to record all of Beethoven's Sonatas). The young Artur Rubinstein and Vladimir Horowitz also made a wide variety of fascinating recordings before the advent of the LP as did violist William Primrose, cellists Emanuel Feuerman and Pablo Casals, and double-bassist Serge Koussevitzky. Many outstanding recordings are waiting to be reissued. Look especially for two of the greatest string quartets ever to come before the public: the Flonzaley and the Paganini.
Recommended Recordings
- Bach: Cello Suites/EMI CDH61028 & CDH61029
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Pablo Casals (cello)
- Beethoven: Violin Concerto w/Concertos by Brahms, Mendelssohn & Mozart/Music & Arts CD-290
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Fritz Kreisler (violin) Leo Blech/Berlin State Opera Orchestra
- Elgar: Violin Concerto, Violin Sonata/Pearl GEMM CD 9496
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Albert Sammons (violin) Sir Henry Wood/New Queens Hall Orchestra
- Prokofieff: Piano Concerto 3; solo piano works/Pearl GEMM CD 9470
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Sergei Prokofieff (piano)
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Prokofieff: Violin Concerto #2
Sibelius: Violin Concerto
Strauss: Violin Sonata/Biddulph LAB 018 -
Yascha Heifetz (violin)
- Trios by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Haydn, Schubert, with Brahms Double Concerto/EMI CHS7640572
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Casals-Thibaud-Cortot Trio
- The Complete Solo Columbia Recordings/Biddulph LAB 066
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George Enescu (violin)
- Works by Beethoven, Chopin, Levitzky, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Rubinstein, Scarlatti & Schumann/Pearl GEMM CD 9962
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Mischa Levitzky (piano)
- The Complete HMV Recordings/Appian CDAPR 7002
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Moriz Rosenthal (piano)
- Works of Brahms, Chabrier, Dvořák, Fauré, Kreisler, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann, Vieuxtemps, Wagner, Wieniawski & Ysaÿe/Symposium 1045 (acoustic)
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Eugène Ysaÿe (violin)
