Ruggiero Ricci (1918 - 2012) secured his entry into the history of recorded music with the very first recording of the 24 Caprices by “the devil’s violinist” Nicolo Paganini, which had been deemed unplayable until then. This was followed by decades of world fame, in which he triumphed as perhaps the greatest violin virtuoso of his time on all continents. Proof of this is provided by the ten CDs in this documentary. As a ten-year-old Ricci had made his concert debut in his native San Francisco, a year later he already stood onstage at Carnegie Hall with Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto.

His parents, music-loving Italian immigrants, had enabled him to study with the famous teacher Louis Persinger. Later on he continued his education with Georg Kulenkampff in Berlin and enjoyed the support of the great Fritz Kreisler. In addition to the astonishing ease of the virtuoso, this documentation also exemplifies Ricci’s respectful handling of the great works that Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Mendelssohn and others have written for his instrument. Equally interesting is his interaction with Martha Argerich and Friedrich Gulda.