“His playing overcomes every possible difficulty ... With this concert, Kreisler has set a standard that will stand up to any comparison ... The Berlin recording is of unsurpassed intensity.” British music critic and writer Norman Lebrecht wrote this, placing Kreisler’s recording of the Beethoven Violin Concerto from 1928 among the “100 Milestones of the Century of the Record”.

A good enough reason to begin our collection with this recording. However, this evaluation could also apply to the other recordings heard here that were made in the 1920s, including sonatas with Sergei Rachmaninov as Kreisler’s piano partner. No less important, and also part of this collection, is his first complete recording of the complete Beethoven Violin Sonatas (1935/36). Fritz Kreisler was considered the highest paid violinist of his time. His performances are said to have been of a near hypnotic fascination. Anton Bruckner and Léo Delibes were his teachers, among others. The respect for his social commitment grew along with the admiration for him as an artist. Throughout his life Fritz Kreisler endeavoured to give voice to people in need – especially children – and to alleviate their fate.