With Rolf Schulte, a cosmopolitan among violinists has taken on the music of the great cosmopolitan among 20th-century composers: In the 1970s, he recorded most of the works for violin and piano at the Westdeutscher Rundfunk in Cologne, as well as the trio suite from the Soldier's Tale arranged by Stravinsky himself.

Schulte, born in Cologne, studied with Yehudi Menuhin, Franco Gulli and Ivan Galamian. He has lived in New York since 1971, where, like Paul Zukofsky, he established himself as one of the great violinists in the modern repertoire. According to The New Yorker he is "one of the most distinguished violinists of our time". His recordings of the violin concertos by Schoenberg, Roger Sessions and Elliott Carter have been successful worldwide. His live recordings of the concertos by Respighi, Dohnányi (no.2) and Stravinsky as well as the Kafka Fragments by György Kurtág (with Adrienne Cséngery) are legendary. The present recordings are released here for the first time on record for the Stravinsky anniversary year and give European listeners the exclusive opportunity to experience the greatness of a German virtuoso who emigrated to the USA.

The immense richness of expression and colour of Schulte's Stravinsky playing, his stylistic clarté and violinistic fulminance allow Stravinsky's music to speak with an authentic authority a few years after his death that is very rare today.

Recommended listening: the Suite italienne based on the popular Pulcinella Suite on themes by Pergolesi.