The Canadian-born violinist Kathleen Parlow was one of the most exceptional violinists at the beginning of the 20th century. A brilliant child prodigy, who had performed before King Edward VII at Buckingham Palace at the age of 14, Parlow was a student of the legendary Leopold Auer, who was so enamored of her playing that he referred to her as ‘Mischa Elman in a skirt’. While still a student, Glazunov, the director of the St Petersburg Conservatory, recommended that she give the Belgian premiere of his Violin Concerto. While still in her teens, Parlow’s performed with such legendary conductors as Thomas Beecham and Bruno Walter, and was the dedicatee of the Norwegian composer Johan Halvorsen’s Violin Concerto. Throughout the 1920s, Parlow gave several world tours, travelling as far afield as the Middle East, India, China, Korea and Japan. However, before she turned 30, she had had enough of life as a travelling virtuoso and decided to retire from giving concerts. She returned to Canada, and she made a career teaching until her death in 1963.

This 2-CD release features all of the commercial recordings Parlow made for the HMV and American Columbia record labels. Her first records were made at the age of 19 for HMV in which she was guaranteed a special ‘artist royalty’ of 10%, a figure that matched what the company paid the famed coloratura soprano Luisa Tetrazzini. Parlow’s records for the Columbia Record Company in New York were made between 1912-16, and first brought out alongside those of none other than the legendary Eugene Ysaÿe.