Mischa Elman was born in the Ukraine in 1891 and was a pupil of the legendary Leopold Auer in St Petersburg. Along with Heifetz and Milstein, Elman is regarded as one of the giants of violin playing in the 20th century. According to Joseph Szigeti, Elman embodied ‘a playing of a fire, an elegance, a rhythmic incisiveness which I had never even imagined’. The two major works on this CD show off different facets of Elman’s playing from the early 1950s. Mozart’s Violin Sonata in B flat, K454, reveals the violinist’s luscious approach to the Classical repertoire, and Paganini’s renowned Caprice no.24 displays his brilliance as a violin virtuoso. The CD also includes a selection of short encores that capture Elman’s inimitable style and unique charm, and ends with four beloved songs in which Elman plays violin obligato accompaniment to the American tenor Jan Peerce and mezzo-soprano Risë Stevens.