Joseph Szigeti is acknowledged as one of the most eloquent and thought-provoking violinists of the 20th century. This CD offers live performances by the violinist, accompanied by Carlo Bussotti, from a recital given in Seattle, Washington, in 1955. It includes Bach’s Violin Partita no.3 in E, Brahms’s Violin Sonata no.3 in D minor and Vaughan Williams’s Violin Sonata in A minor.

Szigeti’s performances of the classical masterworks was unparalleled. His Bach interpretations were so renowned that Eugène Ysaÿe dedicated his first unaccompanied sonata to his younger colleague in acknowledgement of his affinity with the Leipzig master. And Szigeti had a direct connection to Brahms through his teacher Jenö Hubay, who gave the premiere of the Brahms Sonata (with the composer at the piano) that Szigeti plays on this CD.

An ardent champion of 20th-century works, Szigeti promoted works by his contemporaries. In fact, he created a three-concert recital series entitled ‘Eleven Masterpieces of the Twentieth Century’ that he performed throughout the late 1950s. Although Szigeti made commercial recordings of ten of the eleven works in this series, he never recorded the Vaughan Williams Sonata in A minor. This CD offers not only the premiere of Szigeti’s performance of the Vaughan Williams Sonata, but also the first release of his live 1955 renditions of the Bach E major Partita and Brahms D minor Sonata.