Essential Historical Recordings: Pablo Casals Brought Bach’s Cello Suites to Light

Pablo Casals was a towering figure in the history of cello playing—at once artist, exponent, exemplar, and liberator.

Essential Historical Recordings: The French Violinist Jacques Thibaud

For the first half of the twentieth century, the Frenchman Jacques Thibaud (1880-1953) was one of the world’s most beloved violin soloists.

Essential Historical Recordings: The Larger-Than-Life Cellist Gregor Piatigorsky

For several decades in the mid-twentieth century, Piatigorsky was the cello’s greatest international star.

Essential Historical Recordings: Pierre Fournier’s Envious Cello Mastery

By Sasha Margolis Pierre Fournier (1906–86), known as “the aristocrat of cellists,” was among the twentieth century’s most wonderful string artists. A music... Read More...

Essential Historical Recordings: The Tragically Short Lives of Gifted Violin Stars Hassid, Renardy, & Sitkovetsky

By Sasha Margolis When the thirty-year-old violinist Ginette Neveu perished in a plane crash in 1949, the music world experienced a deep sense of loss. In t... Read More...

Essential Historical Recordings: Violinist Erica Morini’s Silk-Smooth Tone

In a mid-twentieth-century music world dominated by male stars, Morini, a woman steeped in more sober Central European violin traditions, carved out a career as a top soloist.

Essential Historical Recordings: Violinist Ginette Neveu’s Tragically Short but Musically Rich Life

By Sasha Margolis The death of Ginette Neveu was one of the great tragedies in violin history. The French violinist was 30, and a still-rising star, when th... Read More...

Essential Historical Recordings: When Fritz Kreisler Changed How We Hear and Play Violin

By Sasha Margolis Fritz Kreisler, who forever changed the way we listen to and play the violin, was a disarmingly charming revolutionary. His music-making w... Read More...

Essential Historical Recordings: Violinist Zino Francescatti’s Virtuosity Extended from the Stage to the Page

Francescatti was one of the 20th century’s great soloists, with interpretations that were unfailingly gorgeous, often original, & never less than thrillingly virtuosic.

Essential Historical Recordings: Nathan Milstein was Born to Play the Fiddle

What Milstein brought to the music he performed was total clarity, when it came to both interpretive intent and violinistic articulation.