Opus Kura has issued new transfers of George Enescu's 1929 studio recordings of Corelli, Chausson, Kreisler, Pugnani and Handel, together with a 1950 recording of him playing his own third sonata (with Célingy Chailley-Richez). These 1929 Enescu recordings (almost the only ones he ever made, in his prime) are a whole master class in the art of violin playing and illustrate why the voice, the piano and the violin have triumphed over all other musical instruments when it comes to repertoire and popularity.

With Enescu, we hear incredible right arm techniques, truly magnificent trills, a highly sophisticated range of vibrato, the ability to paint with a broad palette of colours, the ability to combine rubato with firm rhythmic control. Corelli's La Follia variations illustrate almost every aspect of a violinist's art -- and also show you do not need to indulge in baroque follies in order to play 18th century music with no excesses of 19th century romanticism.

I expected Enescu in 1950 to sound well past his prime (he was partly crippled with a spinal disorder). But his playing of his own third sonata, despite the obstacles, is still better than anyone else I can think of. It is really tragic that the recording industry did not fight to record Enescu during the 1926-33 period; we have very few performance souvenirs of this great violinist.