Among the great performers of classical music, there is a grey zone in which resides an illustrious host of not-quite-stars, whose excellence is undisputed - among certain connoisseurs at any rate - and who are still venerated for at least one or two magnificent gramophone records, but who for obvious or obscure reasons never reached the champions' league.

The Hungarian violinist Johanna Martzy is a case in point. It was precisely because she made so few recordings that collectors latched onto her, and her LPs sometimes changed hands for grotesquely high sums. Several live recordings of her were found and released in the course of time, but they did little to change the overall picture.

The present recordings remain a rare attestation of the brilliance of Johanna Martzy's playing, and it ensures her everlasting fame, at least among connoisseurs.

Recorded 1952-1955