The great Belgian violinist Alfred Dubois (1898-1949) is remembered today as the link between his teacher Eugène Ysaÿe and pupil Arthur Grumiaux. But Dubois was regarded as one of the most important violinists in the years between the First and Second World War. Not only was he a major soloist in his own right, but he was an important proponent of chamber music through his piano trio known as the Trio de la Cour de Belgique with the pianist Emile Bosquet and cellist Maurice Dambois.

This CD features the only two concertos Dubois ever recorded; both of these seminal recordings were made with the Belgian conductor Désiré Defauw who later became Director of the Chicago Symphony. The Violin Concerto no.6 in E flat ‘by Mozart’ was actually written by the Mannheim-born composer and violinist Johann Friedrich Eck; nevertheless, it was extremely popular in the mid-20th century when it was frequently performed by Jacques Thibaud, Christian Ferras and Henryk Szeryng, all of whom recorded the piece.

Dubois’s premiere recording of the Vieuxtemps Violin Concerto no.5 is a superb composition, rich in musical ideas and craftsmanship. Although written as an examination piece, its musical merit has established it as one of the standard concerto in the violin repertoire. It was a favourite of no less than Jascha Heifetz, Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman, and is known as the ‘Grétry’ Concerto because of its quotation from André Grétry’s opera Lucile.