I was thinking of The Unfinished Violin when I added the name.
For Peter Knight, totally unclassical, Robbery With Violins from Parcel of Rogues. That now reminds me of Darryl Way…
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Alfredo Campoli is a wonderful violinist inho. Try the Tchaikovsky VC as a way in.
G
I don’t think anyone has mentioned Mozart. His five violin concertos were written while he was quite young, on the verge of becoming one of the greatest composers of all time. But his Concertante for Violin and Viola is a masterpiece. I have about half a dozen recordings ranging from Oistrakh and Heifetz to Podger.
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There is one out there with a Perlman and Zuckerman on DG. Israel Philharmonic/Mehta. Can’t ask for a better duo!
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She is quite a gal, and a pretty mean fiddler as well. I have a very luscious (and not at all ‘HIP’) EMI recording of her playing Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’ with the Vienna Philharmonic under her original mentor, Herbert von Karajan. He was very much responsible for getting her started as a very young teenager - I think that her first recording (Mozart’s Third and Fifth Violin Concertos) under Karajan was released when she was aged just thirteen. But, to be fair to Karajan, he had a distinguished history of bringing on young players.
It was, after all, Karajan’s insistence on appointing Sabine Mayer to the Berlin Philharmonic against the Orchestra’s wishes that led to the irretrievable breakdown of Karajan’s relationship with that great orchestra. Not that anyone in Vienna was complaining, as Karajan spent most of his final years conducting the Vienna Philharmonic.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned Sibelius….with Yasa Heifetz……one of my wife’s favourite….
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A favorite disc of mine is Perlman and Ashkenazy playing the three Brahms violin sonatas. Some people find Brahms difficult to enjoy. (Not me - he is in my top 5 composers.) Only one way to find out, though.
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I would add Ginette Neveu and Leonidas Kavakos’ interpretations of what is my favourite violin concerto.
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Thank you all for the suggestions, Where possible I’ve sampled them.
Favourites so far -
Hilary Hahn plays Bach Decca
Hilary Hahn JS Bach violin concertos LA chamber orchestra
Elgar violin concerto/vaughn Williams The Lark Ascending
Johan Sebastian Bach sonatas & partitas for solo violin Isabelle Faust
Appears that I like Hilary Hahn 
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Ms Hahn plays the violin quite well too!
Just been listening to a couple of concerts of Sebelius by Ms Hahn.
Both brought tears to my eyes.
Wow getting emotional over classical music at my age!
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Mozart’s five violin concertos played by Itzhak Perlman are my personal high water mark, with Anne-Sophie Mutter playing Brahms and Mendelssohn violin concertos very close behind, both on DG.
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You won’t be disappointed!
If you want a good fiddler that’s not classical listen to Duncan Chisholm and the album Affric to start with
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Elgar’s Violin Concerto, which has been mentioned above, has had some wonderful recordings over the years.
Its first recording was made in EMI’s Abbey Road Studios (in the 1930s) by a very young Yehudi Menuhin under the composer’s baton.
Later recordings have been made by the likes of Alfredo Campoli (Decca Ace of Diamonds), Itzakh Perlman (EMI), Pinchas Zuckerman (CBS), Nigel Kennedy (EMI, two different recordings).
My favoured recording is Nigel Kennedy’s first, with Vernon Handley conducting the London Philharmonic.
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Violinists I can recommend would be Christian Ferras (from the past 
) and Lisa Batiashvili (from the present ).
I earlier mentioned Ysaye. This cheap-as-chips Naxos recording comes highly recommended…
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Christian Ferras, a Frenchman, was one of Karajan’s favourite soloists, and they recorded a number of the best-known concertos together early in Karajan’s Berlin years.
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