Ilya Kaler is a Russian virtuoso, a pupil of Leonid Kogan. He's a first-rate fiddler and an excellent musician. Paganini's once fiendish pyrotechnics hold no terrors for him, not even the whistling harmonics, and how nicely he can turn an Italianate lyrical phrase, as in the secondary theme of the first movement of the First Concerto. Then he can set off with panache into a flying staccato, bouncing his bow neatly on the strings when articulating the delicious spiccato finales of both works. Stephen Gunzenhauser launches into the opening movements with plenty of energy and aplomb and is a sympathetic accompanist throughout.

Kaler's playing of these Romantic sweetly-tuned works is excellent.

One of the most popular concertos in the repertoire, Brahms’ Violin Concerto was completed in 1878 and dedicated to his friend Joseph Joachim, whose cadenza is heard on this recording. An essentially lyrical work, the Concerto includes a slow movement of great beauty, which gives way to a Hungarian-style finale of mounting excitement. Schumann’s thoughtful and poetic Violin Concerto was not performed until 1937. In spite of the enthusiastic advocacy of Yehudi Menuhin, who saw in the Concerto a link between Beethoven and Brahms, it remains to this day an underrated work with many passages of great beauty.