Hungarian-born Joseph Szigeti is undoubtedly one of the great violinists of the last century. Trained by the legendary Jenö Hubay, he was admired by Joseph Joachim, thrilled the Soviet Union with Prokofiev's First Violin Concerto, debuted in 1925 under Leopold Stokowski with triumphant success at Carnegie Hall, settled in the USA in the 1940s and became a close friend of his compatriot Bela Bartok. All his recordings for Columbia from 1940 to 1956 can be found on 17 CDs. In addition to the classical recordings of Brahms's concerts (with Eugene Ormandy), Beethoven (with Bruno Walter), as well as Bartok's Rhapsody No. 1 and Busoni's early Violin Concerto, chamber music works can be heard here. From Bach, Handel, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms to Ravel, Stravinsky and Hindemith, many of them appear on CD for the first time. " He was considered an intellectual among the violin virtuosos of the 20th century. Driven by curiosity, Joseph Szigeti expanded the scope of expression of his instrument with new dimensions.", it was said about him on Deutschlandfunk. His top-class musical colleagues include Pablo Casals, George Szell, Fritz Stiedry, Benny Goodman, the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra.