Ilya Gringolts, Alexandr Bulov - Wieniawski, Alard, Moszkowski: Violin Duets (1999)

Ilya Gringolts is an outstanding performer who of course has recorded a lot on DG and BIS labels and is a professor of violin (although he was a teenager when this discing was done in 1998); Alexander Bulov has not done more than one or maybe two other recordings. But with Gringolts, he is an equal contributor to the duo. Unlike most teenagers, who focus on hitting all the notes and dazzling the audience with their precocious pyrotechnics, these guys make the most out of the music, and needless to say, they have a formidable amount of technique. They take some interesting interpretive spins on the Wieniawski duos, particularly the familiar A minor and E major ones that are heard so often...and they take turns playing the 'primo' and 'secondo' parts. The Moszkowski and Alard, I had never heard prior to this, but they are excellent. Unfortunately this duo did not continue; perhaps they will reunite for more recordings sometime, because there's a lot of fine music for two violins that has never been recorded.