Oscar Shumsky - Mozart: Violin Sonatas (2021)

Five Mozart Violin Sonatas performed by the American violinist Oscar Shumsky (1917-2000), with Leopold Mittman at the piano. Renowned as ‘the violinist’s violinist’, Shumsky made few recordings in the early 1950s, and these performances display his magnificent artistry. The five Mozart sonata performances were originally recorded in 1951, released on the Allegro label in the US. The label went into bankruptcy the year after the recordings were made, and the original LPs are extremely rare. These performances have been digitally re-mastered from the original source material, and appear on CD for the first time. Oscar Shumsky’s two Allegro LPs of five Mozart sonatas feature the excellent pianist Leopold Mittman (also the regular partner of Mischa Elman). These five Mozart Sonata performances by Shumsky and Mittman have long been admired by violin cognoscenti for their brisk tempos and incisive clarity, coupled with deep expression and intimate tenderness. This CD reissue also provides a rare opportunity to hear the ‘Violin’ Sonata in B-flat, K.570. Although primarily known as work for solo piano, this piece was brought out in its first edition with an added violin part.