The British violinist Isolde Menges (1893-1976) was the most prominent female violinist in the first quarter of the 20th century. A student of the legendary Leopold Auer, Menges made her concerto début at the Queen’s Hall in London in 1913. Following the success of her début, she performed throughout the UK and Europe with such legendary conductors as Willem Mengelberg, Bruno Walter, Thomas Beecham and Henry Wood. Later in her career, she curtailed her solo appearances, forming a much admired piano trio with the noted British pianist Harold Samuel and founding the Menges String Quartet. In 1931 she joined the Royal College of Music where she taught for nearly 40 years.

Menges made the first recordings of three of the most well-known pieces ever composed for the violin: the Bach Chaconne, the Beethoven Violin Concerto and The Lark Ascending of Ralph Vaughan Williams, all of which are presented in this 2-CD set. As well as two popular Handel sonatas, this set includes Menges’s recordings of Bach and Schubert sonatas with the legendary pianists Harold Samuel and Arthur de Greef. The remainder of works are made up of such favourite short pieces as Wilhelmj’s popular transcriptions of the Bach Air on the G string and Schubert’s Ave Maria, Brahms’s Hungarian Dance no.7 arranged by Joachim and De Falla’s Danse espagnole arranged by Kreisler, as well as virtuoso showpieces by Wieniawski and Hubay.