Until now, there was no series of books in French providing portraits of the greatest musicians of the 20th century, instrument by instrument, with information about the musicians’ lives as well as their art.

That is the goal of this new series about the great passers of music: the first two volumes in the series are devoted to pianists and violinists.
Each book will present 50 portraits, preceded by a general introduction.
Only those musicians whose careers have been accomplished have been included. These lively, extensive portraits – several pages each ¬¬– provide essential biographical elements while at the same time helping to pierce the mystery of each one’s unique genius, their repertory, the specificity of their playing style and the highlights of their discography, etc.
Musical illustrations were selected, focusing on one particular piece which had a special significance in each musician’s career or was particularly representative of their art. Those pieces are available on the CD that comes with each book. Each excerpt is a whole piece, not just a snippet (e.g. a movement).

The Great Violinists of the 20th Century
Georges Enesco, Zino Francescatti, Ivry Gitlis, Arthur Grumiaux, Jascha Heifetz, Oleg Kagan, Leonid Kogan, Fritz Kreisler, Gidon Kremer, Yehudi Menuhin, Nathan Milstein, Ginette Neveu, David and Igor Oistrakh, Itzhak Perlman, Isaac Stern, Henryk Szeryng and more.
Each portrait is illustrated with a photo (concert program, autographed photo) often from the author’s personal collection.

A central section presents the illustrations from over a dozen collector’s-item album covers.
The book has also been enhanced with two prefaces, one by Etienne Vatelot, the master violin-maker, and the other by violonist Renaud Capuçon.