The first ever collection of the complete RCA recordings of violinist Erick Friedman, Jascha Heifetz’s first student. Great concertos and sonatas plus encores in a 9-CD edition. The complete set of Bach’s Violin Sonatas for the first time on CD. Informative booklet with full discographical notes, facsimile LP sleeves and labels.

Erick Friedman was the first person ever to study with the legendary Jascha Heifetz. The New York Times called him “a master violinist … with a distinctly personal and identifiable style of playing.” The authoritative string players’ magazine The Strad declared that his “virtuosity was staggering”. Erick Friedman, who died in 2004, is largely remembered today by string players and aficionados, yet he was regarded as one of the finest American-born violinists of the 20th century.

Sony Classical’s new 9-CD box set is sure to trigger a revival of interest in this outstanding musician and his achievements in the recording studio. Though he never completely emerged from his teacher’s shadow, Friedman went on to have a major career, and between 1962 and 1966 he followed up the success of the Bach Double Concerto recording with an impressive RCA discography. It is all here in this new reissue, including the Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn concertos (with Seiji Ozawa and the London Symphony Orchestra), the Prokofiev First Concerto (with Erich Leinsdorf and the Boston Symphony, never before released on CD), shorter showpieces by Paganini, Sarasate, Wieniawski, Saint-Saëns, as well as Friedman’s two Grammy-nominated recordings: the Franck and Debussy Violin Sonatas (with André Previn) and the Bach Violin Sonatas (with harpsichordist Bruce Prince-Joseph).