Erica Morini

Erica Morini (1905-1995), born and trained in Vienna, managed, as one of the first female violinists of the first half of the 20th-century, to build an international career.

This was unusual at a time when the concert platforms were still dominated by male soloists. Morini started out as a child prodigy; following sensational débuts with the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig and the Berlin Philharmonic under Arthur Nikisch, she performed at Carnegie Hall in New York for the first time in 1921. Morini, who was of Jewish descent, emigrated to the US in the late 1930s, extending her career in that country. Her artistic career lasted for over five decades; however, she made few commercial recordings.

Morini is particularly impressive in live recordings, including this concert recording of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto made in 1952 with the RIAS Symphony Orchestra Berlin and Ferenc Fricsay. Her art as a violinist becomes apparent in an exemplary fashion, explaining why Morini was considered by some to be the greatest violinist of the twentieth century. Her sophisticated mastery of virtuoso pieces and baroque sonatas is also impressively documented by the RIAS recordings with Michael Raucheisen.