It was Eugène Ysaÿe (1858-1931), an outstanding virtuoso, and one of the greatest violinists of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, who showed that composing for unaccompanied violin had not come to a halt. In successfully reviving the genre his Six Sonatas for Unaccompanied Violin opened the way to the later sonatas by Bartók and Prokofiev, those by Hindemith and the preludes and fugues by Reger. Ysaÿe's sonatas also set a new standard by which to judge a violinist's technical proewss. On this recording, Swiss born Rachel Kolly d’Alba, plays the ex-Smith Stradivarius violin. This violin, made in 1727, is in a superb state of preservation. It has a noble, balanced sound, with a particular warmth to the high notes and an attractive, earthy sonority on the lower strings offering a wealth of expressive possibilities.

Rachel Kolly d'Alba was born 1981 in Lausanne (Switzerland) and had her first lessons on the violin and piano when she was five years old. She débuted as a violin soloist at the age of twelve and is now considered one of the most talented Swiss violinists, performing in numerous international venues and winning many international competitions.