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‘Elman was the finest violinist in the world’ - From the Archive: June 1905

13 June 2025

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A 13-year-old Mischa Elman and 11-year-old Vivien Chartres (not 9, as stated in the text) astonish The Strad’s reviewer ‘Gamba’ with their technical prowess

Tiny little Miss VIVIEN CHARTRES is but nine years of age in this year. To hear this small dot attack the G minor Concerto by Bruch and the Moïse fantasie was something of a revelation, and surprising was the manner of her phrasing in the slow movement of the Concerto. I have seen it written that her tone was small but, though she played all but the Moïse fantasie upon a three-quarter sized violin, it seemed to me that her tone was comparatively prodigious, and certainly as large as that of any other of Sevcik’s pupils…

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