If Max Rostal’s name tends to be omitted from dispatches these days, the Philadelphia-born violinist Berl Senofsky (1926-2002) suffers a worse fate still. In 1955 he became the first American to win the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium, and he subsequently founded the American Artists International Foundation, which prepared young violinists for competitions.

Senofsky was a striking player cast in the style of the old Russian school (his parents, both violinists, had moved to the United States from the Soviet Union), his vibrato fast and expressive, his reflexes razor-sharp, his technique remarkably sure. The only Senofsky recording I was aware of years ago was a compelling account of the Brahms Concerto with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Rudolf Moralt, an Epic recording on vinyl resulting from his triumph in Belgium, put out here by Philips as part of its bargain ‘Classical Favourites’ series. Aside from that, and a couple of recitals issued on CD by Bridge Records, there’s not much else to stir the memory. So why the obscurity?

Isaac Stern’s hegemony around American concert life is posited by Rhine Classics’ excellent annotator Gary Lemco as a possible reason, just as it was in the case of Aaron Rosand. Sad, yes, but this Senofsky double pack is revelatory, especially Brahms’s Third Sonata, a thrilling account with pianist Claude Frank, recorded around the time Senofsky triumphed in Belgium, and an intensely moving Double Concerto from four years later with Gregor Piatigorsky’s assistant at the Curtis Institute, Shirley Trepel, a superb player in her own right. The rest consists of Brahms’s Second Sonata, Strauss’s Sonata in E flat (both with pianist Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden) and, best of all, the First Sonata of Saint-Saëns where, like Jascha Heifetz – a sure influence – Senofsky alternates serenity with dazzling virtuosity at speed; Ellen Mack is his excellent pianist. A wonderful release that launches Berl Senofsky into the heady realms of collectable violin virtuosos.

This article originally appeared in the October 2024 issue of Gramophone magazine. Never miss an issue – subscribe to Gramophone today