Arthur Catterall (1883-1943) was one of most noted British violinists during the interwar period of the 20th century. Hailing from Lancashire, Arthur Catterall came from a musical family and studied with Willy Hess, the leader of the Hallé Orchestra, before working with Adolf Brodsky at the Royal Manchester College of Music. Brodsky had given the world premiere of the Tchaikovsky Concerto, and soon led the orchestra with the young Catterall as his soloist.

In 1906 Catterall performed Joachim’s Hungarian Concerto at a Queen’s Hall Promenade concert, and was soon appointed leader for the Queen’s Hall Promenade Orchestra, before becoming concertmaster of the Liverpool Philharmonic in 1914. Although Catterall was offered the position of concertmaster by the Boston Symphony in August 1920 he chose to remain in Britain where he became leader of the Hallé Orchestra. In 1929, Catterall was chosen as leader of the newly-established BBC Symphony Orchestra under Adrian Boult, and moved to London where he also became a professor at the Royal Academy of Music. In the 1930s, Catterall gave the premieres of both the Coleridge-Taylor and E.J. Moeran Concertos, and became so renowned that he was featured in the once-popular Wills cigarette cards, alongside such eminent world-renowned musicians as Nellie Melba, Joachim, Sarasate, Hans Richter and Sir Henry Wood.

Along with Albert Sammons, Catterall was the preeminent British violinist in the 1930s. He was particularly associated with the Slavic repertoire such as the Tchaikovsky, Dvořák and Sibelius concertos, none of which Sammons played. This CD contains three major compositions for solo violin: the Brahms and Franck violin sonatas, as well as the Mozart Fifth Concerto conducted by Hamilton Harty. Unavailable for a century, the premiere recordings of these three beloved masterworks are now brought back in digital restorations that allow us to hear the forgotten artistry of one of Britain’s finest violinists.