Violinist Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst, a friend of Mendelssohn, was one of the great virtuosi of his age, standing alongside Paganini, Vieuxtemps and Wieniawski. Like them, he left behind a series of compositions that showcase the violin’s potential. Two works stand out among the few of his pieces that are still performed today, both of them brilliant and technically-challenging works for solo violin: his arrangement of Schubert’s “Erlkönig’, published in 1854; and the last of his Six Polyphonic Stud...

• Le Roi des aulnes (Erlkönig) op. 26
• Étude Variations de concert sur The Last Rose of Summer