A new historic recording by the American violinist Ruggiero Ricci has recently been made available.

Born in California in 1918, Ricci made his public debut when he was just ten years old, and an appearance at Carnegie Hall soon followed. At fourteen, he undertook an extensive tour of Europe and continued with his solo engagements until the arrival of the Second World War, which saw him enlist in the Air Force.

During the war, Ricci performed a great deal of unaccompanied repertoire, since pianists were not readily available. He explored repertoire by Bach, Wieniawski, Kreisler, Ernst, and Bartók, but above all, the caprices of Paganini, and in 1947, he made the first recording of these pieces in their original versions.

These were part of a collection of more than 500 recordings that Ricci made over the course of his career, which were released on every major label. In his seven decades on the stage, Ricci also performed more than 6,000 live concerts in 65 different countries.

He studied initially with Louis Persinger, and his later teachers included Michel Piastro, Paul Stassevitch, and Georg Kulenkampf.

Alongside his performing career, Ricci was a prolific pedagogue, teaching at Indiana University, the Juilliard School, the University of Michigan, and the Mozarteum Salzburg. His pedagogical book Left Hand Violin Technique is published by G. Schirmer.

You can view the recording, which is of Paganini's 24th Caprice, in full below.