The Art of Violin
A documentary film by Bruno Monsaingeon devoted to the 20th century's greatest violinists,The Art of Violinreally cannot be faulted. The same, incidentally, can also be said of the similar volumes that cover the piano and singing, so there's never been a better time to collect  a personal audio-visual archive of some wonderful historical performers. The  added dimension provided by the painstakingly collected film material (here  featuring no fewer than 20 outstanding soloists) is of exceptional value when  observing violin technique, and the diversity of approaches presented here in  loving detail is in itself a subject for endless comparison. The material mixes  archive performance footage, much of which one might never have dreamed existed,  with interviews and documentary commentary. However, rather than turn the  project into a museum piece, Monsaingeon includes contributions from  contemporary figures such as Itzhak Perlman and Hilary Hahn. An absolute must.--Roger Thomas, Amazon.co.uk