In violin terms, if the second quarter of the 20th century saw the Great Individualists, the third quarter belonged to the Great Perfectionists: Heifetz, Milstein, Grumiaux, Oistrakh and Kogan brought the instrument to a peak never heard before or since. Suddenly they were gone, leaving Perlman on a lonely eminence, and today only Vadim Repin upholds their standard. The three violinists here are all worthy, especially Menuhin, to be mentioned in the same breath as the Perfect Five; and these visual compilations, while fragmentary as portraits, are often fascinating.

Ferras shared a teacher with Menuhin and a partiality to alcohol with Szeryng – in the Frenchmen’s case it proved fatal. Polish-born Szeryng, if too bumptious to be a profound interpreter, was a damned good one, especially in Mozart (represented here only by a Kreisler-isation). He had the measure of the Brahms Concerto, witness his RCA record with Monteux, and this live performance with another eminent French conductor will not disappoint: it sweeps and soars as the best Brahms does. We also get valuable glimpses of Paray’s conducting. Elsewhere we have wonderful demonstrations of Szeryng’s bow control, phrasing and stylistic sense, including a sterling Bach fugue. I miss only the Spanish and South American trifles I heard him play so mesmer-ically. Two 1975 bonus tracks add colour but sadly that very quality had by then departed from the playing. An endearing sidelight is that many tracks feature Tasso Janopoulo, who worked with Szeryng’s idol Thibaud.

Ferras, like Menuhin an Enescu disciple, shows his second-hand Romanian credentials with a nicely relaxed Hora staccato. But the heart and soul of his programme is a gorgeous Franck Sonata with his regular partner and mentor Pierre Barbizet (here described as his accompanist!); it features lovely soft playing from Ferras, who could spend too much time emoting in an all-purpose fashion. That is the only problem with this Sibelius Concerto, staunchly supported by Mehta and featuring fabulous viola solos (is the grande dame in the first viola chair Alice Merckel?). There is not enough relief from the soloist’s pumped-out vibrato and the slow movement is ground out so intensely from bar 1 that there is nowhere for Ferras to go. I did not enjoy the Stravinsky, misconceived by the soloist (with romantic touches, forsooth), shoddily accompanied and routinely conducted, with edgy violin sound. The short pieces are nicely played, especially the Fauré, but Ferras is rather upstaged by the ‘bonus’, Mozart’s K218 concerto with Zino Francescatti. It is no more than an everyday outing for the old fox and the sound is not first rate but it reveals in an instant what Ferras lacked: charisma.

Whatever the ‘prodigophiles’ may tell you, Menuhin was at his peak (with the odd off-day) in his forties, 1956 to 1966. His Franck Sonata from 1960 is as noble as his profile and at the piano, sister Hephzibah (like Barbizet) plays all the notes, still a shock to those of us who were reared on Cortot. The other fine performance here is Hephzibah’s beautiful ‘bonus’ rendering of Mendelssohn’s Variations sérieuses, which subtly brings out the work’s Bachian affinities. Schubert’s B flat Trio with Gendron is, like these artists’ commercial recording, pleasant but stubbornly unmemorable, though better balanced. Bartók’s Contrasts and movements from his First Sonata and Enescu’s Third – all in colour – are interesting, though Menuhin’s own contributions are scratchy and scrappy enough for me not to be in a hurry to view them again.

A minor but constant irritation with these EMI/IMG discs is that you have to click the zapper far too often to get what you want. Other firms’ products are more user-friendly. The notes to the Menuhin and Szeryng programmes are interesting but those for the Ferras go in for special pleading and verge on the nonsensical. In general the presentationis excellent, with plenty of photographs, and the sound is adequate for its time unless otherwise noted.