We hope you enjoyed reading our article on the 20 greatest violinists of all time.
But who were the violinists that took part in our poll? And whom did they each nominate?
Well, we asked 100 of today’s leading soloists, chamber music players, orchestra leaders and a number of violists to nominate their three favourite violinists. You can find a full list of how the musicians voted below. Violists are marked with a ‘V’, while for those best known for their ensemble work, we have named the group in question.
Michael Barenboim
Adolf Busch
Fritz Kreisler
Nathan Milstein
Rachel Barton Pine
Itzhak Perlman
Sigiswald Kuijken
Maud Powell
Yuri Bashmet (V)
William Primrose (V)
Vadim Borisovsky (V)
Fyodor Druzhinin (V)
Lisa Batiashvili
Anne-Sophie Mutter
Jascha Heifetz
Leonidas Kavakos
Corina Belcea (Belcea Quartet)
Arthur Grumiaux
Joseph Silverstein
Ivry Gitlis
Joshua Bell
Jascha Heifetz
Fritz Kreisler
Josef Gingold
Nicola Benedetti
Yehudi Menuhin
Nathan Milstein
David Oistrakh
Pavlo Beznosiuk
Jascha Heifetz
Josef Roisman
Gidon Kremer
Fabio Biondi
David Oistrakh
Gidon Kremer
Reinhard Goebel
Marat Bisengaliev
Váša Příhoda
David Oistrakh
Stephen Bryant (BBC SO)
Jascha Heifetz
Albert Sammons
Hugh Bean
Renaud Capuçon
Christian Ferras
Nathan Milstein
Isaac Stern
Sarah Chang
David Oistrakh
Jascha Heifetz
Michael Rabin
Ray Chen
Jascha Heifetz
David Oistrakh
Janine Jansen
Levon Chilingirian
Manoug Parikian
Yehudi Menuhin
Joseph Szigeti
Peter Cropper (Lindsay Quartet)
Adolf Busch
Rudolf Kolisch
Sándor Végh
Brett Dean (V)
David Oistrakh
Frank Peter Zimmermann
Lakshminarayana Subramaniam
Eugene Drucker (Emerson Quartet)
Jascha Heifetz
Fritz Kreisler
Oscar Shumsky
Augustin Dumay
Isaac Stern
Nathan Milstein
Arthur Grumiaux
Edward Dusinberre (Takács Quartet)
Fritz Kreisler
Arthur Grumiaux
Ginette Neveu
James Ehnes
Jascha Heifetz
Fritz Kreisler
Itzhak Perlman
Bjarte Eike
Fritz Kreisler
Mark O’Connor
Andrew Manze
Isabelle Faust
Adolf Busch
Yehudi Menuhin
Dénes Zsigmondy
Julia Fischer
Yehudi Menuhin
David Oistrakh
Ginette Neveu
Vilde Frang
George Enescu
David Oistrakh
No third choice made
Vadim Gluzman
David Oistrakh
Isaac Stern
Gidon Kremer
Thomas Gould
David Oistrakh
Ivry Gitlis
Gidon Kremer
Philippe Graffin
Gidon Kremer
Philippe Hirschhorn
Josef Gingold
Ilya Gringolts
Yehudi Menuhin
Gidon Kremer
Thomas Zehetmair
Ida Haendel
Jascha Heifetz
Ginette Neveu
Isaac Stern
Viviane Hagner
Jascha Heifetz
Fritz Kreisler
Pinchas Zukerman
Chloë Hanslip
Ida Haendel
Leonid Kogan
Itzhak Perlman
David Harrington (Kronos Quartet)
Fritz Kreisler
‘Caliu’ Gheorghe Anghel
Dr N Rajam
Lesley Hatfield (BBC NOW)
David Oistrakh
Ginette Neveu
No third choice made
Daniel Hope
Fritz Kreisler
David Oistrakh
Jascha Heifetz
Fenella Humphreys
Fritz Kreisler
Josef Hassid
Sidney Griller
Janine Jansen
Arthur Grumiaux
Ginette Neveu
Philippe Hirschhorn
Veronika Jarušková (Pavel Haas Quartet)
David Oistrakh
Stéphane Grappelli
No third choice made
Leila Josefowicz
Gidon Kremer
Bronisław Huberman
Irvine Arditti
Leonidas Kavakos
Fritz Kreisler
Joseph Szigeti
Leonid Kogan
Nigel Kennedy
Isaac Stern
Jean-Luc Ponty
Yehudi Menuhin
Isabelle van Keulen
David Oistrakh
Gidon Kremer
Maxim Vengerov
Jennifer Koh
Bronisław Huberman
Joseph Szigeti
Josef Roisman & Alexander Schneider*
Rachel Kolly d’Alba
Christian Ferras
Ginette Neveu
Arthur Grumiaux
Patricia Kopatchinskaja
Fritz Kreisler
Ivry Gitlis
Gidon Kremer
Henning Kraggerud
David Oistrakh
Ginette Neveu
Joseph Szigeti
Pekka Kuusisto
Svend Asmussen
Mauno Järvelä
Patricia Kopatchinskaja
Jaime Laredo
Yehudi Menuhin
Joseph Szigeti
Isaac Stern
Jack Liebeck
Jascha Heifetz
Nathan Milstein
Maxim Vengerov
Cho-Liang Lin
Jascha Heifetz
Isaac Stern
Itzhak Perlman
Tasmin Little
Ginette Neveu
Ida Haendel
Yehudi Menuhin
Andrew Manze
Reinhard Goebel
Adolf Busch
Stuff Smith
Neville Marriner
Jascha Heifetz
Arthur Grumiaux
Joseph Szigeti
Rupert Marshall-Luck
Itzhak Perlman
Norbert Brainin
Gábor Tákacs-Nagy
Anthony Marwood
Adolf Busch
Joseph Szigeti
Albert Sammons
Robert McDuffie
Yehudi Menuhin
Jascha Heifetz** (see end of list for explanation)
Itzhak Perlman
Anne Akiko Meyers
Jascha Heifetz
Gidon Kremer
David Oistrakh
Roman Mints
Fritz Kreisler
David Oistrakh
Oleg Kagan
Priya Mitchell
Bronisław Huberman
Yehudi Menuhin
Gidon Kremer
Lydia Mordkovitch
David Oistrakh
Jascha Heifetz
George Enescu
Viktoria Mullova
Leonid Kogan
Viktor Tretiakov
Florin Niculescu
Tai Murray
Ginette Neveu
Toscha Seidel
Frank Peter Zimmermann
Anne-Sophie Mutter
Fritz Kreisler
David Oistrakh
Nathan Milstein
Gordan Nikolitch
Jacques Thibaud
Jascha Heifetz
August Wilhelmj
Krysia Osostowicz (Dante Quartet)
Yehudi Menuhin
Joseph Szigeti
Wanda Wilkomirska
Peter Oundjian
David Oistrakh
Itzhak Perlman
Pinchas Zukerman
Ruth Palmer
Viktoria Mullova
Miriam Fried
Ginette Neveu
Itzhak Perlman
Fritz Kreisler
Jascha Heifetz
Isaac Stern
Jean-Marc Phillips-Varjabédian (Trio Wanderer)
Jascha Heifetz
David Oistrakh
Christian Ferras
Jennifer Pike
Jascha Heifetz
Fritz Kreisler
Hugh Bean
Rachel Podger
Gidon Kremer
Ginette Neveu
Reinhard Goebel
Philippe Quint
David Oistrakh
Jascha Heifetz
Itzhak Perlman
Daniel Rohn
Jascha Heifetz
Henryk Szeryng
Pinchas Zukerman
Daniel Rowland (Brodsky Quartet)
Ivry Gitlis
David Oistrakh
Gidon Kremer
Pieter Schoeman (London Philharmonic Orchestra)
Jascha Heifetz
Pinchas Zukerman
Michael Rabin
Károly Schranz (Takács Quartet)
Joseph Szigeti
David Oistrakh
Yehudi Menuhin
Gil Shaham
Fritz Kreisler
Jascha Heifetz
David Oistrakh
Hagai Shaham
Jascha Heifetz
Fritz Kreisler
Nathan Milstein
Dmitry Sitkovetsky
Jascha Heifetz
David Oistrakh
Yehudi Menuhin
Alexander Sitkovetsky
Jascha Heifetz
Fritz Kreisler
Josef Suk
Peter Sheppard Skærved
Louis Krasner
Ralph Holmes
Emil Telmányi
Baiba Skride
David Oistrakh
Nathan Milstein
Henryk Szeryng
Callum Smart
David Oistrakh
Fritz Kreisler
Pinchas Zukerman
Valeriy Sokolov
Yehudi Menuhin
Isaac Stern
George Enescu
Alexandra Soumm
David Oistrakh
Leonid Kogan
Mikhail Kopelman
Simon Standage
Szymon Goldberg
Franco Gulli
Pinchas Zukerman
Arabella Steinbacher
Ivry Gitlis
Arthur Grumiaux
Nathan Milstein
Lara St John
Fritz Kreisler
Bronisław Huberman
Joseph Szigeti
Gábor Takács-Nagy (Takács Quartet)
Yehudi Menuhin
Joseph Szigeti
David Oistrakh
Antoine Tamestit (V)
David Oistrakh
Nathan Milstein
Frank Peter Zimmermann
Richard Tognetti
Ivry Gitlis
Fritz Kreisler
Sigiswald Kuijken
Yuri Torchinsky (BBC Philharmonic)
Jascha Heifetz
Fritz Kreisler
David Oistrakh
Matthew Trusler
Ruggiero Ricci
Jean-Jacques Kantorow
Nathan Milstein
Maxim Vengerov
Fritz Kreisler
Jascha Heifetz
David Oistrakh
Tamsin Waley-Cohen
Fritz Kreisler
Joseph Szigeti
Norbert Brainin
Elizabeth Wallfisch
Jascha Heifetz
David Oistrakh
Fritz Kreisler
Andrew Watkinson (Endellion Quartet)
Yehudi Menuhin
Joseph Szigeti
Adolf Busch
Frank Peter Zimmermann
David Oistrakh
Nathan Milstein
Arthur Grumiaux
Nikolaj Znaider
Jascha Heifetz
Nathan Milstein
Pinchas Zukerman
Pinchas Zukerman
Jascha Heifetz
Nathan Milstein
Isaac Stern
* First and second violinists of the Budapest String Quartet
** Robert McDuffie’s precise reason for Jascha Heifetz was: ‘He is a musical narcissist. He inspired me what not to do.’
