Born in France in 1823 to a family of Spanish descent, Edouard Lalo was a violinist and viola player before finding success as a composer in his fifties. Among the most popular works in the violinist’s repertoire, Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole is actually a Spanish-inflected violin concerto, dedicated to and given its first performance by the virtuoso Pablo Sarasate, whose Carmen Fantasy is also included here. The young violinist Howard Zhang, who plays a rare Felice Guadagnini violin on this recording, won first prize in the 2001 Irving M. Klein International String Competition and has received the Governor of New Jersey’s award for his outstanding achievements in the arts.