James Ehnes JAMES NEWTON HOWARD - AARON JAY KERNIS Violin Concertos BRAMWELL TOVEY Stream of Limelight

This program features the world premiere recordings of three works written for violinist James Ehnes. Familiar to movie fans the world over, James Newton Howard has composed over 120 film scores. Upon being commissioned to write a violin concerto, Howard admitted to feeling, ''thrilled, excited, expectant and ultimately terrified.'' Pulitzer Prize winning composer Aaron Jay Kernis first composed for Ehnes in 2007 and a few years later his Violin Concerto followed. Bramwell Tovey and James Ehnes's musical relationship dates back to 1990, and they have performed together countless times. Stream of Limelight gives James's incredible technique ample opportunity to dazzle, and is a superb finale to this fascinating album of new compositions.

Franziska Pietsch / Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin / Cristian Macelaru PROKOFIEV Violin Concertos

The violinist Franziska Pietsch, the “Anne-Sophie Mutter of East Germany”  

(W Dulisch)  

Stupendous stage presence, supreme musicianship and outstanding instrumental prowess; transformation of political repression to a personal musical success: the violinist Franziska Pietsch cuts her own path, away from the standard soloistic career. From promising star of the GDR with a burgeoning solo career to boycott, via a new beginning, chamber music and leading orchestras back to being a soloist, now enriched by a transformed understanding of her own role: with this recording of the Prokofiev Violin Concertos, Franziska Pietsch has come full circle. Thanks to her intensive engagement with chamber music and her experience as a concert master, Franziska Pietsch’s performances as a soloist are not only world­class, but also characterised by an exceptional sense of chamber­like intimacy. 

Born in East Berlin, she received her first violin lessons from her father at the age of five. She made her debut at the Komische Oper Berlin aged eleven, after which she regularly performed as a soloist alongside renowned orchestras of the Eastern Bloc. She entered the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler as a junior student, where she studied with Werner Scholz. As an emerging talent, she enjoyed special state support until her father escaped to the West in 1984. Two years of reprisals by the regime followed, heavily influencing Franziska Pietsch’s understanding of music: deprived of any possibility of playing concerts or taking lessons, her chosen path towards hope – against desperation, refusal, fear and despotism – led inwards. Music became the only language in which she was able to express herself freely and which gave her the necessary strength to withstand external circumstances, continuing to hope for freedom. These were the origins of the intensity and artistic depth which characterise Franziska Pietsch’s playing to the present day.  (Excerpt from the liner Notes)