Patricia Kopatchinskaja SCHOENBERG Pierrot Lunaire

 

PIERROT LUNAIRE

 

Francesca Dego / Francesca Leonardi IL CANNONE

 

IL CANNONE

 

Alexander Krichel AN DIE FERNE GELIEBTE

 

AN DIE FERNE GELIEBTE

 

Charlie Siem / Itamar Golan BETWEEN THE CLOUDS

 

BETWEEN THE CLOUDS

 

Gili Schwarzman / Guy Braunstein / Susanna Yoko Henkel / Amihai Grosz / Alisa Weilerstein OLD SOULS

                                                                     OLD SOULS

Maxim Vengerov / Shanghai Symphony Orchestra / Long Yu GATEWAYS

Deutsche Grammophon released Gateways today, the first of a series of albums featuring works by major Chinese composers. The album, featuring Maestro Long Yu and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, includes two works by Qigang Chen, as well as Rachmaninov’s “Symphonic Dances” and Kreisler’s “Tambourin chinois”, with Maxim Vengerov as the soloist. 

Looking ahead, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra's 140th Anniversary Summer Worldwide Tour led by Maestro Long Yu debuts at the BBC Proms, Edinburgh International Festival, Wolf Trap and Ravinia Festival and returns to Lucerne Festival, Grafenegg, and Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam from August 14 to September 1 with soloists Eric Lu, Alisa Weilerstein, and Frank Peter Zimmermann.​

Vengerov’s sparkle is pleasing, especially after that career-threatening arm injury over a decade ago. But the biggest sonic impact here comes from Long Yu’s excellent Shanghai band, bathed in resplendent recorded sound...the musicians’ suavity is also showcased in a glossy trip through Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances. (The Times)

Rosanne Philippens / Julien Quentin DEDICATIONS

It began with a piece which I fell in love with: Eugène Ysaÿe’s Poème élégiaque. You have to tune the bottom violin string a tone lower. That explains the dark character, which you hear particularly in the middle, which is a funeral march. Ysaÿe dedicated it to Gabriël Fauré. And so the idea for this CD was born: violin music by composers who honoured and inspired one another. I found out, for example, that Fauré often visited the famous singer Pauline Viardot’s salon. It was there that he premiered the Romance. At first it sounds like a rather sweet Fauré, but passions rise high in the middle. Fauré was briefly engaged to a daughter of Viardot. The Russian writer Ivan Toergenjev, Viardot’s lover, used the affaire in his short story Le chant de l’amour triomphant, on which, in turn, Ernest Chausson based his Poème, with its dreamy music and a tragic ring. Chausson dedicated it to Ysaÿe and drew inspiration from his Poème élégiaque, as one hears in the high violin trills at the end of both pieces.

Gabrysia Balcerek / Sinfonia Viva / Tomasz Radziwonowicz WIENIAWSKI - KREISLER - HUBAY - SARASATE

This release is the debut album of an extremely talented young violinist, presenting a handful of miniatures of classical music arranged by Tomasz Radziwonowicz for violin, with the accompaniment of string orchestra. Gabrysia Balcerek began learning to play the violin at the age of 7 at Krzysztof Komeda-Trzcinski Music School in Ostrów Wielkopolski under the supervision of Agata Falkiewicz, MA. Currently, she is a student of the Poznan Mieczyslaw Karlowicz General Education Secondary Music School, where she develops her talent under the direction of Karina Gidaszewska. From an early age, she has been participating in many violin competitions. In total, she is a laureate of more than forty Polish and international violin competitions.

Alexander Krichel AN DIE FERNE GELIEBTE

From Hamburg to the international stage of classical music stars: raised and educated in Hamburg and London, Alexander Krichel – who has not yet turned 30 – already has several CD recordings and concert performances across the globe to his name. His debut album even won him an ECHO Klassik award as »Newcomer of the Year«.

Born in Hamburg in 1989, Alexander Krichel started to play the piano at the age of six and became a pre student at Hamburg University of Music and Drama at the age of 15. From 2007, he continued his studies with the legendary Vladimir Krainev at Hanover University of Music and Drama. He has also studied with Dmitri Alexeev at Royal College of Music in London, completing his studies in June 2016 with distinction. From 2012 to 2015, Alexander was part of the stART programme for young artists at Bayer Kultur. He is also a scholarship holder of Oscar and Vera Ritter Foundation, Berenberg Bank Foundation, PE Förderungen and the Otto group.

Quatuor Modigliani PORTRAITS

Modigliani, one of the greatest portrait painters, is the inspiration for this journey made up of pieces with unique characters. Designed as a portrait gallery, this new opus brings together masterpieces and discoveries. The look or here the ear, linger on the curves, the lines, the singular melodic drawing of each of these partitions. Filigree is another portrait, that of the quartet.

Ray Chen THE GOLDEN AGE

Recognized as a musician of “phenomenal talent” by The Washington Post, Chen has handpicked a selection of works for his new album which celebrates the ‘golden age’ of the violin – not only in terms of repertoire, but also in performance style and ingenuity. The centrepiece is Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto which was recorded in August last year with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Robert Trevino.

The album opens with a piece for string quartet which has already garnered over 50,000 hits on Chen’s YouTube channel. Titled, “A New Satiesfaction”, it features “Gymnopédie No.1” by Erik Satie with an allusion to Rossini’s “William Tell Overture”. Performed by Chen and his Made in Berlin quartet, the arrangement of “A New Satiesfaction” is done by the group’s cellist, Stephan Koncz. The other violinist in the quartet is Noah Bendix-Balgley while Amihai Grosz plays viola. All of Chen’s collaborators in the group are members of the Berlin Philharmonic and they recorded together in the city last November.

The album also features compositions and arrangements by such legendary violinists as Fritz Kreisler and Jascha Heifetz, which Chen performs with pianist Julien Quentin. Among them are Kreisler’s “Syncopation and Schön Rosmarin” and Cyril Scott’s “Lotus Land”, plus Heifetz’s transcriptions of “Estrellita” by Manuel Ponce and George Gershwin’s “Summertime”. Stephan Koncz has also arranged Debussy’s Clair de lune and the traditional Australian favourite “Waltzing Matilda” (Ray hails from Australia and Taiwan).

Chen teased The Golden Age with a custom-built computer game: http://umusic.digital/goldenviolin/. “This album acknowledges the various styles of the past, but also retains one important philosophy: as long as we keep inspiring and producing, perhaps what we create now will one day be deemed worthy of being named a golden age,” says Chen.

Chen is among the most compelling young violinists today. He has performed with many of the world’s leading musicians in concert halls across the globe and he has also amassed a huge online following (including more than 2 million fans on SoundCloud) through quirky, self-made videos and engaging social media posts.

Wang Tao / Akimi Fukuhara SPIN

He is the first musician in China to receive a master's degree in clarinet from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, a top music school in the country. 

Wang has released 12 albums that are being used as teaching material at the conservatory. He also won the best instrumental-album award at the Golden Melody Awards in Taiwan. 

As the husband of former Olympic gymnastics champion Liu Xuan, he is used to being pursued by the media. 

But last year, when he sent producers some 40 music samples from his new record company, Universal Music, the feedback he got caught him off guard. 

While the young musician had expected positive reactions, he was told the samples were "interesting" or "disastrous". 

"It's something I have never experienced before," says Wang, 37, who was considered gifted since his childhood. "I didn't feel depressed. Instead, I was excited because I knew that it's time for me to change."

Irina Muresanu FOUR STRINGS AROUND THE WORLD

Irina Muresanu writes of this release: “It all started when I tackled Mark O’Connor’s “Cricket Dance.” It is a short, straightforward tune that requires the skills of an intermediate player, and yet it took me an absurdly long time to learn. To put things in context: I was capable of learning whole violin concertos in a matter of weeks, so why was the O’Connor piece so hard to get under my fingers? Could it have been because it was written in a musical style completely different than my classical training? And if so, how many more different languages were there outside of the traditional/standard repertoire? With this idea, I started my exploration of works reflecting the ways the violin (including its ancestors and relatives) is employed in musical settings worldwide. What resulted is Four Strings Around the World, a celebration of diverse cultures refracted through the unifying voice of solo violin, a project which immersed me in sounds and colors I didn’t even realize could be produced by my own instrument…” “irresistible…not just a virtuoso but an artist” (The Boston Globe) “Musical luster, melting lyricism and colorful conception made Irina Muresanu’s performance especially admirable” (LA Times)

Anna Wandtke VIOLIN SOUL

In todays world there are few stereotypes concerning string instruments. Contrabasses, due to their size, are associated with small range of motion and peculiarly understood coarseness. In the music community there are thousands of jokes concerning violas and viola players. Traditionally, the most noble roles are attributed to cello and violin. The first of the abovementioned instruments is perceived as a romantic and passionate instrument; the violin is seen as mesmerizing and calls to mind brilliant virtuosos with technical skills. This release disproves some of those stereotypes. Anna Wandtke, an outstanding violinist, proves that violin can beautifully sing and talk about passions, feelings, and emotions without resigning from showing a perfect technique with a pinch of spectacularity. All of these elements produce a perfectly composed whole.

Daniel Röhn / Paul Rivinius THE KREISLER STORY

When talent is passed on from generation to generation, it often happens in an unpresuming way. Such is the case with Daniel Röhn – one of the most remarkable and talented violinists of the present day. What is so fascinating about him and his playing is his natural approach to great traditions and his clear perspective on them. Over a number of decades, both his grandfather and father were renowned concertmasters on the universally unique German orchestral scene; now the new generation has joined those ranks as a soloist and chamber musician, who will no doubt contribute significantly to the world of violin. His first two CD releases featuring Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto and virtuoso 19th-century works for violin and piano earned him several international awards. When describing his playing, it is hardly sufficient to simply mention his seemingly effortless, brilliant virtuosity. Daniel Röhn’s heart-meltingly warm tone and his almost narrative gestures are what endear audiences to him – he has a way of expressing himself through music that we might almost have thought had been lost. (Berlin Classics)