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ID: TLS064
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Subcollection: ViolinBrahms: Sonate für Klavier und Violine d-moll / D minor, Op. 108
Joachim: Drei Stücke für Violine und Klavier, Op. 2; Romanze C-Dur / C major, Bewegt
Schumann: Drei Romanzen für Violine und Klavier, Op.22
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| 18.00 eur Temporarily out of stock |
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ID: SIGCD224
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Subcollection: Violin |
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ID: TLS023
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Collection:
Chamber Music
Subcollection: ViolinMartinů: Duo concertant für zwei Violinen und Orchester /for two violins and orchestra (1937 ; Streichquartett/ String Quartet No. 6 (1946) ; Concerto da Camera für Violine, Klavier, Perkussion und Streicher/for violin, piano, percussion and string orchestra (1941)
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ID: QTZ2002
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Subcollection: PianoThe debut disc by one of the most talented and acclaimed young violinists to emerge in recent years. Liebeck has established an international reputation for mature, intense and virtuosic performances and this disc of early 20th Century works demonstrates these characteristics in abundance. Partnered here by the virtuoso, award-winning pianist, Katya Apekisheva, this is duo playing of the highest calibre.
Works for Violin & Piano
In 1943, Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) was evacuated, along with many other prominent artists, to Alma-Ata (Almaty) in modern-day Kazakhstan while the Soviet army fought against the Germans in the West. It was here that he wrote his Sonata for Flute and Piano Op 94 which, at the suggestion of David Oistrakh, he transcribed the following year for violin. The amount of revision needed was minimal and indeed the piano part is exactly the same in both versions.
The Sonata is in stark contrast to the huge upheaval that was taking place on the other side of the country and Prokofiev himself described the work as "perhaps inappropriate at the moment, but pleasant". The key of D Major is perhaps a conscious reference to the Classical Symphony and certainly the Sonata follows the classical model closely, even incorporating all elements of the standard first-movement sonata-form structure although the boisterous Russian finale has more in common with later models. Prokofiev was reputedly inspired to compose the Sonata after hearing the French flautist Georges Barrere, one of the great exponents of 19th Century French flute music as well as the dedicatee of Edgar Varese's experimental Density 21.5 and it is perhaps appropriate that he should have been the motivating force behind this work which harks back to earlier forms and yet is very much of its time.
The violinist Eugene Ysaye (1858-1931) was held in high esteem by his Parisian contemporaries as a powerful interpreter of their works. These famous figures included Saint-Saëens, Debussy, Franck and Chausson who all dedicated works to him (indee Chausson's Poeme was written for Ysaye).
As he was primarily a performer, Ysaye not compose a large catalogue of works and almost all of them were violin pieces. Ysaye's six solo violin sonatas were inspired by the young Joseph Szigeti's performance of a Bach solo sonata in 1923. Ysaye is said to have been so inspired that he immediately locked himself away for twenty four hours and emerged with all six in sketch form. Each sonata was dedicated and tailored to a violinist of his time; Szigeti, Thibaud, Enesco, Kreisler, Crickboom and Quiroga. The First and Second Sonatas follow a similar movement structure to Bach's solo Sonatas and Partitas. Ysaye even quoted the E major Partita in his 2nd sonata ("Obsession") symbolising and perhaps teasing Jacques Thibaud about his obsession with its opening.
By the Third Sonata (featured here), Ysaye ideas started to move more into his own unique and personal sound world with more chromaticism and free-flowing movement. The sonata is dominated by a fiery and distinctive main thematic idea that develops right until the very end of the piece. He managed to combine this idea with many different episodes of colour and figuration in a way that only a musician with intimate knowledge of the mechanics and capabilities of the violin could. Technically very demanding though the piece is, it is so well tailored to the nature of the violin that it is very playable and has become one of the staples of the violin repertoire. JL.
Ernest Chausson (1855-1899) came to music relatively late in life and was often considered something of an outsider, partly by virtue of his relatively well-off background which meant that he was financially independent throughout his life but also for purely musical reasons.
His music bears the hallmarks of many of the great influences of his day, including Franck, Massenet and Wagner but also exhibits the outcome of his own personal interests and explorations. Towards the end of his life, Chausson became increasingly interested in Russian literature and the work of the Metaphysical poets and the Poeme is based on a short story by Turgenev. Originally titled "Le chant de l'amour triomphant: Poeme symphonique pour violon et orchestre" it was subsequently reduced to "Poeme pour violon et orchestre" and finally simply "Poeme".
The Poeme was written for and dedicated to the man who gave its premiere, Eugene Ysaye Although the Poeme was written for one of the greatest virtuosos of his day, it is essentially lyrical in style and focuses on emotional intensity rather than technical pyrotechnics, an approach that reflected Ysaye view that virtuosity should never be an end in itself but, rather, a valuable tool in the violinist's overall technique. It is seamlessly constructed in one movement and demonstrates Chausson's ability to combine complete command of form and structure while allowing the music to sound freely rhapsodic and lyrical.
Of Chausson, one contemporary wrote "all his works exhale a dreamy sensitiveness which is peculiar to him. His music is constantly saying the word 'cher"
In common with his younger contemporary Fauré chamber music runs across Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) sizeable (and now neglected) output - from the often bravura ensemble works of the 1860s and '70s to the autumnal sonatas and character pieces of his last years. In 1885, his First Violin Sonata was written for and dedicated to Martin Marsick - teacher of, among others, Thibaud, Enescu and Flesch. The influence of Liszt is evident in the thematic transformation which operates throughout the piece, as also in the linking of the movements into two complementary pairs - a procedure which Saint-Saëns repeated only in his 'Organ Symphony', written in memory of Liszt the following year.
The darkly sensuous idea which opens the first movement has a fluid, rhythmic profile - in marked contrast with the wistful second theme, which retains its formal outline throughout. There is no development as such, but a modified reprise of the two themes, followed by a sombre coda which tapers away in a poetic transition to the Adagio. The main melody, a beautifully-judged dialogue, treads a fine line between sentimentality and pathos typical of Saint-Saëns. It twice alternates with a more impulsive (though related) idea, and closes in a mood of tranquil tenderness.
The Mendelssohnian scherzo evolves almost entirely from the tripping five-bar phrase with which it begins. Note how, in the brief trio section, the piano continues the underlying rhythm while the violin derives from it a more songful melody. A curtailed reprise, then a passage of pensive anticipation - leading into the finale. The main theme is a brilliant moto perpetuo, culminating in a high-flown melodic gesture. As in the opening movement, these ideas are modified rather than developed as such - working up to a coda which effectively integrates the two and rounds off the whole work in a stream of exhilarating passagework.
Copyright: Richard Whitehouse, 2003 |
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ID: STR33897
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Subcollection: Violin |
| 18.00 eur Temporarily out of stock |
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ID: CC2004
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Subcollection: OboeThe CD booklet contains an interview with Han de Vries (printed in English, French and German), in which he talks about
all the works on the CD. There are photos of him throughout his career, and of his extensive instrument collection.
Jeremy Polmear talks to Han de Vries about two of the concertos on the CD:
BACH CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN AND OBOE:
JP: Am I right in thinking that this recording has not been issued commercially before?
H de V: Yes, it was commissioned by a major Dutch bank - the Verenigde Spaarbank - for its employees. This bank is a good sponsor of the arts as well as sport, and I am glad that one of its products is coming out into the wider world.
JP: And you had no conductor; how did you work out the interpretation?
H de V: The Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra is made up of the best players in the Concertgebouw Orchestra, and when I played with that orchestra Jaap van Zweden the violin soloist was the leader, and they are wonderful musicians who have worked with Harnoncourt, with Chailly. So the way to approach this music was very clear to us.
JP: By 1986 when you made this recording, you had played Baroque oboe for many years, but here you are playing Baroque music on the modern oboe. Were you influenced by baroque practices?
H de V: Yes of course, and I've been playing Baroque instruments since I was 28. But to play in the Baroque style on the modern oboe, with little or no vibrato, would sound cold and unfeeling. I also have a loyalty to my teachers, to the style of the Concertgebouw, to the musicians I admire, and to the other players. I don't want to be an island of 'I am right'. I want to be somebody who communicates with other musicians, and to the ears of the audience; if I have the joy of being surrounded by very good musicians then I feel I am at my best.
ANDRIESSEN, ANACHRONIE II ('furniture music'):
JP: Let me start by asking you not about the music, but about the words. There seems to be what sounds like railway announcements at the beginning, at the end, and a bit in the middle of this concerto, and as a non Dutch speaker I must ask you - what is the gentleman saying, and does it matter?
H de V: It doesn't matter. In the score there is written a part for Radio. So it can start witrh a weather forecast, or anything. And then the music is a tapestry of quotations, and crazy humouristic, or agressive moments. It starts like Michel Legrand. Then we get a quasi Vivaldi oboe concerto, then an incredible crazy cadenza that ends with the soloist becoming totally insane. Then comes a sort of funeral march of drunken horns. This piece comes from 1969 where all music was quoting others, with bits of Stravinsky and everything mixed upside-down; it is a reaction against so-called 'beautiful music'. Andriessen said to use no vibrato. Sometimes I couldn't resist it, because I thought 'this is too much, too long, too ugly'.
JP: Did you commission the piece?
H de V: I asked him to write an oboe concerto, but the ideas are all his; and he never asked me whether what he had written was possible or impossible to play. In the cadenza he wanted a sort of shawm sound - he actually said 'like a bagpipe' - and I must say it should have been much more agressive and ugly, but there I felt I had to fight for my oboe, and not destroy the ears of my listeners.
JP: But I couldn't help noticing when you were listening to it, the part that amused you most of all was the bit in the cadenza where you honk on low and high notes. Why is that so much fun to hear?
H de V: Yes, because that's the utmost ugly playing, it's leaving behind everything that is beautiful on an oboe - as if a drunken man picks it up and tries to play it. And I laughed because I had to give up all the beauty I always worked for in my life. © 2002 Han de Vries and Jeremy Polmear |
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ID: CC2015
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Subcollection: OboeThe 24-page CD booklet has a 6,000 word programme note in English, with a description of the works, the performers, and many photographs.
Oboe+' brings together a group of works for oboe that, with the exception of Berio’s Sequenza VII, have not been recorded before. Sequenza VII was written at the end of the 1960s, a time that had seen a great deal of experimentation with composers exploring the wide range of new sounds available. The Sequenza is an exceptional work that brings together many of the sounds and techniques of the period and integrates them into a work of extraordinary beauty and power. Alongside the development of new sounds and extended techniques came music that demanded from the performer a great deal technically, musically and emotionally. The other works recorded here are fine examples of music from this genre. The ‘new sounds’ can be divided into different categories: Firstly there are the sounds that are easy to make on the instrument. The only example on this CD is the use of key-clicks - this is simply produced by tapping the keys of the instrument hard enough to make a noise. An obvious example of this on the CD can be heard in Argrophylax at 5:10 or 16:18. In the second example the sound is also amplified. Secondly, there are the new sounds that are an extension of techniques that already exist: double, triple and flutter tonguing, range extension and quarter tones. A combination of double and triple tonguing can be heard in Argrophylax at 9:20, while flutter tonguing can be heard in Ausgangspunkte at 2:9. The extension of the range can be heard in Ausgangspunkte at 6:20. Quarter tones are used extensively in many of the works, but a particularly fine example can be found in Pavasiya at 4:17. Sequenza VII uses a few microtonal trills an example of which can be heard at 1:14. Thirdly, sounds that take the oboe into new territory: multiphonics. The performer, through a careful use of exotic fingerings and careful control of the embouchure, creates several pitches simultaneously. Every work on the CD uses these sounds often in combination with other techniques. Recoil uses multiphonics extensively from the opening bar while in Sequenza VII the multiphonics are almost ‘ghost like’ at 6:50. You can also find examples of trilling between different multiphonics in Ausgangspunkte at 10:06. Circular breathing, the technique which allows oboists to maintain very long phrases without seemingly taking a breath is also used - the most obvious example can be found in ‘…sting of the bee…’ One of the striking feature of the music on the CD is the way in which the composers are thinking about and writing for the instrument, often creating a sound world that many would not relate easily to the traditions of the oboe. In a masterclass a few years ago I was demonstrating the highest notes of the instrument and was told that it 'didn’t sound like an oboe’. A better comment would have been ‘I have never heard an oboe sound like that before’. While the other composers on the CD may not necessarily point to Berio as an influence in their work, the Sequenza is a good starting point for music that explores some of the most technically challenging music in the repertoire. Berio had a great interest in virtuosity, which is expressed and explored in his series of Sequenzas. He emphasises, however, that this virtuosity is not simply that of fast fingers but a virtuosity of the intellect as well. Similar statements could be made about the other works on this CD. This is music that demands a great deal of listener and performer alike. It is virtuoso music in the sense that there are many notes and great technical challenges, but unlike much music that could be placed under the banner of ‘virtuoso’, this music is neither frivolous nor is it easy listening. There is great passion here, focused intensity, intellectual depth, it is music that is exuberant, moving and challenging. Michael Finnissy talks in his programme note for Pavasiya of stretching the ‘virtuosic limits of the oboe(s) to the utmost’. This statement could equally be applied at different levels to the other works on this CD, each of which stretches not only the instrument but also the performer. During the course of these works you will hear most of the significant technical developments that have taken place in recent years. One of the aims I had in the recording was to maintain the physical nature of this music. An essential aspect of a number of these works is that they live on the edge of being unplayable. In live performance things do go wrong, notes are missed, the performer can sound as if he/she is struggling to play the works. In this recording I have tried to maintain this quality by not editing out some of the struggles and obvious areas where I find the works technically challenging. The CD opens with one of my solo improvisations. Most of my recitals include improvisation not only in works that demand it, but also improvisations that I myself have developed over a period of time. Improvisation in the ‘classical’ world is seen usually to be the domain of the organist or of the expert baroque specialist, all of which I welcome. In my case however I perform solo (and sometimes duo/trio) improvisations to which I give names. Each improvisation has elements that I wish to explore. These can be technical ideas, formal ideas, pitch ideas etc, and the music is frequently a mixture of many different elements. But improvisation does not stop here. Many of the works on the CD have some elements of improvisation. The Berio asks for an improvisatory approach to the placing of some of the pitches within a very strict framework - the performer’s response to the written text is a vital part of the performance of this work. Young’s work also has a great deal of improvisation both in terms of choice of pitches and the pacing of the work through to the response to the computer’s input. copyright 2006 Christopher Redgate |
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ID: IFO00322
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Collection:
Organ Collection
Subcollection: OrganBenoraya Concert Hall, Seattle Washington (USA); 2000: 83/IV/P.
1 - 3 - M.-B. Dufourcet, organ / Seattle Symphony - G. Schwarz, conductor
4 - 6 - M. Delorme, violin / Ensemble Instrumental Vibrations - N. Simon, conductor |
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ID: IDIS6475
CDs: 1
Type: CD
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Subcollection: ViolinRecorded 1951-1955
Ludwig van Beethoven
Violin Concerto in D, Op.61
Romance for Violin and Orchestra No.1 in G, Op.40
Romance for Violin and Orchestra No.2 in F, Op.50
Louis Spohr
Violin Concerto No.8 in A-, Op.47 |
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