Pianist and music teacher Artur Balsam was born in Warsaw on February 8, 1906. He attended the Helena Kijenska-Dobkiewiczowa Conservatory (now Academy) of Music established at the beginning of the 20th century in the Polish city of Lodz. After that he went to the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, where he continued his studies with Artur Schnabel. A mere 12 years elapsed between his concert debut in 1918 and his success at the 1930 Berlin International Piano Competition; shortly after winning that competition, he was awarded the Mendelssohn Prize for chamber music in 1931 in Munich. Balsam matured into a sought-after partner at the piano: having won the Mendelssohn Prize together with the violinist Roman Totenberg, he toured the USA the following year with the brilliant young Yehudi Menuhin. After the rise to absolute power in Germany of Adolf Hitler at the head of his Nazi party, Balsam emigrated to the United States. He settled in New York in 1940, made a name for himself on the American chamber music scene and was the favorite accompanist of many famous soloists, especially in the years from 1940 to the early Seventies of the last century. He frequently partnered the great violinists Nathan Milstein and David Oistrakh, also playing for Joseph (violin) and Lillian (viola) Fuchs, Leonid Kogan (violin), Zino Francescatti (violin), Pierre Fournier (cello) and Mstislav Rostropovich (cello). Balsam was the pianist of the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini for five years. He was also a piano soloist for other leading orchestras.

Hélène Boschi’s repertoire was broad-based, ranging from the Baroque (François Couperin, Jean Philippe Rameau, Johann Sebastian Bach) to contemporary music. Her favorite composers of the Viennese Classical era were undoubtedly Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Schubert; strangely, it seems she left behind no Beethoven recordings. One notable fact about Boschi is that she was the first female pianist to record the works of Padre Antonio Soler (1729-1783), receiving the 1952 Grand Prix du Disque in honor of her achievement. As for the nineteenth century, her passionate readings of Schumann are of the utmost importance; but Carl Maria von Weber and Muzio Clementi also captured her attention, as did Frédéric Chopin and Emmanuel Chabrier and the Impressionists Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Modern classics were also integral to her repertoire – as were the works of her immediate contemporaries. Luigi Dallapiccola dedicated his 1952 piano composition Quaderno di Annalibera to Hélène Boschi, Claude Ballif paid her that honor with his Fourth Sonata op. 31

Violin music isn’t what one normally associates with Franz Schubert, but he did in fact receive his first violin lessons as a young boy from his father. At the age of 11 he was accepted as a member of the choir of the imperial court chapel, and as such became a pupil at the Stadtkonvikt school. There he joined the excellent student orchestra, eventually assuming the role of leader. Among his examiners was the court Kapellmeister Anton Salieri, who took a keen interest in Schubert’s compositions. Schubert left the school in 1813, but continued working with Salieri for a few years longer, possibly on some of the pieces recorded here – the Rondo, Konzertstuck and G minor Sonata all hail from 1816 while the Polonaise is from the following year. These early, unpretentious violin compositions were probably intended for Schubert’s older brother Ferdinand, who led the family string quartet in which Franz played the viola. Composed in 1827, when Schubert had already written his symphonies, string quartets, piano sonatas and hundreds of songs, the closing Fantasy in C major is another matter. A substantial piece in four sections, it contains challenging writing for both instruments, demonstrating what a master Schubert himself was on both. On this and its soon-to-be-released companion disc, Ariadne Daskalakis has gathered all of Schubert’s works for violin. Equally at home on baroque and modern instruments, she has chosen to perform them in a historical context, joined by Paolo Giacometti on a fortepiano by Salvatore Lagrassa from c. 1815 and the period band Die Kolner Akademie conducted by Michael Alexander Willens.

Following the announcement by Tasmin Little of her intended retirement from the concert platform, we wanted to create an album that would stand as both a tribute to, and celebration of, her outstanding career as a performer. What better way to do so than ask her to select her own, personal favorites from her recorded career? An exclusive Chandos artist since 2010, Tasmin has made a series of recordings that have proved a cornerstone of the Chandos schedules for a decade, and feature a range of composers and styles of quite breath-taking variety. The first album concentrates on concerti, and features both Walton’s and Britten’s concertos with Edward Gardner, along with the slow movement of her award-winning Elgar recording with Sir Andrew Davis. The second features works from Vivaldi though to Shostakovich via Brahms, and includes (among many other gems) her recording of Vaughan Williams’s iconic The Lark Ascending. It also celebrates Tasmin’s recital partnerships with three outstanding pianists: Piers Lane, Martin Roscoe, and John Lenehan. As she writes in her booklet note: ‘I am very happy that this final, double-album set should reflect so many aspects of me as a musician; and I remain full of gratitude for the tremendous opportunities I have been given to play and record with the greatest musicians of today. I hope you all enjoy this final release.’

"A simply outstanding CD." - The Whole Note

Superstar violinist Anne Akiko Meyers is one of today’s most in-demand classical performers. Beloved by audiences around the world, with a reputation for groundbreaking recital programs and important commissions, Fantasia marks her 35th studio album and is one of her most important projects to date. Meyers has been Billboard’s Top Selling Classical Instrumentalist of the year and has had numerous albums reach the Number 1 spot on Billboard’s Traditional Classical Chart. Her latest album captures the rare combination of incredible virtuosity and poetic color with iconic works by Ravel, Einojuhani Rautavaara’s last major work, written for Meyers, and Karol Szymanowski’s sensuous Violin Concerto No. 1. The title track, Fantasia is legendary Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara’s premiere posthumous recording and last major work for violin and orchestra. Ms. Meyers traveled to Finland and worked with the composer on it shortly before he died. Karol Szymanowski’s sensuous Violin Concerto No. 1, dedicated to Polish virtuoso violinist, Paul Kochanski, is a dazzling display of exotic melodies, and Ravel’s iconic Tzigane is a virtuoso showpiece that conjures Hungarian gypsy music, and premiered almost a century ago.



REVIEW:

Meyers also seduces the senses in Ravel’s Tzigane, emphasising the magical essence of its blazing inspiration without the slightest whiff of empty, showpiece bravado. Yet the star item here is Rautavaara’s Fantasia (2015), one of his last works and composed especially for Meyers, who soars aloft with its tender cantabile, shaping its shimmering melodic lines with a profound sensitivity that exerts irresistible pressure on the tear ducts.

– The Strad

Strings Attached

Four Strings Around the World is a quite stunning solo CD from the Romanian-born violinist Irina Muresanu that features diverse musical styles from across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and both North and South America (Sono Luminus DSL-92221 sonoluminus.com). Muresanu introduced her Four Strings Around the World project in 2013 after her difficulty in learning Mark O’Connor’s Cricket Dance led her to explore worldwide non-traditional violin styles.

Enescu’s Airs in Romanian Folk Style opens the disc, with works by Ireland’s Dave Flynn, Iran’s Reza Vali, India’s Shirish Korde and China’s Bright Sheng surrounding Paganini’s 24th Caprice, Kreisler’s Recitativo and Scherzo Op.6 and a strongly melodic reading of the Bach D Minor Chaconne. Then it’s Piazzolla’s Tango Étude No.3 and a work by Chickasaw Nation composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate before the short Cricket Dance that apparently gave Muresanu so much trouble. 

Not that you would know it – complete with foot stomps, it’s a simply dazzling end to one of the best solo CDs I’ve heard. 

Terry Robbins, The Whole Note, June/July/August2018 edition

The program divides in two: Western and Eastern Europe, which ranges from Bach to the contemporary David Flynn via Enescu, Paganini and Kreisler, and Music from the Middle East, Asia, and North and South America; quite a lot to include here all round... 
“Muresanu has selected wisely when it comes to her fellow countryman, Enescu, whose Airs in Romanian Folk Style, though written in 1926, was not to be published until 2006. There aren’t many recordings around. The four movements offer plenty of opportunities for characteristic rubato-style performance and for vital dance patterns. The taut melancholia of the third piece is followed by the giocoso vibrancy of the concluding Allegro. This galvanizing reading shows its charms in fine fashion...

“For the second part of her journey she visits Iran via Reza Vali’s Calligraphy No.5. This draws on traditional Persian modes, employing the Dastg?h. This is something of which Behzad Abdi is an outstanding exponent and, like Abdi, Vali aims at a concordance between Persian and Western techniques: Bartók is a probable starting point. Representing India, Shirish Korde’s Vák, for violin and electronic drone invariably owes its inspiration to Ragas. The drone effect allows Muresanu to negotiate the work’s three unbroken sections with considerable virtuosity. Bright Sheng’s international reputation is now of long standing and The Stream Flows, of which we hear only the second part (shame) evokes the sound of the erhu in this dance-patterned and pizzicato-flecked piece. Piazzolla’s Tango Etude No.3 possesses all its resonant and driving capital in this solo reading...”

- Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International

Who actually wrote Johannes Brahms’ Hungarian Dances? Brahms probably heard most of these tunes as a child growing up in Hamburg, played by the Gypsy orchestras that were famous for their “Hungarian” dance tunes. These passionate and high-spirited melodies fascinate with their abrupt changes of mood, fanciful reveries and extravagant embellishments. Brahms may even have written a few of the melodies himself! But his hand is evident in the lush harmonies and emotional depth. This version for violin and piano was arranged by Brahms’ friend Joseph Joachim, the greatest violinist of his generation. The dances are played brilliantly by violinist Sabrina-Vivian Hopcker, who captures flawlessly the wild exuberance and deep sorrow of these alluring tunes. Fabio Bidini is the ideal collaborator, and together they have produced an album of uncommon beauty and appeal.

Grammy Award-winning baroque orchestra Apollo’s Fire and its founder-director Jeannette Sorrell have blazed trails in the world of historically informed performance with pioneering programming, presentational flair and an entrepreneurial spirit, qualities that have earned them eight Billboard chart-topping albums and more than 7 million views on YouTube. Their latest release, which launches the ensemble’s 30th anniversary season, is destined to soar to similar heights: the ensemble’s first recording of the perennial audience favourite, Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, featuring the phenomenal Spanish-born fiddler Francisco Fullana. Frequently performed at Apollo’s Fire home base in Cleveland, Ohio and on their international tours, “Sorrell’s vivid approach to the pictorial elements make these familiar works seem freshly minted, full of astonishing incident”, according to Seen & Heard International. Fullana, winner of the 2018 Avery Fisher Career Grant, has been dubbed a “rising star” by BBC Music Magazine, and an “amazing talent” by conductor Gustavo Dudamel. The Four Seasons is the first of five releases spread throughout the season celebrating Apollo’s Fire’s milestone 30th anniversary.

Christopher Gunning returns with recordings of his Violin Concerto, Cello Concerto and Birdflight. Not composed until 2011, Gunning’s Violin Concerto was composed after inspiration whilst the composer was out hiking in Wales. The violin is supposed to represent ducking and weaving, rather like the insects and animals found in the Welsh hills and valleys. However, despite this positive venture for the composer, the emotions of sadness and melancholy are never far from this music – feelings which never seem far from Gunning’s music. The Cello Concerto is quite different. Although composed hard on the heels of the Violin Concerto, it is generally darker though equally expressive. The third piece, Birdflight, is for the orchestra alone; a kind of tone poem. At the opening and close there is some quiet night music with spacious strings. The birds take flight but encounter a problem; a hawk is on their tail. The birds manage to hide and there is a pause. Then, when danger has passed, they take off and once again enjoy the sheer pleasure of flying.

Each of the three violin concertos by Telemann on the seventh volume (but not the last!) of our complete series merits separate consideration in view of its singular musical character and special transmission history. In two cases stylistic descriptions and evaluations are bound up with the question of the authenticity of these compositions. This applies to the Overture Suites TWV 55:A8 and TWV 55:A4. Our expert booklet author Dr. Wolfgang Hirschmann regards the attribution of the first suite to Telemann as entirely justified, even though it perhaps involves a rather early example of this composer’s concerts en ouverture. The interpretation of this work by the Wallfisch Band is a multifaceted and just as virtuosic rendering that makes a compelling case for this fine one-of-a-kind piece situated between the concerto and suite genres – a work that absolutely has to be included in a complete recording! Although the second overture suite really should be assigned to the ranks of the anonymous, Adolf Hoffmann categorically labeled it as a piece by Telemann in his dissertation on the orchestral suites (1969) and classified it as a “masterpiece” by this composer. The solo violin is highly effectively employed along with a finely developed feeling for tone-color effects, and the movements are ambitiously elaborated in length and form. No matter how plausible the case for Telemann’s authorship may be – these works enable us to participate in a fascinating journey back in time to European music culture around 1720.

Born July 10, 1923, in Tiflis (later named Tbilisi), Georgia, Rudolf Kerer (also spelled Kehrer) was descended from Swabian immigrants and grew up within the Pietist community in Georgia. He began piano studies at six, and by twelve qualified for the gifted class at the Tbilisi Conservatory. In 1938, he performed in public Tchaikovsky's first Piano Concerto. In October 1941, Kerer and his surviving family were deported as enemy aliens to Kazakhstan. Without a piano, he devised a “table piano,” a table on which he painted a keyboard, so he could “practice.” By 1949-at 26-he had given up his dream of a musical career but in 1954, in Uzbekistan, he was accepted at the state conservatory as a student in the class of Zelma Slonim-Tamarkina. Three years later, Kerer graduated, and began teaching piano in Tashkent. Four years later, in 1961, he competed in the second All-Union Competition in Moscow and won the first prize. Following this winning, Kerer became a professor at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. He performed throughout the Soviet Union but was not allowed to concertize abroad. In 1988, at 65, he was allowed to serve on the jury of the Beethoven competition in Vienna. He remained there to teach at the Musikhochschule for eight years. Later, he moved to live in Zurich, where he died on October 29, 2013. This release hears him performing some of music’s most beautiful piano concertos and sonatas.

On this transatlantic album, three American composers born during the first half of the last century rub shoulders with two young musicians from Eastern Europe. A member of the BBC New Generation Artists scheme, the violinist Aleksey Semenenko first met the pianist Artem Belogurov at the Stolyarsky Special Music School in Odessa at an early age. Even if their individual careers have taken to different parts of the world, the two still perform together whenever possible, and here they present three sonatas. Of the composers, the best-known is André Previn who composed his Violin Sonata No. 2 in 2011 for Anne-Sophie Mutter. An improvisatory spirit permeates the work which is in three movements with the markings Joyous, Desolate and Brilliant. Tony Schemmer and Paul Gay are both based in the Boston area and share a background in which jazz and classical genres merge. This is reflected in their sonatas, composed in the 1980s and here appearing on disc for the first time.

REVIEWS:

My tastes in repertoire generally stop with the mid-20th century and I don’t take an active interest in contemporary work. Perhaps that very fact indicates why I responded so favorably to Crossroads: American Violin Sonatas, for here are three composers—two of them still living—who continue the craftsmanship, seriousness of purpose, and tonal communicativeness of the best mid-20th-century American music. These sonatas offer no Postmodern spoofery, nor avant-garde aural assaults. All three composers deftly mix popular elements with their classical technique yet in a way that is integral and natural.

The performances of the Ukrainian musicians are faultless and idiomatic, as is the recorded sound. This delightful disc afforded some new discoveries for me and comes strongly recommended.

-- Fanfare

Semenenko and his duo partner present premiere recordings of jazz-influenced sonatas written in the 1980s. The Schemmer is a particularly joyful discovery.

-- BBC Music Magazine

STARA is Halldór Smárason’s debut album. It was recorded in Halldór’s hometown of Ísafjörður, in the Westfjords region in the northwestern part of Iceland. Featuring works from different stages in the composer’s life, ranging from his student years in New York to this day as a family man and freelance composer, STARA shows Halldór’s development of a characteristic style and unique sense of narrative. All the works on the album are inspired by personal experiences and are often dedicated to people close to the composer himself. STARA features Halldór’s three string quartets: draw + play, Stara, and BLAKTA; the guitar solo piece Skúlptúr 1; and the chamber works _a_at_na and stop breathing. Halldór’s music has been described as atmospheric yet aggressive, characterized by a simmering energy just beneath the surface that erupts from time to time. His compositional voice is highly original and personal. In each composition, Halldór strives for a distinct approach, which is guided by the specifics of the composition (the occasions, the space, the instruments, the performer, etc.). As a result, his sonic repertoire is extremely rich. He often includes extra-musical and music-theatrical aspects, which create highly distinct artistic experiences. Additionally, Halldór has been acknowledged for high attention to detail in regard to sound and notation. STARA is intended to be an insightful portrait of the composer, introducing Halldór’s poetic sonic world.

The Stockholm Syndrome Ensemble is – as the name implies – based in Stockholm, and consists of five of the city's leading musicians. Project-based and often inviting guest performers, the SSE is known for its imaginative programmes built around a particular event or concept and bringing together music from various genres and eras. For its first release on BIS the ensemble has taken Brett Dean’s Voices of Angels as their point of departure, a work scored for the same forces as Schubert’s ‘Trout quintet’ and inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s first two Duino Elegies: ‘Angels (it’s said) are often unable to tell whether they move amongst the living or the dead.’ Dean’s work from 1996 opens a programme which ranges from Bach to Sofia Gubaidulina, and includes various scorings for between two and six performers. The angels reappear in songs by Wagner and Gubaidulina performed by Christianne Stotijn, one of the ensemble’s guests on this disc – but it is also safe to assume that they are standing around the heavenly throne which Bach approaches in the chorale prelude ‘Vor Deinen Thron tret ich hiermit’ – here transcribed for strings. The same prelude is the subject of Gubaidulina’s Meditation, while the disc closes with a work by Gubaidulina’s friend Alfred Schnittke, namely his Hymn for cello and double bass.