From the brilliant and impetuous personality of one of the most emblematic musicians of history, Roberto Noferini [former performer of the world premiere recording of the 24 capricci on historical violin: Tactus TC781690] on violin, and Donato D'Antonio on guitar, here present a chamber music program that highlights all the passion that bound Paganini to these two instruments. The composer's skill in using the technical and expressive characteristics of the violin and guitar gives space for great virtuosities that reach the physical limits of the instrument and the performer, without ever betraying that operatic and theatrical feeling that will become increasingly dominant with the inexorable rise of melodrama and "belcanto".

This new album introduces to international audience the music of Eduardas Balsys (1919–1984), a key figure in Lithuania’s music from the 1950s until his death in 1984. This album release by the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Modestas Pitrėnas includes three works from this award-winning composer, including his early breakthrough work, Violin Concerto No. 1, alongside two other orchestral scores. In these works,

Balsys reveals himself as a master of rich, colorful orchestral scores. Balsys underwent a considerable evolution of style from his early compositions written in classical form, to his late expressionistic and dodecaphonic works. His oeuvre reflects turns and twists of the development of Lithuanian music, from ideologically motivated ‘folkloric’ romanticism (until 1958) toward new stylistic trends and compositional techniques. Violin Concerto No. 1, written after completing his studies at the Leningrad Conservatory, was the zenith of his first creative period. Balsys seems to have taken the first step towards a new style. On the other hand, it is still a traditional work not far from the world of the violin concertos of Tchaikovsky and Khachaturian. Dramatic Frescoes for violin, piano and symphony orchestra (1965) marked the beginning of the composer’s final creative period. This one-movement symphonic work merges the features of several genres: instrumental concerto, poem and symphony. Solo instruments are treated here as the main elements of the orchestra. In this work the composer sums up dramatic conflicts of our era, including the threat of war. Reflections of the Sea (1981), scored for string orchestra, is one of the composer’s final orchestral works. The work is saturated with expressive moods and sharp contrasts enabled by using a technique of dividing instrumental segments into smaller subsections.

REVIEW:

Balsys reveals himself as a master of rich, colorful orchestration. Balsys underwent a considerable evolution of style from his early compositions written in classical form, to his late expressionistic and dodecaphonic works. His oeuvre reflects turns and twists of the development of Lithuanian music, from ideologically motivated ‘folkloric’ romanticism (until 1958) toward new stylistic trends and compositional techniques. The concerto, written in 1954 after completing his studies at the Leningrad Conservatory, was the zenith of his first creative period and is still a traditional work not far from the world of the concertos of Tchaikovsky and Khachaturian. Dramatic Frescoes for violin, piano and symphony orchestra (1965) marked the beginning of the composer’s final creative period. This one-movement symphonic work merges the features of several genres: instrumental concerto, poem and symphony. Solo instruments are treated here as the main elements of the orchestra. In this work the composer sums up dramatic conflicts of our era, including the threat of war. Reflections of the Sea (1981), scored for string orchestra, is one of the composer’s final orchestral works. The work is saturated with expressive moods and sharp contrasts enabled by using a technique of dividing instrumental segments into smaller subsections. Džeraldas Bidva (violin), Indrė Baikštytė (piano), Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra. Modestas Pitrėnas.

The Trio Klavis (Jenny Lippl, violin / Miha Ferk, alto saxophone / Sabina Hasanova, piano) presents three distinctive arrangements on its new GENUIN release. In their arrangements for piano trio with alto saxophone, the award-winning musicians achieve an astonishing tonal unity in the works of Johannes Brahms (originally with horn), Dmitri Shostakovich (originally with cello), and Ernst Krenek (originally with clarinet). Keyboard, wind, and string instruments join forces to create a true unity, dedicating themselves with tremendous verve to the tonal languages from Romanticism to Modernism in the extremely diverse masterpieces.

Already hailed as his country’s foremost composer, Sibelius completed what was to be his only concerto in early 1904, and its spellbinding and instantly recognizable opening can surely be counted amongst the most iconic of any. A virtuosic violinist himself, Sibelius beautifully evokes Finland’s natural landscape and ancient folklore, which continues through Sibelius’s 1917 work for violin and orchestra – the Six Humoresques – demanding a considerable level of technique. Violinist Fenella Humphreys joins with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and conductor George Vass to present these formidable works with a world premiere recording of a new work for violin and orchestra by the American composer Nors S. Josephson – Celestial Voyage.

Throughout his life, Johann Sebastian Bach arranged and parodied his own and other composers' works. This openness to the practice of transcription, which has been demonstrated in so many ways, encourages the composer to venture into new instrumentations even in modern times. This is what the baroque violinist Annegret Siedel and the organist Ute Gremmel-Geuchen practice here with great joy in experimentation. Particularly exciting are, for example, the famous Toccata and Fugue BWV 565 in the presumed original version for violin solo as well as organ arrangements of some individual movements of the choral motet Jesu, meine Freude BWV 227. Of course, both also play together, for example in the Trio Sonata in E minor BWV 528.

‘Haunting lyricist' or 'devil violinist' are terms critics use to describe impressions Manrico Padovani conveys with virtuosic, profound playing as well as flawless technique in his concerts. Here the fascination can be felt by means of Beethoven's Violin Concerto, the Romance No.2 as well as a Violin Sonata. Manrico Padovani, Swiss violinist of Italian origin is defined by critics as the "Wizard of the Violin" for his musical intensity and technical agility. He is not only a great musician able to excite and establish contact with his audience, but he involves and fascinates them by explaining classical music in a clear way, bringing it closer to everyone, even the youngest audience members.

Paganini’s violin, the legendary ‘il Cannone’, made by Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù in 1743, is one of the most important musical instruments in the history of Western music. Paganini was the greatest virtuoso of his time, acclaimed throughout Europe and an inspiration to performers and composers alike. On his death, he bequeathed ‘il Cannone’ to his home city of Genoa, where it is permanently housed under high security in the Town Hall. It has been heard on record just a handful of times. Francesca Dego was given the honor of recording with it after the success of her first performance on the instrument, in October 2019, when she was invited to play Paganini’s First Violin Concerto at the Paganini Celebratory Concert at Teatro Carlo Felice, in Genoa. Francesca Dego comments: ‘Spending a few enchanted days recording with this priceless treasure was unforgettable. I was overwhelmed when I was first handed the instrument that had caressed the ears of Schumann, Schubert, Goethe, Rossini, Bellini, Berlioz, Chopin, Heine, and so many more. I remember standing in that very room as a young girl, hypnotized, staring at history behind glass, fingers tingling at the thought of touching it. And suddenly there I was, holding Paganini’s violin. I feel so privileged to be able to share the soul of ‘il Cannone’ in a new recording. I remember thinking long and hard about the ideal programme and carefully selecting a series of works paying homage to Paganini. The ‘Cannon’ has pretty much only ever been used to record music by Paganini, so the idea of its celebrated tone teaming up with composers who idolized the Italian virtuoso throughout history is really exciting to me!’

REVIEWS:

Dego has an expressive touch, skittering over the strings, yet finding plenty of attack in Szymanowski’s Trois Caprices. Corigliano’s Red Violin Caprices are at times spellbinding, descending into a guttural, harried chase. Leonardi accompanies sensitively throughout.

– BBC Music Magazine

If you’re keen to hear Paganini’s favourite plaything (or favourite fourstringed one, at any rate), performed with technical finesse and strong musicality while shown off by suitably polished engineering, then this amply does that job.

– Gramophone

As well as being internationally recognized as a leading interpreter of music new and old, Peter Sheppard Sk�rved is the only violinist to have performed on the personal violins of Viotti, Paganini, Joachim, Kreisler and Ole Bull. In this new series, he plays music on these and many more instruments, many of which only he has access to. Probably the best known work of J.J. Vilsma�r, his set of six partitas of 1715 are perfect and relatively early examples of the baroque dance suite, and have found more popularity than many other contemporary works for the solo violin. Peter plays a superb instrument labelled 'Amati Brothers' but in fact made by Girolamo (his brother had died by 1610) with the help of his son and successor Niccol�; it was probably one of the last violins on which Girolamo worked as he died in 1630. 1629 was the year in which the Great Plague swept through Italy; Nicol� found himself a lucky survivor and inheritor of the great Amati tradition. The spectacular instrument has a spruce front and single-piece maple back, with scroll and ribs in the early Cremona fashion. Sk�rved says that it's extraordinary qualities (he has played it since 2013) have profoundly influenced his love for the violin and his understanding of what it can do. The violin is held in the collection of the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Publisher Julien Hamelle snapped up Faur�'s Berceuse following it's first performance in February 1880. It's success was no flash in the pan either: it sold over 700 copies in the first year and became probably Faur�'s most frequently transcribed piece. Faur�'s Violin Sonata No. 1 claims to be regarded his first masterpiece. He began it in the summer of 1875, shortly after his 30th birthday, and finished it the following year and it was first performed in Paris in January 1877 by the violinist Marie Tayau, with Faur� playing the piano part. Today this work has such a firm place in the repertory, it's hard to imagine how bold and adventurous it must have seemed at that time. By August 1916, when Faur� began his Second Violin Sonata, he had seen much and suffered much: not only the outbreak of war, but his increasing deafness which he tried to hide, not always successfully. Ultimately, of course, we do, and may find ourselves marveling at what a powerful and impressive work this self-effacing 71-year-old has produced. In 1897 Ravel began a Violin Sonata, but got no further than the first movement. Ravel's single movement, in sonata form, juxtaposes modal writing, as at the opening, with more chromatic harmonies, including two passages of downward sliding chords that sound like Delius. The joins may not always be totally convincing, but there is no mistaking Ravel's way with a lyrical idea. Ravel's Berceuse, dedicated to his friend Roland-Manuel's son, born the previous 20 June, has an unassuming grace worthy of it's dedicatee, and it's contrasts, as in the early Sonata movement, are largely between modal and chromatic harmonies. The score is marked 'semplice' and the violin is muted throughout, as in Faur�'s own Berceuse.

Johannes Brahms (1833-97) was uncompromisingly self-critical about his musical achievements and was only too aware of the long shadow of Ludwig van Beethoven over his creative output. He had composed his Scherzo in C minor in 1853 for a violin sonata collaboration with Robert Schumann and Albert Dietrich, but he had discarded four sonatas for piano and violin before he was sufficiently happy to allow a work in that genre, his Sonata No.1 in G major Op.78 (1878-9), to be published. About seven years elapsed before Brahms returned to the violin sonata genre. He composed his Sonata No.2 in A major Op.100 in 1886 during the first of three summer sojourns in the village of Hofstetten in the Swiss mountains where the Aare flows into Lake Thun. In a remarkable burst of holiday energy, he also wrote his Second Cello Sonata Op.99 and Third Piano Trio Op.101 there, as well as some of his Third Violin Sonata Op.108. Two of Brahms's songs to poems by Klaus Groth, the highly wrought 'Komm bald' (Op.97 no.5; 1885) and 'Wie Melodien zieht es mir leise durch den Sinn' (Op.105 no.1; 1886) are featured in motivic guise in the two principal themes of the first movement of this sonata. Brahms' Sonata No.3 in D minor Op.108 was composed between 1886 and 1888 and dedicated to the conductor and pianist Hans von B�low, who was a champion of Brahms' oeuvre. It differs from it's predecessors in that it is longer, more dramatic and much broader in design; indeed, it is almost symphonic in scale and is particularly remarkable for it's wide range of intense emotional feeling.

Marek Polanski's album is the world phonographic premiere of the first Polish violin caprices by August Fryderyk Duranowski and Joachim Kaczkowski. The recording was made on the 185th death anniversary of August Fryderyk Duranowski as well as on the 230th birthday and 190th death anniversary of Joachim Kaczkowski. Its premiere falls on the 250th birthday anniversary of August Fryderyk Duranowski in 2020. All these anniversaries are a great opportunity to familiarize music lovers around the world with the works of these two composers, now almost completely forgotten.

The Carlock-Combet Duo return to SOMM RECORDINGS with a trio of ravishing Romantic Violin Sonatas by Schubert, Robert Schumann and Grieg. Formed in 2014, the Philadelphia-based Carlock-Combet Duo – Sandra Carlock and Guillaume Combet – has quickly established a reputation for “imaginative and intelligent programming performed with style, panache and polish” (MusicWeb International). The 20-year-old Schubert’s genial and outward-looking Violin Sonata in A major (D574) explores the expressive range of the violin to the full and is, says Robert Matthew-Walker in his informative booklet notes, “a masterpiece of the late Classical era worthy to stand with the finest examples of Beethoven”. The violinist Joseph Joachim considered Schumann’s Op.121 Violin Sonata in D minor to be “one of the finest compositions of our times in respect of its marvelous unity of feeling and thematic significance. It overflows with noble passion, almost harsh and bitter in expression, and the last movement reminds one of the sea with glorious waves of sound”. Grieg’s Third Violin Sonata in C minor (Op.45) was his last completed chamber work. Beginning and ending with passionately dramatic statements, it frames a central, nobly lyrical theme memorably shared by both instruments.

For the biographer Karl Holl chamber music was “Friedrich Gernsheim’s very special artistic domain.” The composer again and again returned to this field during the course of his life, from his beginnings in Leipzig and Paris to his later Berlin years. The violin sonatas in particular stand out in this group within his oeuvre because they, more than any other genre, document his compositional development. Things began with the fourteen-year-old’s Sonata in E minor, composed for exercise purposes in Leipzig and heard here for the first time on album, and continued by way of his op. 4, his first full-fledged contribution to this genre, to the mature opp. 50, 64, and 85, with thirteen to fourteen years separating the composition of each of these works. The fourth sonata, a work dedicated to Henri Marteau, may be regarded as the high point of Gernsheim’s duo oeuvre: here his contrapuntal line of thought, something that he had always cultivated, extends over the entire composition.

Born in Lower Saxony just three years before Beethoven, the violinist Andreas Romberg (1767-1821) was, like him, a virtuoso instrumentalist of precocious gifts. His career too was radically affected by the Napoleonic Wars and a formative encounter with Haydn. And, as with Beethoven, his most popular work was a choral setting of a poem by Schiller: Das Lied von der Glocke, premiered in 1809. Romberg wrote an enormous number of violin concertos, but only sixteen manuscript scores of his entire oeuvre have survived, all of them in Hamburg. Chouchane Siranossian has decided to revive and make the world premiere recording of three concertos, thus revealing an interesting composer and a trio of highly virtuosic works.