Franziska Pietsch's recent recording of the Prokofiev Violin Concertos with large-scale orchestra is followed seemingly by the opposite: works for solo violin. What appears, at first sight, to be a contrast is in fact a logical continuation of her extensive discography, even an enhancement: whilst in her previous releases, Pietsch demonstrated her expressive range and intensive approach both as a brilliant soloist and as an eloquent chamber musician, she now faces the greatest possible reduction, namely a solo recital. This limitation demands incredible presence, power and intensity, for which Franziska Pietsch is predestined. From isolation, she draws depth and grounding; "less" becomes "more"; soleness transforms into greatness. For her solo recital, she has put together an individual choice of compositions which have accompanied her from an early age and which, for her, represent significant personal and artistic experiences. Prokofiev, to whose works she feels a particular affinity, is also featured here. Once again, Franziska Pietsch displays a compelling combination of technique and interpretation: her irrepressible creative force penetrates all technical challenges, never losing sight of her interpretation, every note forming part of her reading - a deeply personal recording of the solo sonatas by Bart�k, Ysa�e and Prokofiev. Bart�k's solo sonata, written for Yehudi Menuhin in 1944, and the six sonatas Op. 27 by Ysa�e are amongst the most prominent twentieth century compositions for violin. Bach, the great paragon, is present in all these works. From Ysa�e's cycle, Pietsch has chosen the particularly striking Sonatas Nos 2 and 3 which are dedicated respectively to the violinists Jacques Thibaud and George Enescu. As an "encore" she plays the solo sonata Op. 115 by Sergei Prokofiev which had been intended for ambitions violin students.

In the work of Johann Sebastian Bach, two groups of sonatas composed for violin and harpsichord can be distinguished. The first group features the harpsichord performing only the role of basso continuo. The second group includes the harpsichord as an equal partner to the violin. This release features six sonatas of the latter category. Aleksandra Bryla is a versatile violinist with rich artistic achievements. She performs as a soloist and chamber musician, cooperating with prominent figures of the international music scene. She is a laureate of several violin and chamber music competitions around the world. In 2007 she cofounded the Meccore String Quartet, with which she carries out dynamic international concert activity. As a soloist, she has achieved major success at the National Zdzislaw Jahnke Violin Competition in Poznan, the Michael Hill International Competition in New Zealand, the International Violin Competition Valsesia-Musica in Italy and the International Violin Competition in Avignon in France. Maria Banaszkiewicz-Bryla is a graduate of the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznan, where she studied in the harpsichord class of Z. Brencz-Budny and E. Mielczarek-Poprawa and in the organ class of R. Sroczynski. She has taken numerous courses in the interpretation of early music, and is founder and director of the early music ensemble Brill'ante.

Ferdinand Ries grew up in the same musical environment that nurtured Beethoven, both counting Ferdinand’s father Franz as one of their teachers and the two of them becoming the closest of friends. Ries was a gifted and prolific composer in every instrumental genre. His Violin Sonatas are based on the Viennese Classical style established by Mozart but with a freshness and originality that includes movements such as the Adagio of the Sonata, Op. 38, No. 3, one of Ries’s loveliest creations. The Sonatas Op. 38, Nos. 1 & 2 can be heard on the 2nd volume of this edition, which was “unreservedly recommended” by Fanfare magazine. Violinist Eric Grossman is a versatile performer hailed for his flawless technique, superb musicianship, and commitment to a wide range of repertoire. Grossman has performed across the US, Europe, Korea, Japan, and Cuba in recital and as soloist under such conductors as Zubin Mehta, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, and Michael Gielen.

Here's a new album that brings together two of Canada's most prominent young musicians, Andrew Wan, concertmaster of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal since 2008, and Charles Richard-Hamelin, Silver medalist and winner of the Krystian Zimerman award at the International Chopin Piano Competition in 2015. For this first studio collaboration, they recorded the three sonatas of Beethoven's Op. 30, one of the most important works for violin and piano. Wan and Richard-Hamelin’s playing is dynamic and expressive and the result is nothing short of impressive. These works by Beethoven highlight three facets of the composer’s personality. While Sonata No. 6 shows Beethoven’s calmer side, Sonata No. 7 reveals a more tempestuous and tormented man, and the charming Sonata No. 8 displays a touch of humor. This is the first album of three by Wan and Richard-Hamelin that will cover the complete sonatas for violin and piano of Ludwig van Beethoven.

Originally, this album was intended to be Eldbjorg Hemsing’s recording debut, but the repertoire interest in what became her debut (Borgstrom and Shostakovich) swayed the label and they changed the plan accordingly. Rarely has a recording debut had the impact of Eldbjorg’s debut album, and she has since been catapulted into international awareness in a very short time. On this release, we have more standard repertoire, no less well played and beautifully accompanied by the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra (previously the Royal Flemish Symphony Orchestra) under Alan Buribayev. This is the second record in a projected long series. A champion of Norway’s rich musical tradition, Eldbjorg Hemsing has been performing on some of the world’s most prestigious stages since age 11, when she made her solo debut with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. Her violin playing represents a unique blend of classic Viennese sound, drawn from her lessons with Boris Kuschnier; a contemporary sensibility absorbed through numerous projects with the Oscar-winning composer Tan Dun; and a deep affinity with her Scandinavian heritage that she proudly showcases in every aspect of her active musical life.

The Cleveland Orchestra is the “aristocrat among American orchestras” (The Telegraph) and its sovereign, Franz Welser-Möst, rules his subjects with a velvet glove. Indeed, velvet and silk keep showing up in descriptions of the Clevelanders’ sound under its principal conductor. It is Welser-Möst’s nimble alternation between smoothness and a sound that’s as “sharp-edged as a skyscraper” (The Telegraph after the Brahms’ First at the orchestra’s London Proms concert). That keeps the ensemble and the audience figuratively on its toes. Brahms’ Fourth and last Symphony could be said to glow with autumnal colors. Endowed with a strong undercurrent of subdued melancholy, it seems to pine for an irretrievable past. Franz Welser-Möst offers a “lean, propulsive performance” (The Plain Dealer) of this work with his highly concentrated Cleveland Orchestra. The swift pace of the symphony in Welser-Möst’s hands reflects the conductor’s quest for a distinctive, far-from-the-mainstream interpretation. Written nearly contemporaneously in the late 1870s, Johannes Brahms’ rousing Academic Festival Overture and Violin Concerto op. 77 bear witness to a composer at the height of his abilities, a mature master of large-scale masterpieces. The Violin Concerto demands extreme technical proficiency. As if to exemplify this, violinist Julia Fischer gears herself from the very start of this emotionally searing work to maintaining a restrained yet passionate tone.

For his inaugural concert as the new Gewandhauskapellmeister, Andris Nelsons chose three pieces, each with symbolic power. At its center is the “Scottish” Symphony by Felix Mendelssohn, his most prominent predecessor, which was premiered by the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig under the baton of the composer himself in 1842. The symphony is framed by a commissioned work by the Leipzig composer Steffen Schleiermacher and Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto, a key work of classical modernism. There is no question about it: this program defines his agenda. It professes Leipzig‘s rich musical tradition, spanning the period from the 19th to the 20th century, and to the music of our time. Andris Nelsons is Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and is Gewandhauskapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, with the appointment commencing in February 2018. With these positions, and in leading a pioneering alliance between two such esteemed institutions, Grammy Award-winning Nelsons is firmly underlined as one of the most renowned and innovative conductors on the international scene today.

For his inaugural concert as the new Gewandhauskapellmeister, Andris Nelsons chose three pieces, each with symbolic power. At its center is the “Scottish” Symphony by Felix Mendelssohn, his most prominent predecessor, which was premiered by the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig under the baton of the composer himself in 1842. The symphony is framed by a commissioned work by the Leipzig composer Steffen Schleiermacher and Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto, a key work of classical modernism. There is no question about it: this program defines his agenda. It professes Leipzig‘s rich musical tradition, spanning the period from the 19th to the 20th century, and to the music of our time. Andris Nelsons is Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and is Gewandhauskapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, with the appointment commencing in February 2018. With these positions, and in leading a pioneering alliance between two such esteemed institutions, Grammy Award-winning Nelsons is firmly underlined as one of the most renowned and innovative conductors on the international scene today.

The three violin sonatas on this release are by composers who had enjoyed a direct professional relationship during the period between the two world wars, mainly through their involvement on the teaching staff at the Moscow Conservatoire. Despite being on of Nikolai Myaskovsky's most appealing and approachable later works, his Violin Sonata op. 70 remains rarely performed in concert. The work begins with a wistful first movement, followed by the final movement containing a series of 12 Variations on a theme eloquent and restrained by turns. The following work is by a student, colleague and friend of Myaskovsky, Vassarion Shebalin. Formed in the classically arrayed four-movement design, it shows the composer's musical language at it's clearest and most direct. The final work on this album is by the composer Vasily Nechayev who is hardly known outside of Soviet music circles. His Sonata Op. 12 shows Nechayev was aware of stylistic developments pursued by Bartok and Prokofiev in it's richly whole-tone harmonies and it's motoric rhythms. Sasha Rozhdestvensky and Viktoria Postnikova are a mother and son partnership who form part of a famous Russian music family. These are premiere recordings.

Violinist Raimund Lissy, member of the Vienna Philharmonic, has long been dedicated to the work of uncovering the works of Austrian composer Joseph Mayseder and make them available to a wider audience. After publishing two recordings with chamber music by the violin virtuoso who was born in 1789 in Vienna, the third volume contains violin concertos by Mayseder. Joined by the newly formed "Joseph Mayseder Orchestra" under the baton of Helmut Zehetner, Lissy presents the concerts for violin and orchestra No. 1 in A minor, Op. 22 (1813) and No. 3 in D major, Op. 28 (1811) as well as the Concertino for violin and orchestra No. 2 in E major, Op. 53 (1835). Raimund Lissy on the typical Mayseder style: Skillfully composed virtuosic passages for the violin alternate with pleasing cantilena, and there is a wealth of successful musical ideas that make rediscovering this music very rewarding.

Although Giuseppe Tartini was taught the first rudiments of music at the College of the Padri dell Scuole Pie in Capodistria, and may have received lessons in counterpoint from the Franciscan Bohuslav Cernohorsky in Assisi, many elements give the impression that the boy had an education that was anything but ‘academic,’ and that the future ‘maestro delle nazioni’ largely taught himself. However, there does exist a declared model for the music of Tartini, at least for a certain period: that of Corelli. His output seems dominated initially by the influence of his great predecessor in terms of both language and structure. The reference to folk music in his music is also obvious. Another interesting element in the sonatas presented on this release is the presence of mottoes of varying length placed next to the incipits of certain movements, and often written in a ciphered cuneiform alphabet invented by the composer. These are poetic quotations, mostly drawn from the works of Metastasio, although not all of them have been identified. At the end of this recording is one of Tartini’s very rare vocal pieces, the last composition copied into MS 1888/1. The poem Solitario bosco ombroso, based on a clearly Petrarchan model and on the classical antecedents of Tibullus and Propertius, was published for the first time by the poet Paolo Rolli in London in 1727, in a musical setting by Rolli himself.

When Kamilla Schatz plays the violin, she becomes one with her instrument; she revels and sings”- with these words the Berliner Togesspiegel hailed the debut of Swiss violinist Kamilla Schatz at Berlin’s Philharmonie Concert Hall. Since then, she has appeared as a soloist with the Orchestra de la Suisse Romande, the SWR Symphony Orchestra Freiburg/Baden-Baden, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, and the Basel Symphony Orchestra. She performed as a chamber musician at the Berliner Festwochen, and the Lucerne Festival. Since 2017 she has been the artistic director of the ‘Laudinella’ Cultural Centre in St. Moritz. She is joined here by pianist Benjamin Engeli, one of the most versatile musicians of his generation. His career as a soloist and chamber musician has taken him to venues across the world, and he has performed with such orchestras as the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony and Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich. Here they present Violin Sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven as well as his variations on ‘Se Vuol Ballare’ from Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro.

When Julian Olevksy made his first tour of the Orient in 1959, the Tokyo Shinbun declared him to be "the most exciting violinist to appear in Japan next to Heifetz and Oistrakh" - to which his remarkable performances on this album of violin concertos by Brahms, Mendelssohn, Bruch, Wieniawski and Lalo bear eloquent witness. Julian Olevsky was born in Berlin on May 7, 1926. The son of a professional violinist, he began his studies at 7. In 1935, mindful of the growing danger in Germany, the family moved to Buenos Aires. He made his recital debut at 10 and his orchestral debut at 12 in Buenos Aires under the baton of Fritz Busch. In 1947 he immigrated to the United States. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s he performed widely, touring and appearing with the finest world orchestras. He recorded extensively for the American label Westminster. Olevsky had a distinguished career as a teacher as well. In 1967 he was appointed Resident Artist and subsequently Professor of Violin at the University of Massachusetts. Olevsky died in Amherst on May 25, 1985. The eminent violin critic Henry Roth, in his survey of the great violinists said of him that he was "a brilliant virtuoso, a fine tonalist with glowing temperament and a tasteful musician and stylist." The complete Symphonie espagnole, including the 3rd movement "Intermezzo", was recorded by Julian Olevsky at the recording sessions. However, the Westminster LP of Lalo's Symphonie espagnole did not include it. Many recordings made in that era by other top ranking violinists, such as Huberman, Elman, Heifetz, Francescatti, Milstein and Grumiaux (2 recordings), also omitted the intermezzo. It is now added here as originally recorded by Olevsky, presenting the complete 5 movements version - for the very first time.

“On one stave, for a small instrument, this man writes an entire world of the deepest thoughts and the most powerful feelings.” These are the words of Johannes Brahms, who venerated Johann Sebastian Bach's six Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, a miracle of musical timelessness and expressive depth. Violinists approach this music with a sense of awe; they study it for their entire lives and yet never feel absolutely to be able to do it justice. They present the ultimate challenge, a life task. Schickedanz' understanding of these works has grown out of musical practice - an independent reading between the poles of a "traditional" and a "historically informed" view of Bach. To his mind, the violin is only the medium for which these works were conceived: "There is absolutely no need for this music to be played on certain instruments in order to achieve a 'correct' interpretation."

The Ukrainian composer, Sergei Zhukov (b. 1951) began his musical training at the Zhitomir Music College, graduating from the Department of Composition in 1973. He then moved to Moscow and studied at the Moscow State Conservatory, graduating in 1978. He continued his studies, completing a postgraduate degree in composition in 1980, studying with Professor Mikhail Chulaki. While still a student, he received a special prize from the Soviet Union of Composers for his work 'Dramatic Triptych.' Zhukov is an eclectic composer, having produced a large catalogue of chamber, choral, orchestral, and theatrical works. He has placed particular emphasis on the genre of the concerto. Zhukov composed three concertos for piano, violin, and cello, which he dedicated to each of the Khazak Nakipbekova sisters (The Bekova Trio). This series of concertos earned him the Music Review award of 'Composer of the Year' in 2002. When he composed 'Silentium,' Zhukov had in his mind not only Eleonora Bekova's skills as a soloist but also her psychological profile. The theme of the concerto is the special relationship between sound and silence. The Violin Concerto 'Angel's Day' was designed to fit the character of violinist Elvira Bekova using her remarkable capacity to perform exactly according to the composer's intention. It also reflects the theatrical style of the composer.