Alfredo d’Ambrosio (1871-1914) was born in Naples and perhaps became a student of Marco Enrico Bossi, but he made his career around the turn of the last century once he moved to France. As the composer of small- and large-scale works for the violin that were premiered and performed by virtuoso soloists of the day, published internationally and appealing in different forms to both amateur and professional musicians, D’Ambrosio enjoyed a measure of fame that seems rapidly to have waned after his death, at the early age of 43. The present album has the field to itself (for now) in attempting a complementary survey of D’Ambrosio’s work as a salon musician. D’Ambrosio wrote a violin concerto, premiered in Berlin, and an opera, first heard in Nice in 1903, but his slender claim to fame rests on the album leaves recorded here, in which he records his friendship and esteem for distinguished colleagues. Aside from his publisher Decourcelle and his daughter Suzanne, D’Ambrosio pays tribute to the friendship of fellow violinists such as August Wilhelmj, Jacques Thibaud and Jan Kubelík. Then there is a trio of fellow violinist-composers, the best known of whom is Vittorio Monti (author of the Csardas which remains popular encore fare). There are elegies, canzonettas, ariettas, serenatas and romanzas, most of them just a minute or two in length, all written to be enjoyed equally by the musicians, the dedicatee and by their audience. They are revived here with native flair by the Gran Duo Italiano, who have made a series of acclaimed albums for Brilliant Classics, including the sonatas of Saint-Saens (94848) and the music of other lesser-known late-Romantic Italian contemporaries such as Santoliquido (96589) and Scalero (96160).

After recording the sonatas for violin and piano by Ludwig van Beethoven, a triptych that won numerous awards, including the Juno for Classical Album of the Year - Small Ensemble (2022) and an ADISQ award, Andrew Wan and Charles Richard-Hamelin continue their fruitful collaboration by performing the complete sonatas for violin and piano by Robert Schumann (1810-1856). A perfect work to highlight the complicity that has developed between the concertmaster of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and the pianist who won the silver medal at the 2015 Frédéric Chopin International Piano Competition.

The Fantasias for solo violin composed by Georg Philipp Telemann (Magdeburg, 14th March 1681 – Hamburg, 25th June 1767) were published in 1735, approximately fifteen years after the Sonatas and partitas for solo violin by Johann Sebastian Bach. We do not know if Telemann knew Bach’s masterpieces, but surely he did not have the same speculative concerns as Bach; indeed Bach tended to reconstruct the polyphonic texture on a monodical instrument thanks to a game of real sounds and underlying notes. On the contrary, in Telemann the pleasure of exploring the possibilities of the instrument prevails, as well as identifying original technical and expressive solutions, to enhance the performer’s capabilities, with the aim of fascinating, surprising and involving the audience.

Slawomira Wilga and Izabela Wilga present a collection of works for violin and piano by the talented Kontski brothers. Sławomira Wilga was born in Bytom, where she began her music education at the Fryderyk Chopin General Education Music School. She graduated with honors from secondary school in the class of Joanna Cogiel, then continued her education at the Grażyna and Kiej-stut Bacewicz Academy of Music in Łódź in the class of Prof. Łukasz Błaszczyk, receiving the Primus in Artibus Diploma for the most outstanding student. She has been developing her skills at many international music festivals and workshops in Europe and Africa under the watchful eye of excellent artists including Farid Bacharov, Andrej Bielow, Zakhar Bron, Boris Brovtsyn, Nikita Boriso-Glebsky, and many others. Izabela Wilga Born graduated with honors from the Fryderyk Chopin General Education Music School in Bytom in the piano class of Maria Wróbel-Zegalska. In 2013–2018, she studied in the piano class of Prof. Zbigniew Raubo and Piotr Banasik, DMA, and in the chamber music class of Prof. Grzegorz Biegas, with whom she continued postgraduate studies in 2018–2020. She has also worked under the super-vision of such pianists as Andrzej Jasiński, Alexei Orlovetsky, Wojciech Kocyan, Piotr Sałajczyk, Witold Holtz, and Carlo Palese. Her main focus is chamber music. She has taken part in many music festivals, e.g. the Sinfonia Varsovia Festival ‘Summer at Grochowska Street,’ ‘Emanations’, ‘Violin Under the Sails’, ‘Music of Nations’ Festival, ‘Żywieckie Suwakowanie,’ 43 Days of Karol Szymanowski’s Music, or the 31st International Festival of Young Winners of Music Competitions.

The unique instrumentation of the three works in this album was pioneered by the innovative Lou Harrison, whose 1959 concerto encapsulates his culturally wide-ranging aesthetic. More conventional instruments work alongside calibrated extras such as wash tubs and flowerpots in a work of color, languorous elegance and kinetic energy. The companion works were composed in its honor: Robert Xavier Rodríguez’s Xochiquetzal evokes the ancient Mayan world in imaginary folk music to form a synthesis of time periods and cultures, while the economical serenity of Kati Agócs’s concerto also includes bitonal effects and zesty syncopation.

World Première Recordings

Giovanni Battista Sammartini attained a leading role in Milan’s music scene in the 18th century, his career extending from the height of the Baroque era to the Classical worlds of Mozart and Haydn by his death in 1775. Appearing here in world premiere recordings, these works appear to belong to Sammartini’s early period, including a four-movement example that recollects archaic church sonata form. Full of fascinating stylistic quirks, these sonatas reflect the refined taste for nuance found in the Milanese musician’s finest chamber works, with an easy melodic flow that expresses a mood for stylistic change.

Alban Berg's output proved tremendously influential in the development of music in the twentieth century. His natural ability to write lyrical melodic lines probably remained the most outstanding quality of his style. His Op. 1 Piano Sonata was the fulfilment of a task set by his teacher and peer Schoenberg to write non-vocal music. The Passacaglia, written between the sonata and World War I, was only completed in short-score, and may have been intended to form part of a larger work. Both pieces are recorded here in skillful orchestrations by Sir Andrew Davis.

The Three Orchestral Pieces were composed alongside his first great masterpiece, Wozzeck, and could be seen as a tribute to his musical hero, Mahler. The Violin Concerto, from 1935, was commissioned by the American violinist Louis Krasner, but was inspired by the premature death (from polio) of Manon Gropius, the daughter of Alma Mahler and the architect and Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius, hence the subtitle ‘to the memory of an angel’. It proved to be one of the composer’s final works as Berg died later that year as the result of an abscess from an insect sting.

REVIEW:

The first track on this disc brings us Andrew Davis’s orchestration of Berg’s Piano Sonata. Berg wrote this accomplished piece when he was studying composition with Arnold Schoenberg. Originally meant to have had a slow movement and a finale, it ended up stand-alone. It is conceived in standard sonata-allegro form. The liner notes mention the structurally conventional fact of the repeated exposition. Harmonically, the work is very chromatic. It presents unstable key centres, whole-tone scales, with sometimes dense, often polyphonic, music. In its original incarnation, it demands a highly technical pianism. Andrew Davis explains that “its emotional and dramatic range is enormous”, and that this new orchestration needed to relate to “the sonorities of the era” – those of Mahler, Schoenberg, Zemlinsky and Schrecker. The result is a wonderful tapestry of sound. The mood varies from gentle to fervent, with a satisfyingly gentle conclusion. The organic nature of the sonata form seems to unfold continually, leading us on a magical, if sometimes disconcerting, journey. For my review, I listened several times to this hauntingly lovely re-creation of Berg’s early masterwork: it has suddenly become one of my favourite Berg pieces.

Berg wrote the Three Pieces for orchestra during the opening stages of the First World War. They present a frightening musical image of the unfolding horrors. It has been pointed out that they have Schoenberg’s Five Pieces for orchestra as an inspiration. Yet, they sound nothing like the elder man’s work. In fact, Mahler is the stylistic arbiter. One commentator has suggested that it is Mahler’s Eleventh Symphony, in the same way that Brahms One is Beethoven’s 10^th (or is it 11^th?).

The movingly beautiful Violin Concerto was the last major work that Berg composed, and one of his greatest. It was dedicated “to the memory of an angel”, the daughter of Gustav Mahler’s widow Alma and the architect Walter Gropius. Sadly, Manon died of polio at only eighteen. The work is a perfect balance of lyricism and drama. James Ehnes’s performance is magical. He tends towards optimism, which seems to bolster Berg’s contention that serial music could also be romantic. I was taken by his interpretation of this concerto and the integration of the various stylistic innovations such as the Bach chorale, the waltz-like theme and the Carinthian folk tune. The balance between the structural serialism and the more tonal moments is well managed here. There is a tenderness of tone that sings of affection but sometimes echoes despair, a tempestuous protest against life’s tragedy, and a sad, requiem-like epilogue.

Gavin Plumley’s booklet notes in English, German and French give a detailed introduction to all four works. “A note by the conductor” is a valuable extra: an essay-length appreciation of Berg’s music and an explanation of his approach to the two orchestrations. There are several photographs of the composer, the recording session, the violin soloist and the orchestra and conductor.

This is a remarkable disc. I enjoyed the two transcribed works, which genuinely add to our appreciation and understanding of Alban Berg’s earlier achievement. The performance of the two works of genius – the Three Pieces for orchestra and the Violin Concerto – are revelatory in their sympathy and understanding. It is an album that all enthusiasts of the composer must own.

-- MusicWeb International (John France)

Born in Jelenia Góra, Sulamita Ślubowska started playing the violin at the age of six under the direction of Ludmiła Sołowiewicz. Graduate of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice in the class of Prof. Szymon Krzeszowiec, in which she has been working as an assistant professor since 2020. Graduate of the NOSPR Academy. She has trained her skills under the guidance of outstanding artists, such as Pierre Amoyal, Gidon Kremer, Pinchas Zukerman, Roland Baldini, Bartłomiej Nizioł and Maria Szwajger-Kułakowska. Moreover, she has been appreciated many times at national and international com- petitions, winning, among others, first place at International ‘Young Paganini’ Violin Competition in Legnica, first place at National Stanisław Serwaczyński Competition of Young Violinists in Lublin, third place in the Michał Spisak National Music Competition in Dąbrowa Górnicza.

On this release, Ślubowska presents a program of works by Bacewicz, Prokofiev, and Pärt.

The 24 Caprices for Solo Violin by Pierre Rode, next to an analogous cycle by Niccolò Paganini, should be considered one of the most important violin works of early Romanticism. Rode’s compositions are advanced and innovative, and their contribution to the development of the 19th-century cycle of instrumental miniatures is undeniable. Soloist, chamber musician, and teacher, Roksana Kwasnikowska graduated with honors from the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw in the class of her master, legendary violinist Prof. Jan Stanienda, receiving the ‘Magna cum Laude’ medal. On a number of occasions, she has been awarded in prestigious national and international competitions, including the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition in Sion, the 1st Karol Szymanowski International Music Competition in Katowice, the Beethoven’s Hradec International Music Competition, the Michał Spisak International Music Competition in Dąbrowa Górnicza, and the International Tadeusz Wroński Solo Violin Com-petition in Warsaw. In addition to her solo career, she is very devoted to chamber music.

This tenth volume of violin concertos marks the return of Julien Chauvin and his Concert de la Loge to the Vivaldi Edition, with works linked to Pisendel, a major musical figure in the court of Dresden in the 18th century. Julien Chauvin and his Concert de la Loge released a hugely successful volume of Vivaldi concertos with a theatrical theme in 2020. In this new album they perform works focusing on Johann Georg Pisendel (1687-1755), konzertmeister at the Dresden Court chapel, and pupil and friend of Vivaldi, who played a key role in the popularity of the Red Priest’s music in Dresden. It is thanks to the admiration and foresight of this eminent German violinist not only that the city possesses a considerable Vivaldi catalogue, but also that certain signed manuscripts were preserved that are to be found only in Dresden.

This album comprises three concertos composed for him (RV 237, RV 314 and RV 340) and three others copied by his hand (RV 225, RV 226 and RV 369). All the many contrasts which mark Vivaldi’s concerto repertoire – whatever the instrument –are magnified here under the supple bow of Julien Chauvin: his close bond with Le Concert de la Loge flourishes in a free, rich and diverse discourse, fiery and passionate in the external movements, and lyric or gently melancholic in the central parts. Worth mentioning among the many examples are the splendid elegiac song of the Adagio in concerto RV 237 or the delicate slow movements accompanied by the pizzicato of the strings in concertos RV 314 and RV 226.

The place of Domenico Scarlatti in the history of 18th century music is certainly exceptional. This exquisite and imaginative group of works is included in the fourteenth volume of Scarlatti’s manuscript sonatas preserved in the Marciana Library in Venice. Although known as keyboard sonatas, research reveals that they were very likely to have been conceived for performance on the violin – multi-movement works, often showing the presence of figured bass accompaniment, rapid changes of register and numerous passages better suited to a violin than a keyboard instrument all support the theory. This is flashy and virtuosic writing for violin at its finest.

American violinist Rachel Barton Pine marks the 25th anniversary of her 1997 recording of violin concertos by Black composers of the 18th and 19th centuries with Violin Concertos by Black Composers Through the Centuries. This special-edition reissue updates and expands the original program into the 20th century with Pine’s recent recording of Florence Price’s Violin Concerto No. 2, composed in 1952. The 1997 release established the violinist’s reputation as a passionate advocate for composers of African descent. Pine recorded Price’s Second Violin Concerto with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, conducted by rising young American conductor Jonathon Heyward, who has held conducting and guest conducting positions with prominent European and American orchestras. The violinist reprises her previous recordings of masterworks by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1775), José White Lafitte (1864), and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1899), all with Chicago’s Encore Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Hege. The New York Times declared: “Rachel Barton [Pine] handles the concertos’ varied demands with unaffected aplomb, performing this music lovingly.”

REVIEW:

This is more than an anniversary reissue. Cedille updates the release by including a new recording. When Rachel Barton Pine recorded these works in 1997, she was an explorer. The works—and even the names—of Black composers were virtually unknown. Barton’s committed and electrifying performances brought these works to light.

This reissue includes Price’s Second Violin Concerto. Price wrote it shortly before her death in 1952. It had never been performed and was considered lost. The concerto was part of the cache of Price manuscripts rediscovered in 2009. It’s a compact concerto—less than 15 minutes long—but it packs a punch. Barton’s performance crackles with good-natured energy. And the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, directed by Jonathon Heyward, is right there with her.

With the addition of this work, Barton’s survey of Black composers runs from the 1790s through the 1950s. To me, the reissue is a more comprehensive survey, and a more satisfying listen.

--WTJU

Henri Tomasi’s violin works are little known but they offer a compact insight into the direction of French 20th-century composition. The Violin Concerto ‘Périple d’Ulysse’ is a late work, by turns alluring, tragic and violent, conveyed through rhapsodic virtuosity and a rich sense of color. The Capriccio is full of elegance and refinement with emotional intensity in its slow movement and brilliance in its finale. Chant hébraïque conjures up Orientalist motifs while the sequence of early works for violin and piano reference Tomasi’s Corsican heritage and evoke quasi-cinematic exoticism.

REVIEW:

The most substantial work on the disc is 1962's Violin Concerto ‘Periple d’Ulysse’ (Ulysses’ Journey). Cast in four movements it’s a veritable tour-de-force for the soloist, demanding a virtuoso technique of the highest order. The work is brilliantly scored; Tomasi’s colorful orchestration is impressive by any standards. It’s highly rhapsodic, with moments of passionate intensity and drama.

The three-movement Capriccio (1931, rev. 1950) was, in effect, the composer’s first violin concerto. It conveys a distinctly Gallic tone. Once again, Tomasi proves himself a colorful and imaginative orchestrator. Two sprightly outer movements bookend a central Andante, described aptly in the booklet as “a moment of sheer beauty”. Moraly fully savors its glories with a beautiful, rich, ravishing tone. Although only a short piece, the Chant hébraïque, written two years before the Capriccio, is a well-crafted score. It’s gossamer orchestration and exotic flavour are enticing. Stéphanie Moraly is joined by pianist Romain David for the remaining four pieces. All are brief, the longest is just under six minutes.

I have really enjoyed this CD and recommend it wholeheartedly, simply because it ticks all the right boxes. Moraly and David perform these works with distinction. Their playing has precision and panache, and expressive warmth when called for. I admire their sublime musicianship. The recording is top notch.

-- MusicWeb International

This is a ‘concept-album’ around Maurice Ravel and his special relation with Hélène Jourdan Mourhange, a dear friend and violinist nicknamed "Moune." The program is set-up in order to take the listener by the hand into Ravel’s musical world through a series of pieces which are gradually more deep and complex. The music is played on a 1935 Hautrive piano, while violin and cello are played on gut strings. The Tzigane is in the rare version for Luthéal (Pleyel, 1910), a period prepared piano with a distinct character. About Lina Tur Bonet, Diapason writes: “Impressive: Lina Tur Bonet’s discography aligns beautiful achievements’. Indeed her previous releases have already collected all European awards.

In this new concerto album one of the greatest violinists of his generation, Christian Tetzlaff, offers profound interpretations of two deeply dramatic and lyrical concertos – those of Brahms and Berg – together with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin conducted by Robin Ticciati.

“Reasons of substance justify the recording of the Violin Concertos of Johannes Brahms and Alban Berg on a single album: both works concern existential human states of being. For me, the concerto by Johannes Brahms is a work that in a violin concerto dares to address very dangerous, abysmal, and profound states of the soul. Here an enormous contrast between ecstasy and total lonely isolation is in evidence. (...) Brahms also has a lot to say about pain. That’s rare in violin concertos – and links the Brahms concerto to the one by Alban Berg. I’ve been playing both concertos for 40 years – and I’ve played both of them, taken together, much more than 300 times. Here it seems to me as though the experience of these pieces changes one’s own life.” (Christian Tetzlaff)

REVIEWS:

This is a master violinist at the height of his powers. Teztlaff's playing demonstrates the range of emotion that each work requires. Needless to say, he is wholly in command of the technical demands of each work. The balance between soloists and orchestra is good.

-- MusicWeb International

Tetzlaff’s performance of the Brahms Concerto is brisk, and his interpretation at times feels very much of the moment. The first movement’s second subject is deliciously languid, but always moving onwards, and he develops increasing excitement and momentum in the build-up to the great tutti.

-- The Strad