August 30, 2010

Richard Strauss’s Violin Sonata. Richard Strauss was 23 years old when he wrote this sonata. This was his third (he had already composed a piano sonata and one for the cello) and last one: even though he composed for another 60 years, he would never return to this genre again. The Violin sonata is a romantic piece very much in the tradition of Schumann and Mendelssohn. While not considered a masterpiece, this composition is graceful, balanced, and full of wonderful melodic lines and youthful energy.

We have three performances of this sonata. The most recent one is by the violinist Korbinian Altenberger (he’s accompanied by Jiayi Shi). Mr. Altenberger was born in Munich, Germany, studied at the Musikhochschule Köln and then at the New England Conservatory as a student of Donald Weilerstein. Later he studied with Midori at the University of Southern California. Mr. Altenberger received first prize at the Jacob Stainer Violin Competition in 2005, and second prize at the prestigious Montreal International Musical Competition in 2010. You can listen to his performance here.

The second performance is by the young American violinist Tessa Lark. Ms. Lark also studied at the New England Conservatory (with Miriam Fried). She has won several competitions: first place at the Johansen International Strings Competition in Washington, D.C., in 2006, and another first place at the Irving Klein International String Competition in San Francisco in 2008. You can listen to her performance of the sonata here. Ms. Lark is accompanied by Ron Regev.

Finally, we have two masters who need no introduction: Ilya Kaler and Eteri Andjaparidze. You can enjoy their interpretation here.

August 23, 2010

The young cellist Fanny Nemeth-Weiss likes to travel: she was born in Hungary and studied in Zagreb (Croatia), Graz (Austria), Zurich and Basel (Switzerland), where she was a student of Ivan Monighetti. In 2005 she entered the Manhattan School of Music and is currently studying at the Catholic University of America. Fanny received scholarships from several programs, including the Itzhak and Toby Perlman program. She also participated in master classes lead by Bernard Greenhouse, Eleonore Schoenfeld, Natalia Shahovskaya, Itzhak Perlman, Robert Mann, the Takacs Quartet and several others. In 2008 Fanny made her Weill Recital Hall debut. She played recitals and chamber concerts in France, Germany, Hungary, Austria, Italy, and other countries.

We’ll hear two large-scale works played by Ms. Nemeth-Weiss: first, Robert Schumann’s Fantasy Pieces Op. 73, and then Suite for solo cello no. 3 in C Major by Bach. To listen, click here.

August 16, 2010

Claude Debussy, one of the most influential and popular composers of the last 100 years, was born on August 22, 1862. From Maurice Ravel’s works at the beginning of the 20^th century, to the young Stravinsky, "Les Six," Vaughn Williams, Messiaen, and Toru Takemitsu’s compositions at the end of the 20^th century, Debussy’s influence is enormous. And judging by how often his music is played in concert halls and on the radio, he remains tremendously popular with the listening public and the performers. On Classical Connect we have a large selection of Debussy’s works: his numerous piano works, songs, several recordings of cello and violin sonatas, and his quartet in g minor – just go to Browse by Composer and select Debussy. Our short playlist contains three piano works: General Lavine – eccentric, from Préludes Book II played by Jorge Federico Osorio; Mouvement, played by the young Georgian pianist Ana Gligvashvili (Piano); and Jardins sous la pluie, from Estampes, performed by Michael Mizrahi. To listen, click here.

August 9, 2010

Sorabji and Ibert. Two very different composers were born on August 15, 2010: Kaikhosru Sorabji and Jacques Ibert. Sorabji, a British composer of Indian descent, was born in 1892. He wrote extraordinarily long and difficult piano pieces. His work Opus Clavicembalisticum, was once listed in the Guinness book of records as the longest piano piece ever composed: the complete performance runs about four hours. Not very many pianists attempt to play Sorabji; among the well-known recordings are those of the late John Ogdon. Marc-André Hamelin and Fredrik Ullén also play Sorabji. It’s interesting to note that Ullén also recorded George Flynn’s piece Trinity, which runs for about an hour and 10 minutes (in our library we have a recording made by the composer). Sorabji, incidentally, was one of the composers who influenced George Flynn. We included Sorabji’s Pastiche on Habanera from "Carmen" by Bizet, brilliantly played by Nikolai Choubine. Not to worry, this one runs less than 6 minutes.

The Frenchman Jacques Ibert, born in 1890, was a very different composer altogether: optimistic, joyful, witty and often brief – everything that Sorabji was not. We have a short exerpt, Allegro con moto, from Concertino Da Camera played by the virtuoso saxophonist Ashu. To listen to the playlist, click here.

August 2, 2010

Beatrice Berrut is a young talented pianist from Switzerland. She was born in Geneva; studied in Zurich with Ester Yellin at the Heinrich Neuhaus Foundation, and then at the Hanns Eisler Music Academy in Berlin, with Galina Iwanzowa. Since then Beatrice has developed an active career, playing numerous concerts throughout Europe and the US. In addition to giving solo performances, she enjoys collaborating with other musicians. Gidon Kremer, who calls her “a wonderfully talented and musical pianist,” invited her to play several concerts at his festival in Basel. She also often plays with the violinist Viviane Hagner. We’ll hear two large, technically challenging and very different works: Franz Liszt’s Après une Lecture de Dante (Fantasia quasi Sonata) and Robert Schumann’s Piano Sonata, Op.11. We think you’ll enjoy them. We also have the recording of Brahms’ Klavierstücke op.118 and Rachmaninov’s Etude-Tableau op.39 no. 2. To listen to Liszt and Schumann, click here.

July 26, 2010

Arpeggione. Some music can only be performed on the instrument it was written for: think of Beethoven’s piano sonatas or Chopin’s etudes. Bach, on the other hand, loved to take a good piece and use it in very different arrangements. For example, music historians think that his famous Harpsichord Concerto I in d minor, BWV 1052 was based on a lost violin concerto. That concerto, in turn, was arranged by Bach as an organ concerto. And of course nowadays, we usually hear it performed on a modern concert piano – and, when played by someone like Glenn Gould, to an amazing effect.

Franz Schubert wrote a sonata for an arpeggione, a string instrument invented in Vienna around the 1820s. Arpeggiones went out of vogue very soon thereafter, so the sonata got arranged for a number of instruments. It is usually performed on a viola, but we have three different transcriptions: Noah Turner Rogoff plays it on a Cello, Nicholas Santangelo Schwartz – on the Double Bass (!), and Kristin Figard on the Viola. Enjoy!