Ravel: Violin Sonata in G major

If there's one period to which we feel specially attracted, it's the time when Ravel and Bartók wrote their sonatas and rhapsodies. Music styles from all corners of the world were blowing across the European continent, taking root as folk dances, blues rhythms and exotic melodies in the hearts of classically trained musicians. How very similar to our own situation!

We were formed by Beethoven and Schubert, but with American colleagues, Indonesian forefathers and pop and jazz musicians as close friends our musical world was equally determined by Radiohead, Brad Mehldau and Indonesian gamelan. Bartók and Ravel show us how traditional craftsmanship can be combined with the sounds of other cultures. In their music we can give full rein to our craft, the flame of our ensemble playing and our love for our instruments. At the same time, we recognize in it the groove, the catch in the voice and the raw expression, which captivate us beyond the concert hall. All these elements are brought together in masterly fashion. And so this CD is not only a homage to Ravel and Bartók, but also to the unbounded world of music, in which we both feel free and happy. Enjoy our recording!

Rosanne Philippens & Yuri van Nieuwkerk In 2001 Yuri and Rosanne met at a summer school high up in the mountains of Switzerland. Playing together, it became clear that they had much in common in their musicianship. On returning to Holland they decided to form a duo, and this has been a great success. Today they continue to play together and their musicianship - both as individuals and as a duo - is recognised increasingly. The duo was awarded the Netherlands Programming Foundation Duo Prize at the National Violin Competition, and has broadcast on Dutch classical radio and TV. At the latest Vriendenkrans/het Debuut they won Het Debuut, and with it a grant for further studies and a series of ten concerts at leading chamber music venues in Holland in 2013. The duo has also performed in Switzerland, Germany and Liechtenstein.

This new recording of Ravel’s works is performed by Julian Steckel (winner ECHO Klassik 2012, category “Newcomer of the year”), and includes the rarely played piece “Habanera”.

The young violinist Lena Neudauer captivated the critics with her first recording for Haenssler, Schumann’s Complete Works for Violin and Orchestra (HAEN93258), and on this new recording she tackles the incredibly demanding violin works of Maurice Ravel. Accompanied by Paul Rivinius (who is a critically acclaimed performer in his own right), Lena’s interpretation is wonderfully inspired.

This is Joshua Bell’s first CD of Sonatas on Sony Classical and it is a passionately nuanced interpretation of works from Saint-Saëns, Franck and Ravel. Joshua Bell is one of the world’s most successful violinists and has won multiple Grammy awards, was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize and named Instrumentalist of the Year by Musical America. Bell was recently named Music Director for the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields becoming the first person to hold this title since Sir Neville Marriner founded the Orchestra in 1958.

Often referred to as the “poet of the violin”, his 2004 album Romance of the Violin was named the “Classical CD of the Year” by Billboard Magazine, with Bell named “Classical Artist of the Year.”

The three Sonatas chosen for this disc are very different though linked extraneously through their inherent national style:

The Saint-Saëns sonata remains one of the most exciting sonatas in the repertoire; the feverish finale is guaranteed to bring the house down. Bell’s recording of César Franck’s Violin Sonata allows him to pay homage, through his mentor Josef Gingold, to the two great artists who created this undying masterpiece. Written 125 years ago, at the height of the French Belle Epoque for the wedding of his friend, the virtuoso Eugene Ysaÿe (with whom Gingold studied). Ravel’s more fantastic sonata offers a kaleidoscope of different thrills, as seen in the unexpected yet beautiful blending of genres in the slow “Blues” movement of his sonata.

“French Impressions is the culmination of my last decade of exploration and performance with pianist Jeremy Denk, and I hope that with this recording we can affect the listener with the same joy and spiritual enrichment that these masterpieces have provided us with over the years.” Joshua Bell

Showcasing violinist Tasmin Little’s impressive versatility, these recordings highlight her sensitivity to both orchestral and chamber works. From the lyricism and blues-inspired melodies of Ravel’s Violin Sonata to the impassioned melodies of Delius’s Double Concerto, Little’s playing breathes life into every aspect of the music.

Iskandar Widjaja describes the two worlds of Bach and Blues as reflecting his musical schizophrenia. He has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe and regularly appears as a soloist and concertmaster with the Berlin Chamber Soloists. He is very popular in Indonesia and is celebrated there like a pop star.

Maurice Ravel’s mature works for violin and piano have established a central place in the core recital repertoire and are considered among the most popular of the genre. These diverse works acknowledge the influences of a range of musical styles from jazz to Impressionism and fuse the tonal colours of Debussy with the lyricism of Franck.

The posthumously published one-movement Violin Sonata, written by Ravel as a student, is a lyrical precursor to the composer’s stunning Violin Sonata in G major with its unique character and adoption of the ‘blues’ idiom. The spontaneity, tonal colours and exotic soundscapes in Ravel’s violin music call for immense skill in interpretation, and passages in the frenzied Tzigane test the limits of the performers’ virtuosity.

Violinist Alina Ibragmiova rises to these challenges with extraordinary verve. Recent winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s prestigious ‘Young Artist of the Year’ award, she displays a vast expressive range and interpretative maturity.

She is accompanied by pianist Cédric Tiberghien, who gives elegant and flawless performances and relishes Ravel’s iridescent piano parts.

The addition of Guillaume Lekeu’s masterwork, the extensive and engaging Violin Sonata, makes this major new release a chamber disc to treasure.

The Dante Quartet continue their award-winning exploration of the French string quartet with this disc which includes two of the greatest works of this genre.

Both quartets dazzled and disturbed at their first performances. Debussy’s fantastic, spiralling variations, resisting orthodox ‘development’ of ideas, is described as reminiscent of Monet’s in recording the variations of light on the façade of Rouen Cathedral. Traditionalist commentators were shocked, but the exotic beauty of the writing excited many, including the young Ravel. Ravel’s Quartet is to some extent an hommage to Debussy, but, typically, also a work of startling originality.

Also included is Ravel’s Violin Sonata No 2 in G major, an intriguing, jazz-influenced work, energetic but with a dark undertow of pain; written, as Ravel said, with the aim of ‘exploring the basic incompatibility of violin and piano’.

Following their highly acclaimed performances of the violin and piano sonatas by Schubert and Brahms, Antje Weithaas and Silke Avenhaus present this beautiful CD of music of French chamber music.

One of the most promising violinists of the new generation, young Moldovan Patricia Kopatchinskaja makes her Naïve debut with a captivating disc that includes Beethoven’s masterpiece, the “Kreutzer” Sonata, Ravel’s Violin Sonata, Bartók’s Romanian Dances and the premier recording of the Violin Sonata by her accompanist, the outstanding Turkish pianist and composer, Fazil Say. Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 9 in A, commonly known as the “Kreutzer” Sonata, was published in 1802, and is known for its demanding violin part, unusual length and emotional scope. The piece’s title comes from its dedicatee, Rodolphe Kreutzer, who was considered to be the finest violinist of the day. Ironically, Kreutzer never performed it, and considered it unplayable.

Patricia Kopatchinskaja was born in Moldavia (now Moldova), and studied composition and the violin in Vienna and Berne before winning first prize in the International Henryk Szeryng Competition in 2000, followed two years later by the prestigious Crédit Suisse Group Young Artist Award. She represented Austria in the ‘Rising Stars’ concert series in the main European centres and New York. In 2004 she received the New Talent-SPP Award from the EBU and in 2006 the Förderpreis Deutschlandfunk, and now plays with leading orchestras and major festivals worldwide. More information at www.patkop.ch

Born in Ankara in Turkey, Fazil Say studied piano and composition at the State Conservatory of his home city. At 17 he was awarded a scholarship enabling him to work for five years with David Levine at the Robert Schumann Institute in Düsseldorf. From 1992-1995 he pursued his studies at the Berlin Conservatory. Say’s discography includes Stravinsky’s four-hand arrangement of The Rite of Spring, in which he plays both parts himself. This recording brought him several international awards, including the 2001 EchoPreis Klassik and the German Music Critics’ Best Recording of the Year. For Naïve, he has made recordings of Mozart Piano Concertos Nos. 21, 21 & 23 (V4992) and Beethoven’s ‘Appassionata’, ‘Tempest’ & ‘Waldstein’ Sonatas (V5016), and his own music, Black Earth (V4954). His most recent CD, a selection of Haydn Sonatas (V5070), was released in 2007. He gives a recital at the Edinburgh International Festival on 19 August.