Ravel: Tzigane

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.

The best of Ravel, Ravel's greatest hits - they're all here on 2 CDs packed to the brim, containing all of Ravel's most memorable tunes.

Inevitably, the focus is on the immortal Bolero, beloved of the film industry. Ravel famously considered it to be his masterpiece, but claimed it had no music in it - an opinion with which many would take leave to disagree.

La Valse extends the theme of dance, the Rhapsodie espagnole the theme of Spanishry and exoticism, while the compilation ends with a flavour of jazz as exemplified in the Blues movement from the Violin Sonata and the Concerto for piano, left hand (which in the 1930s the famous pianist Alfred Cortot dared to play using both hands, incurring the composer's wrath).

Tasmin Little’s formidable technical ability and gift for interpretation are unmistakable in this collection of showpieces. Displaying her brilliant virtuosity and captivating lyricism, and including her own witty Tchaikovskiana, written in collaboration with John Lenehan, these works highlight Little’s breathtaking skill as a performer.

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.

This Enescu Festival programme is a very interesting one, beginning with a ‘stepchild’ of the repertoire. Schumann’s music for violin and orchestra, intended for Joseph Joachim, has had even less exposure than his other violin music: the Concerto was buried in a library until the 1930s, when Joachim’s great-niece Jelly d’Arányi successfully lobbied for its release, and the fine C major Fantasy had few champions – Adolf Busch was one, playing it regularly, and Fritz Kreisler went to the trouble of making his own piano transcription. That is the version played here by Oistrakh and Yampolsky and it is new to the violinist’s discography. The Franck Sonata, on the other hand, featured frequently in Oistrakh recitals and he recorded it with both Oborin and Yampolsky, also leaving us three live versions with Richter. This performance captures him ‘on the wing’ when he was still in his prime. Karol Szymanowski knew the violin well – one of his dearest friends was the Russian-born Polish virtuoso Pawel Kochan´ski – and wrote two concertos, a sonata, a set of three Myths, a Nocturne and Tarantella and some short pieces for it. Oistrakh and Yampolsky made famous studio recordings of the sonata and The Fountain of Arethusa, but this is their only known document of the other two Myths. The pieces, written in 1915–16 with the encouragement of Kochan´ski – who assisted with the exotic violinistic effects – are among the treasures of the late Romantic repertoire but need first-rate players like these to reveal all their beauties. The same can be said of Ravel’s exciting Tzigane, composed for d’Arányi. We do have other Oistrakh recordings of it, including one with Yampolsky, but it is a piece which thrives on the frisson of a live occasion and here it meets a great virtuoso who can do it justice. Extract from the note © Tully Potter, 2008

Georgy L’vovich Catoire was born in Moscow on 27 April 1861, to parents of French descent. Aside from his musical education Catoire studied mathematics and science at Moscow University and in 1884 graduated with high honours. Catoire’s musical oeuvre is not extensive; only about 40 opus numbers are known. His compositions include piano music (miniatures only!), songs, the symphony, Op. 7, one piano concerto, the cantata, Op. 5, and some chamber music. After his death Catoire and his music soon fell into oblivion. Outside of Russia he had never achieved any noticeable recognition, and in Russia his personal and musical profile did not at all correspond with the ideological demands the new masters expected to be met by a Soviet composer. Indeed a few of his compositions, like the Piano Quartet, Op. 31, were reprinted in the USSR during the sixties, and prominent musicians like Alexander Goldenweiser, David Oistrakh, Mstislav Rostropovitch and Leonid Kogan played and recorded some of his works. But still today Catoire ranks among the most unjustly neglected composers. His compositions demand formidable virtuosity, and the brothers Zack pull off his complete works for violin and piano with considerable aplomb.

Catoire was very conscious of his French descent, and the Zack brothers round out this album with a neat homage to Maurice Ravel with his ever-popular Pièce en forme de habanera and Tzigane.