Ysaye: Sonata for solo violin in A minor, Op. 27 No. 2

Vadim Gluzman here presents his newest project for BIS: a disc combining two partitas by J.S. Bach with two works by Eugène Ysaÿe and Lera Auerbach.

The Partita No.2 was described as ‘one of the most wonderful, most incomprehensible pieces of music’ by Brahms, and is followed on the disc by Auerbach’s par.ti.ta, composed specifically for Vadim Gluzman.

In Ysaÿe‘s Sonata in A minor the parallels with the Partita No.3 are very strong. It was composed in 1924 as the second of a set of six, each sonata dedicated to a fellow violin virtuoso, and although the affinity is obvious, he incorporates elements wholly alien to Bach.

Vadim Gluzman’s previous discs on BIS have ranged from solo works and chamber music by Lera Auerbach, Arvo Pärt and Alfred Schnittke, to the great violin concertos by Bruch and Tchaikovsky.

This is Sophia Jaffé’s debut recording and has been made as a result of her being a prize winner in the German Music Competition. She was born into a family of musicians and is now an assistant professor of the violin.

Bach & Beyond Part 1 and its sequels will appeal to Bach fans as well as those interested in contemporary music. Listeners will explore how composers influence each other across the centuries as Koh pairs Bach’s sonatas and partitas with works by living composers

Violinist Rudens Turku presents his fifth album for Avie, Sweet Remembrance, a personal selection of virtuoso miniatures and encores.

Since making his recording debut for Avie in 2005 with the sonatas of Brahms, Franck and Schumann (AV2080), Albanian-born, Munich-resident violinist Rudens Turku has amassed a devoted following and fan base for his effortless virtuosity and innate musicianship.

Following albums devoted to solo works, duos, and concertos, Rudens returns with a personal selection of miniatures and encores for violin and piano. Sweet Remembrance – the subtitle of Jascha Heifetz’s arrangement of Mendelssohn’s Song without Words - ranges from the romantic Salut d’amour by Elgar, Schön Rosmarin by Kreisler and Massenet’s Meditation from Thaïs, to the energetic Scherzo from Brahms’ F-A-E Sonata and Shostakovich’s exhilarating Preludium. Interspersed with miniature masterpieces by great violinist-composers such as Paganini, Sarasate, Kreisler and Wienawski, the album boldly concludes with Ysaÿe’s commanding Second Sonata, itself written in remembrance of another great violinist, Jacques Thibaud.

David Oistrakh (1908 – 1974), one of the most famous violin virtuosos of the last century, made many recordings and was the dedicatee of numerous works for violin. Among the many violin virtuosi of the younger generation whom he inspired is Lydia Mordkovitch, one of his star pupils. In this CD she pays tribute to her great teacher.

For Chandos Lydia Mordkovitch has recorded many works famously associated with Oistrakh, including violin concertos by Khachaturian and Shostakovich, all of which were written for him. Her recording of Shostakovich’s two concertos won a Gramophone Award in 1990. Indeed, her style of playing has many of the hall marks of Oistrakh’s: incredible virtuosity, rich colouring, and above all a passion which is totally Russian in spirit.

In this collection Lydia Mordkovitch brings together pieces with which Oistrakh was associated. The programme ranges widely, from newly recorded music by Pietro Locatelli to a classic version of Chausson’s gorgeous Poème. Of course, Shostakovich is represented – a composer very closely associated with Oistrakh – Lydia Mordkovitch giving his Violin Sonata a superbly nuanced performance, plumbing real depths of feeling without any sentimentality. Rachmaninov has to be included too and Daises is a particularly lovely piece of music. Oistrakh gave sparkling performances of the technically challenging music of Ysaÿe, and Lydia Mordkovitch here proves that she can meet the challenges with equal brilliance.

The young violinist Lisa Ferschtman has already received a great deal of critical praise for her first two CDs. The second of these featuring the music of Beethoven and Schubert, released in 2007, was particularly well received. On this new hybrid SACD, she performs some of the great masterpieces for solo violin. The disc includes a sonata and partita by J S Bach and two sonatas by the Spanish virtuoso violinist and composer Ysaÿe which were inspired by Bach’s earlier pieces.

Although still in her twenties, violinist Liza Ferschtman is already recognized as one of the most significant artists of her generation. Her performances are known for their passionate and at the same time intellectual qualities. Her two CDs to date, the first of music by Debussy, Poulenc and Tchaikovsky, and the second works from Beethoven and Schubert, were both very well received by the international music press. In November 2006 Liza Ferschtman received the Dutch Music Award, the highest distinction awarded to musicians in the Netherlands.

J S Bach emerged as the pre-eminent composer of the first half of the 18th century and left an enormous musical legacy, including his masterful sonatas and partitas for solo violin. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Spanish composer and virtuoso violinist Eugene Ysaÿe took these pieces as an inspiration for his own Sonatas for Violin solo. As an example of this, like Bach’s, the first sonata is in the key of G minor and divided into four movements, alternating between slow and fast.

A live recording from The Reims Festival in 2005 of the young Yugoslavian violinist Nemanja Radulovic. Currently under the mentorship of Salvatore Accardo and can also name Yehudi Menuhin, Joshua Epstein and Dejan Mihailovic amongst his teachers. Radulovic plays with phenomenal technical skill and is surely destined to be a star of the concert platform.