Scriabin: Étude Op. 8 No. 10 in D flat major

The Ensemble BonaNox present the next volume of their interpretations of the four elements; Fire. Their previous volume, Water obtained great reviews. (German booklet only)

Michael Rabin, who died in 1972, was an American violinist of Romanian-Jewish descent. Rabin played in a bel canto style. He toured widely, playing in all the major cities of the U.S., Europe, South America and Australia.

Shannon Lee is a young violinist who is tipped for great things. In the summer of 2005, she made her stunning orchestral debut at the age of 12 with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, performing the Chausson “Poeme” and Franz Wexman’s extremely challenging Carmen Fantasy. Later that same year, she was the featured soloist for the Dallas Symphony’s Texas Tour, and in 2006 she made her European debut with the Nuremberg Philharmonic Orchestra.

Introducing Shannon Lee is a wonderful collection of pieces that include the well known and the rare. Each of the works spotlights the versatility and musicianship of this young violinist and her ability to work well with accompanist Pamela Mia Paul. Highlights include Wieniawski’s notoriously difficult “Scherzo-Tarantelle”, Elgar’s much-loved “Salut d’amour” and the most weighty work on the disc, Brahms’ “Sonatensatz”.

This disc is the first opportunity to hear a young violinist poised to become one of the great artists of tomorrow. As Telarc President Robert Woods puts it “There is a dearth of fantastic talent in young artists today, so why does any one person stand out from another? To a great extent, it’s the preference of the listener – the person who discovers someone’s playing for the first time. When that happened for me with Shannon, I had the sense I was listening to a very old soul in a young person’s body. Shannon’s maturity was well beyond what I had heard from other young performers.”

Accompanist Pamela Mia Paul has performed with the world’s great orchestras. She has given concerts throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia, both as soloist and as chamber musician. In the studio, or in the setting of a master class, she is an internationally sought-after pedagogue whose students have participated in and won competitions including the Naumburg International Piano Competition.

The life and career of Simon Barere is illuminated in an interview with his son, Boris Barere, conducted by impresario and piano expert Jacques Leiser. The result: a wealth of information about Barere as well as first hand recollections and anecdotes of the greatest musicians of the time who knew him and visited him at Barere’s homes. This is no sentimental family memoir – it is a deeply informative, highly colorful and uncommonly entertaining cameo of a unique figure in piano history as well as some of the most famous piano legends in memory. Interspersed are some of Simon Barere’s most extraordinary recordings, both from the studio and privately taken in the concert hall, made available by the APR company that has reissued on CD all known audio documents of Barere.

Released to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of Michael Rabin’s death on 19th January 1972 this collection brings together his finest recordings on EMI Classics in one comprehensive 6CD set.

Rabin was widely regarded as the finest virtuoso violinist of his generation and despite dying at the young age of 36 after suffering with a neurological illness his fame continues long after his death.

He was critically acclaimed for his performances and recordings of Paganini and included in the set are Rabin’s two recorded versions of the Paganini Violin Concerto No.1 in D Major Op. 6 from 1956 and 1960. He famously performed this work at Carnegie Hall with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Dmitri Mitropolous at the age of 15 in November 1951. The full 24 Paganini Caprices for Solo Violin are also included in the set.

Displaying technical mastery with a maturity of interpretation that belied his years, Rabin’s bel canto playing style is shown in full force in this collection with excellent recordings of Bach, Wieniawski, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Debussy and Bruch.

This collection offers the listener a wonderful selection of violin repertoire with exquisite playing sure to delight any fan of the instrument.