Vilde Frang / José Gallardo HOMAGE

Vilde Frang’s Homage is more than a captivating programme of short pieces for violin and piano, it is also a homage to the players of the Golden Age of the Violin, such as Fritz Kreisler, Leopold Auer and Joseph Szigeti. The recital includes music originally conceived not just for the violin, but also for piano, orchestra or voice, and proves once again, as BBC Music Magazine wrote, that “Frang has the knack of breathing life into every note, whether by variations in phrasing, attack, tone or dynamic.”

Vilde Frang has conceived the album as something of a homage to her illustrious predecessors. Born in 1986, she is clearly very much a violinist of today, and – as a Norwegian trained in Germany – she did not grow up in the Central and Eastern-European tradition of Heifetz, Kreisler, Auer and Szigeti. That being said, she brings her own, distinctively captivating magic to her instrument. As Gramophone wrote of her performance of the Korngold concerto, a work that has its roots in the composer’s glorious late-Romantic scores for Hollywood: “Frang has a winning way with the rubato that makes the melodies yearn and smile, but there’s a fragile thread of silver woven through her passagework that bounces off the glinting accompaniment of the Frankfurt RSO as an opalescent gown catches the light in a mirrored ballroom. Fresh thought illuminates each phrase and she has the technique to bring off every idea, from the wild caprice of the first movement’s dash to the double-bar, to a coquettish (or demure?) restraint in the finale’s big tune.” (Warner Classics)

Anne-Sophie Mutter MUTTERISSIMO The Art of Anne-Sophie Mutter

It was in August 1976 at the Lucerne Festival that Anne-Sophie Mutter first set foot on the world’s stage. She was thirteen at the time. The following year she made her Salzburg Whitsun Festival debut under Herbert von Karajan, and a year after that her first recording was released by Deutsche Grammophon. The words “child prodigy” inevitably appeared in the newspapers. “I was half-aware of what was being said,” the violinist recalls, “but it was of little interest to me. I knew that I was a child. And the ‘prodigy’ part struck me as somehow comical.” To become world-famous as a teenager practically overnight was gratifying, of course, but it was also an emotional and a mental challenge. “As a result I learnt from a very early age to adopt a realistic attitude to all that was written about me and to place a certain distance between it and my private life.” This down-to-earth attitude was to prove useful to Anne-Sophie Mutter, for what followed was an international career unlike that of any other subsequent violinist.

Universally considered as one of the greatest violinists of our time, Anne-Sophie Mutter’s stunning and multi-faceted music-making extends across masterworks from the full breadth of the violin repertoire.

Mutterissimo – The Art of Anne-Sophie Mutter is a selection of highlights from her discography, personally picked by Mutter herself, bringing together recordings that date for the most part from the last twenty years. It invites listeners to undertake two tours of Anne-Sophie Mutter’s multiple worlds of music:

The first explores the highways and byways of the core repertory and features well-known works for violin and orchestra by Dvořák and Schumann alongside less familiar pieces. The second one, often with Mutter’s long-standing piano partner, Lambert Orkis, combines virtuosity and light-heartedness; the popular and the surprising; and emotion and rhythmic energy. 

For many years Anne-Sophie Mutter has performed not only in major international concert halls but recently also in clubs, where a young audience, largely unconcerned with traditional rituals, reacts to the music much more spontaneously. It is only logical, therefore, that she increasingly uses social media to engage in a dialogue with her fans.

Itzhak Perlman / Orchestre de Paris / Daniel Barenboim SAINT-SAËNS Violin Concert No. 3 WIENIAWSKI Violin Concerto No. 2

 There is really very little that need be said about these virtuoso performances of these two sweetly melodious concertos except to record that they are played as brilliantly as one would expect and that the sound is full and warm. Perlman has recorded Wieniawski's No. 2 before on HMV, as can be seen; possibly he has now an even silkier demeanour with it. It is perhaps this quality that leads me to prefer his playing above Chung's rather more forceful manner in the Saint-Saens (Decca). Perlman is particularly elegant in the slow movement of the Wieniawski, and of course he never makes the mistake of trying to inflate either work to the status of masterpiece.
Gramophone [1/1984]
reviewing the original LP

Kavakos VIRTUOSO

Leonidas Kavakos, one of the world’s finest violinists, showcases virtuoso works for the violin: included on this album are some of the most exciting and challenging violin works ever written, alongside beautiful, lyrical encores.

Displaying a formidable technique to stunning effect, Leonidas Kavakos is heard here at his very best; his unique style stealing the show in a dazzling, wide-ranging progamme.

Features the devilish and highly demanding violin writing of Italian Paganini alongside the Spanish influences of De Falla and Tarrega, the Czech allure of Dvorak, the elegance of Britten and Elgar, and the Russian spirit of Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky

All the works expertly recorded here are associated with great players of the past – touring virtuosi travelling across Europe, looking to impress. On our European journey we hear flashy showpieces, tender romantic pieces, and everything in-between.

Leonidas Kavakos plays the Abergavenny Stradivarius of 1724 – a violin which itself will almost certainly have known legendary performances of these incredible works, and which sings here as if Kavakos was born to play them on this instrument

Known at the highest level for his virtuosity and superb musicianship, multiple award-winning Leonidas Kavakos has an enviable touring schedule playing with the world’s greatest orchestras and most outstanding chamber music partners; and an exclusive recording contract with Decca Classics. (Presto Classical)