Dmitry Smirnov - Stranger Sainton - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Russian violinist Dmitry Smirnov's début recording on FHR features works by master baroque composer (J.S. Bach), a leading figure of 20th century music (Béla Bartók) and a wonderful newly discovered work by influential Swiss violinist Hansheinz Schneeberger who died in 2019. The Schneeberger Sonata, written two years before Bartók's Sonata, is a violin show piece, displaying much imagination in it's idiomatic and virtoustic violin writing - this is the first recording of the work. There are many connections that link these three works together - the Bartók and Schneeberger sonatas show influences of Bach. Also, Bartók's First Violin Concerto was premièred by Schneeberger. On this album Smirnov plays a modern violin made by Philipp Bonhoeffer (Bartók and Schneeberger) and a 1795 Johann Schönfelder violin (Bach).

Masterfully performed by Canadian violinist Hyman Bress and released in 1962, this third album in a series InchprimerInch on the violin comprises key works by Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Sarasate, Kreisler, and Dvorak. Detailed liner notes include a history of violin's evolution, dating as far back to the Egyptian lyre, and information on each song, as well as a list of composers who wrote important works for the violin.

Brahms / Barto / Eschenbach - Pno Cons [COMPACT DISCS] date 10/14/2014