Leila Josefowicz - Ades: The Exterminating Angel Symphony & Violin Concerto - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

With the four missing concertos, Leila Schayegh completes her series of recordings of all violin concertos by Jean-Marie Leclair with the third . Leclair grew up in Lyon and was trained as a dancer and violinist, later concentrating entirely on playing the violin. In Turin he had lessons with the distinguished teacher and Corelli pupil Giovanni Battista Somis and then went to Paris, where he briefly held a position at the court of Louis XV in the 1730s. Leclair must have been fascinated by Italian culture and playing the tempo freedoms in playing, the virtuoso aspects of violin technique, the expression that is strongly outward in Italian music - all of this is evident in his celebrated twelve concertos from opp. 7 and 10. Leila Schayegh teaches baroque violin at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and has received numerous excellent reviews and awards with her recordings. Her second album of the Leclair concertos was awarded a Diapason d'or and for her recording of the solo partitas by Johann Sebastian Bach she received the Diapason d'or de l'annee! This third and last in the series of Leclair's violin concertos includes Concertos Nos. 1 and 3 from Opera 7 and 10 respectively. On this album, too, the Swiss violinist, who plays a violin by Andrea Guarneri from the late 17th century, captivates the listener with her breathtaking artistry - as soloist she also takes over the direction of the La Cetra Barockorchester Basel.

Merulo - Toccate D'intavolatura D'organo-Complete Edition [COMPACT DISCS] Boxed Set date 07/08/2014

This new by the award-winning Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hannu Lintu is dedicated to the music of Bernd Alois Zimmermann (1918-1970), a leading figure in the music of post-Second World War Germany. This album includes a rendering of the composer's magnificent violin concerto featuring star violinist Leila Josefowicz, orchestral score Photoptosis, as well as the first album recording of Die Soldaten Vocal Symphony based on an opera that is widely considered as one of the greatest German operas of the 20th century. Zimmermann wrote his Die Soldaten opera, one of his keyworks, during the 1950s and 60s. The premiere of the opera was cancelled, and upon hearing the claim that the opera would be 'impossible' to perform, the composer adapted parts of the opera into a 40-minute vocal symphony suitable for concert performance. This work, filled with power and drama, is much more than a description of the apocalypse of modern war, and deserves it's rightful place alongside the operas of Alban Berg. Zimmerman's Violin Concerto is a relatively early work in the composer's oeuvre. It was premiered in 1950 but has suffered much neglect. The influence of Schoenberg, Hindemith, Bartók, Stravinsky and Prokofiev are visible in this work which we might consider to manifest echoes of war. Photoptosis (1968), 'Incidence of Light', is among Zimmermann's final orchestral pieces. Inspired by a painting created by Yves Klein for the Gelsenkirchen music theatre, this work includes quotations by Scriabin, Beethoven, Bach, and Wagner, among others. Yet, this InchPréludeInch, as described by the composer, is not a collage, but a study in orchestral sonority and light. Recordings by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Hannu Lintu on Ondine have gathered excellent reviews in the international press. Two of their recordings were nominated for Gramophone Awards in 2018.