Martinů: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 - Bartók: Sonata for Solo Violin - BIS: BIS2457 - SACD or download

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Zimmermann has fully absorbed the slightly eclectic style of [the First Concerto] and produces a performance of conviction, not to mention dazzling virtuosity. Hrůša accompanies with understanding... — BBC Music Magazine, February 2021, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 27th Nov 2020
Catalogue No: BIS2457
Label: BIS
Length: 74 minutes

Record Review

5th December 2020

Record of the Week
Gramophone Magazine

January 2021

Recording of the Month
BBC Music Magazine

February 2021

Concerto Choice
Gramophone Awards

2021

Shortlisted - Concerto
BBC Music Magazine Awards

2022

Shortlisted - Concerto

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Martinů: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 2, H. 293

Work length27:00

$5.05

$9.05

$12.25

Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin)
Bamberger Symphoniker
Jakub Hrůša

I. Andante - Poco allegro

Track length11:45

$2.05

$3.85

$5.25

II. Andante moderato

Track length7:09

$1.50

$2.60

$3.50

III. Poco allegro

Track length8:06

$1.50

$2.60

$3.50

Martinů: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 1, H. 226

Work length22:56

$4.00

$6.50

$8.75

Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin)
Bamberger Symphoniker
Jakub Hrůša

I. Allegro moderato

Track length9:42

$1.50

$2.60

$3.50

II. Andante

Track length5:22

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

III. Allegretto

Track length7:52

$1.50

$2.60

$3.50

Bartók: Sonata for Solo Violin, BB 124, Sz. 117

Work length24:23

$4.50

$6.50

$8.75

Frank Peter Zimmermann (violin)

I. Tempo di ciaccona

Track length8:59

$1.50

$2.60

$3.50

II. Fuga. Risoluto, non troppo vivo

Track length4:16

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

III. Melodia. Adagio

Track length6:25

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

IV. Presto

Track length4:43

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

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About

On the present disc, Frank Peter Zimmermann, one of today’s most highly regarded violinists, performs works by two Central European composers that also exemplify various currents in classical music during the period 1920-1950. Although it only received its first performance in 1973, Bohuslav Martinů’s Violin Concerto No. 1 had been composed 40 years earlier in the neo-classical idiom championed by Stravinsky. In contrast, the composer’s Second Violin Concerto (1943) is written in a more lyrical vein, partly to suit the playing style of Mischa Elman, the violinist who commissioned it. In both works Zimmermann is partnered by Bamberger Symphoniker under the orchestra’s chief conductor Jakub Hrůša, one of the leading Martinů conductors of today. The disc closes with a central work in the twentiethcentury literature for solo violin, Béla Bartók’s Sonata for Solo Violin. Composed in 1944, only a year before Bartók’s death, it is a deeply personal statement which fuses the overall layout of Bach’s solo violin sonatas with Hungarian folk tradition with results that are as fascinating to the listener as they are challenging to the performer.

Reviews

February 2021

Zimmermann has fully absorbed the slightly eclectic style of [the First Concerto] and produces a performance of conviction, not to mention dazzling virtuosity. Hrůša accompanies with understanding and flexibility...[In the Second] the sprung rhythms of the first movement and robust ebullience of the finale are brilliantly captured in one of the most satisfying recorded performances available.

May/June 2021

Equipped with a technique that he could easily use to dazzle us, Zimmermann prefers to make thoughtful musical choices. Listen to the way he muses over the theme of the central Moderato movement, never drawing attention to anything other than Martinů’s intent, or how playfully he treats passages of figuration that can fall so easily into rote pattern-making. Hrůša is similarly subtle in his response.

January 2021

Hrůša is as fine a Martinů interpreter as anyone on the podium currently...What impresses most here, however, is the clarity and naturalness of Zimmermann’s performances, remarkable in combining an intimate knowledge of the music (the result of long study) with a freshness of approach. This is, for me, the top recommendation for these two works and, frankly, is how Martinů should always be played.

Martinů: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 - Bartók: Sonata for Solo Violin

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