Vienna. 1803. George Bridgetower, a violinist of Afro-European descent, causes furore with his virtuosity and captivates Beethoven, who writes a devilish and magnificent sonata for his unique and exotic character. Despite the premiere’s enormous success performed by both of them, an unfortunate comment by the violinist about one of the composer’s female friends leads to this famous sonata being...
In addition to his famous large-scale song cycles, Schubert also composed and published numerous smaller song compilations. Some of these “miniature cycles” consist of songs written at different times and under different circumstances, but which Schubert himself assembled on the basis of thematic and textual connections. The selected cycles appeared in print during Schubert’s publishing career...
In 1959, two composers wrote nonets: Nino Rota’s melodic Nonetto, on which he would continue to work for almost 20 years, and Bohuslav Martinů’s farewell chamber music piece, a nonet, which he composed as a last piece to satisfy his longing for his homeland. Eisler did not compose his nonet in his native country either, but arrived in Mexico in 1941 as a refugee from the Nazis. There he wrote...
Spanish Guitar music from around 1930 with works dedicated to Regino Sáinz de la Maza (1896-1981). Yiannnis Efstathopoulos performs with an historical informed approach, using a Spanish guitar modelled on the type that was used around 1930 with gut strings. this results in highlighting each string’s individual character and the delicate balance between the high and low strings. Works by Julián...
The paths of I SOLISTI and Frederik Neyrinck first crossed in 2011. The ensemble immediately recognised the artistic talent of the Flemish composer and together they set up a long-term collaboration. The fruits thereof can be heard on this album, which consists exclusively of works by Neyrinck, written especially for the ensemble. This CD also marks a new chapter in their ongoing partnership,...
When Eugène Ysaÿe composed his cycle of 6 sonatas op. 27 for solo violin in June 1923, gut strings were still very common and highly appreciated - statements by contemporary violinists such as Mischa Elman, Toscha Seidel and Jacques Thibaud confirm this. However, neither the dedicatees of Eugène Ysaÿe’s solo sonatas nor other contemporaries made recordings of these works. Martin Reimann has now...
