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 this recording, Jan Michiels transports us back to the Parisian salons of the 19th century. These were not only an ideal environment for Chopin – his Préludes op. 28 are a recurring thread throughout this album – but also for Debussy, whose Préludes are closely correlated with those of Chopin. Michiels opens his salon to various visitors: first Alfred Cortot, whose Chopin interpretations...
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...
NESHIMA is Orí Harmelin’s exciting debut solo lute and theorbo album. Orí explores a new realm of possibilities for personal creation as a modern musician using the musical language of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The album contains Orí’s arrangements of Madrigals, Motets and Chansons by Cipriano de Rore, Josquin des Prez and Thomas Tallis, alongside his own compositions of variation...
With THE FLEMISH CONNECTION vol. 2, I SOLISTI release a second album with works by their composer-in-residence Frederik Neyrinck. He has mastered the art of writing brilliant and innovative compositions that make the most of the wind ensemble’s wealth of sound colours quite like no other. The setting of texts and stories is a recurring theme throughout this fascinating album. Featured are...
Brahms composed only a small number of original works for piano four hands, but arranged almost all of his chamber music and orchestral works for this instrumentation. He played most of them immediately after their completion with Clara Schumann and greatly appreciated her opinion. In his Hungarian Dances Brahms brilliantly transformed original Hungarian melodies and rhythms into multi-coloured...
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,...
