Piet Koornhof, Violin Albie Van Schalkwyk, Piano Dvořák

Violin Plus One Dvořák Tchaikovsky chausson svenDsen MasseneT BLOCH sainT-saëns DE 3577 PIET KOORNHOF, violin ALBIE VAN SCHALKWYK, piano 1 DELOS DE 3577 VIOLIN PLUS ONE DELOS DE 3577 VIOLIN PLUS DELOS DE 3577 VIOLIN PLUS ONE DELOS DE 3577 VIOLIN PLUS Violin Plus One ANTONIN DVOŘÁK: Romance, Op.11 PYOTR TCHAIKOVSKY: Sérénade mélancolique ERNEST CHAUSSON: Poème, Op. 25 ♦ ♦ JOHAN SVENDSEN: Romance, Op. 26 SCHALKWYK ALBIE VAN & PIET KOORNHOF PIET KOORNHOF & ALBIE VAN SCHALKWYK SCHALKWYK & ALBIE VAN PIET KOORNHOF JULES MASSENET: Méditation from Thaïs ERNEST BLOCH: Nigun from Baal Shem CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS: Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, Op. 28 Piet Koornhof, violin ♦ Albie van Schalkwyk, piano Total Playing Time: 67:01 DE 3577 © 2019 Delos Productions, Inc., P.O. Box 343, Sonoma, CA 95476-9998 (800) 364-0645 • (707) 996-3844 [email protected] • www.delosmusic.com Violin Plus One — who needs an orchestra? most famous compositions, including the Symphony No. 9 “From the New World,” his The works on this album are known in two magnificent Cello Concerto, and his String versions: for violin with orchestra, and for Quartet in F, the “American.” The Romance, violin with piano, all by the composers Op. 11, composed at the request of Josef themselves, except for the Introduction Markus, leader of the Provisional Theatre and Rondo Capriccioso by Saint-Saëns, of Orchestra in Prague, is based on the slow which the transcription for piano was done movement of Dvorák’s String Quartet No. by Georges Bizet. We hope you’ll agree that 5 in F minor, which he composed in 1873 these versions for two instruments have when he was still relatively unknown. The their own particular merits. Quartet was not performed or published in his lifetime. The Romance, however, I had long wished to record an album with received its first public performance in 1877 my good friend and colleague, Albie van in Prague, and was published in 1879, while Schalkwyk, who is widely regarded as the the composer’s version for violin and piano dean of collaborative pianists in South was published in 1915. The work follows a Africa. For over 30 years we have regularly palindromic rondo form (A-B-A-C-A-B-A). played together in duo recitals, piano trio concerts, and various ensembles as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) com- founding members of the South African posed his Sérénade mélancolique for violin Chamber Music Society. At last we buckled and orchestra (or piano) in 1875, shortly down to make a duo recording, and ended after completing his First Piano Concerto. up making two. The other one, Frolov & It was first heard a year later, performed by Friends, has already been released by Adolph Brodsky, who stepped in to replace Delos. the work’s dedicatee, Leopold Auer, when he backed out of the first performance. Czech composer Antonín Dvořák (1841 Several years later the same thing occurred, -1904) drew much inspiration from the when Auer, as dedicatee of Tchaikovsky’s folk music of his native Bohemia. He was Violin Concerto, again declined to give the instrumental in fostering national musical première, ostensibly because the work was traditions, both in his homeland and also in “unplayable.” Once again, it was Brodsky America, where he served as music director who rose to the challenge. The Sérénade of the National Conservatory in New York, was published three years after its first and where he composed some of his performance. 2 French composer Ernest Chausson (1855- most of his life in Denmark. He learned both the 1899), composed his best known work, the clarinet and the violin from his father, and later Poème, for violin and orchestra, Op. 25, in studied at the Leipzig conservatory. There he 1896 while he was on holiday in Florence. It took violin lessons from Ferdinand David, but was in response to a request by the famous when he developed problems with his hand Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe for a concerto, he switched to studying composition with Carl which Chausson regarded as too huge an Reinecke. His attention gradually shifted to undertaking. He suggested a shorter work conducting and eventually he was appointed for violin and orchestra instead, that “will principal conductor of the Royal Theater be in very free form with several passages Orchestra in Copenhagen, where he lived in which the violin plays alone.” The first until his death. He was very popular in both manuscript of the work carries the title, Le Norway and Denmark but did not enjoy wide Chant de l’amour triomphant, suggesting international acclaim. While his compositions that it might have been inspired by a short as a student for chamber ensembles showed story of the same title by Ivan Turgenev. great maturity and received many prizes and Turgenev’s story is about a love triangle accolades, the majority of his output was between a painter, his young wife, and a for orchestra and large ensembles. His most violinist, reminiscent of Turgenev’s own famous composition is undoubtedly the lifelong infatuation with the mezzo-soprano Romance, Op. 26. Pauline Viardot, who was married to a much older man, and whose one daughter and Méditation from the opera Thaïs by son might even have been fathered by French composer Jules Massenet (1842- Turgenev. Chausson’s Poème brims with 1912) is another staple of violin repertoire. intense romanticism, and it is not difficult to Originally scored for violin and orchestra, it imagine much of it as being programmatic. has been transcribed for many instruments There are three versions of the Poème, by and combinations. The opera, based on a the composer himself: one for violin and novel by Anatole France, tells the story of orchestra, one for violin and piano, and one a young priest who seeks the salvation of for violin, piano and string quartet. Some of a courtesan named Thaïs. The Méditation the pianistically awkward passages are often is a dramatic interlude between Acts II and adapted, as they are in this recording. III, representing Thaïs’s spiritual awakening. It symbolizes her inner struggle as she Johan Svendsen (1840-1911) was a Norwegian meditates on the direction of her life. The composer, conductor and violinist, who spent music’s dramatic tension and soaring 3 melody depict Thaïs’s spiritual awakening The Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, as she decides to change her ways and Op. 28 by Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) convert to Christianity. for violin and orchestra is one of the best known showpieces in the violin repertoire. Nigun (Improvisation) for violin and Originally intended as the rousing finale to orchestra or piano by Swiss-American Saint-Saëns’s first Violin Concerto, it was composer Ernest Bloch (1880-1959) is the composed in 1863 for the Spanish virtuoso second and best known of a set of three Pablo Sarasate. That the work found much pieces, called “Baal Shem: Three Pictures favor is indicated by the fact that the piano of Chassidic Life,” published in 1923 and reduction of the orchestral score was done dedicated to the memory of his mother by Bizet, most famous for his opera Carmen, Sophie, who had died two years earlier. and the transcription for two pianos made The work was inspired by two charismatic by Claude Debussy. Capriccioso means personalities: Israel Baal Shem Tov, the “free, lively, in a capricious and fantastic founder of modern Hasidism, and Swiss style” (and whimsical, one might say). It violinist André de Ribaupierre, who gave certainly is a fun piece, filled with verve and the first performance of Baal Shem in heartfelt tunes. It is technically challenging Cleveland, where Bloch was founder and but composed with keen understanding of director of the Cleveland Institute of Music the violin’s capabilities. from 1920 to 1925. Although coming from a Western European Jewish tradition, Bloch — Piet Koornhof was deeply influenced by the mystical Hasidic movement of Eastern Europe, with its emphasis on song, dance and ecstasy as channels of direct communion with South African violinist Piet Koornhof has God. “Nigun” means “tune” in Hebrew performed in Southern Africa, Europe, and Yiddish, and in the Hasidic context North America, Russia, Singapore and New refers to a type of song that is meant to Zealand, and has made CD recordings for transport listeners to transcendental realms Koch Discover International and Delos with of spirituality. Nigun is the centerpiece the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Italian of Baal Shem and has taken its place in flutist Raffaele Trevisani, American pianist the repertoire for violin and piano as a Thomas Hecht, the South African Chamber standalone work. Music Society (which he founded), the Potch Trio, and South African pianists Albie 4 van Schalkwyk, Truida van der Walt and Bernarda Vorster. In addition to the standard repertoire, Piet has a special interest in performing twentieth and twenty-first century chamber music that is accessible and infrequently encountered. Piet was born in South Africa in 1961. He made his concert debut at the age of nine while he was a pupil of Alan Solomon. As a youngster he twice represented South Africa as soloist with the South African National Youth Orchestra on tours to Europe and Israel with conductors Alberto Bolet and Avi Ostrovsky. He was awarded scholarships by, among others, the Southern African Music Rights Organisation, Anglo American Corporation, the Aspen Music School and the Juilliard School, where he studied with Dorothy DeLay. Piet also took part in master classes by Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman and Sergiu Luca. After his return to South Africa in 1986 he acquired the degree DMus in musical performance from the institution where he is now an associate professor -- the School of Music of North West University in Potchefstroom, South Africa.

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