Between Recorded in the Britten Studio, Snape Maltings, Suffolk, UK from 21st to 23rd January 2020 Producer & Editor: Andrew Keener the Recording Engineers: Mike Hatch (21st & 22nd), Tom Lewington (23rd) Cover Image: © Simone Donati Design and artwork: Marshall Light Studio clouds 2020 The copyright in this sound recording is owned by Signum Records. © 2020 The copyright in this CD booklet, notes and design is owned by Signum Records. Any unauthorised broadcasting, public performance, copying or re-recording of Signum Compact Discs constitutes an infringement of copyright and will render the infringer liable to an action by law. Licences for public performances or broadcasting may be obtained from Phonographic Performance Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this booklet may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from Signum Records Ltd. Signum Records, Suite 14, 21 Wadsworth Road, Perivale, Middlesex UB6 7LQ, UK. Charlie Siem violin +44 (0) 20 8997 4000 | E-mail: [email protected] | www.signumrecords.com Itamar Golan piano 1 Polonaise No. 1 in D major, Op. 4 | Henryk Wieniawski 5.33 Between 2 Alt Wien | Leopold Godowski / Jascha Heifetz 2.28 3 Tambourin chinois, Op. 3 | Fritz Kreisler 3.48 4 Recitativo und Scherzo-Caprice, Op. 6 | Fritz Kreisler 4.42 5 Légende, Op. 17 | Henrik Wieniawski 7.38 the 6 Chanson de Matin, Op. 15 No. 2 | Edward Elgar 2.51 7 Chanson de nuit, Op. 15 No. 1 | Edward Elgar 4.31 8 Introduction et Tarentelle, Op. 43 | Pablo de Sarasate 4.56 3 Alt-Wiener Tanzweisen | Fritz Kreisler clouds 9 Schön Rosmarin 2.08 10 Liebesfreud 3.25 11 Liebesleid 3.23 12 Polonaise Brillante No. 2 in A major, Op. 21 | Henryk Wieniawski 9.49 13 Cantabile, MS 109 Op. 17 | Niccolò Paganini 3.18 14 Chaconne in G minor | Tomaso Antonio Vitali 10.49 15 The Sally Gardens | Benjamin Britten, arr. Charlie Siem 2.11 Charlie Siem violin Itamar Golan piano www.signumrecords.com No. 2 in A major, Op. 21 [12]. More His major works include the complex and expansive than the first, Passacaglia on Schubert’s ‘Unfinished’ Notes the new work is no less virtuosic, its Symphony, the 53 Studies on Chopin outer brilliance framed by a more Études (deemed almost unplayable Polish-born and French-trained a series of concerts in London where, pastoral lyricism yet not without by all but the most prodigiously gifted Henryk Wieniawski (1835-1880) in addition to playing chamber music expressive demands. pianists) and a suite of 30 evocative miniatures known as Triakontameron was one of the great violin prodigies with the Beethoven Quartet Society Leopold Godowsky (1870-1938) of which ‘Alt Wein’ [2] is among the of his time, renowned for his blend alongside Joseph Joachim (who was a Polish born, American of Gallic elegance and Slavonic fire. considered Wieniawski ‘the craziest most popular. Published in 1920 and naturalised wunderkind who won subtitled ‘thirty moods and scenes From an early age he became the risk-taking virtuoso I’ve ever heard’), lasting repute for his Berlin debut in triple measure’, the picturesquely archetypal wandering musician with he met his future wife Isabella in 1900. It launched his European entitled pieces form a series of gruelling concert tours leaving little Hampton. To her he dedicated career until the outbreak of war poignant reminiscences. Nostalgia for time for composition. During a visit Légende, Op. 17 [5], confessing he in 1914 forced his return to the pre-war Vienna in ‘Alt Wein’ is made to Russia between 1851 and 1852, loved her ‘more deeply than the United States where his family had explicit by Godowsky’s suggestive he completed his Polonaise No. 1 in finest Stradivarius or Guarneri’. emigrated in 1884. Almost entirely phrase below the work’s title: ‘Whose D major, Op. 4 [1], a bravura work Written in 1860, this billet-doux self-taught, many consider his playing yesterdays look backwards with encapsulating the very essence of unfolds in poetic fashion, bearing to be unsurpassed to this day, while a smile through tears’. his artistic sensibility. Its charming its romantic vein and salon-like as a composer he wrote some of the main theme, not without a certain composure with consummate ease. most complex music for the piano yet The spirit of Vienna can also be also swagger, alternates with episodes Ten years later, after Wieniawski had conceived, prompting Rachmaninov heard in the music of the Austrian of yearning and closes with a final returned to Russia for the prestigious to declare he was ‘the only musician composer/violinist Friedrich (Fritz) authoritative paragraph. position as principal violinist of of his age who has given a lasting, a Kreisler (1875-1962). His recitals There followed a period of extensive St Petersburg’s court orchestra, real contribution to the development regularly included his own pieces, touring in Europe culminating in he produced his Polonaise Brillante of piano music’. admitting to these pastiches of 4 5 Corelli, Pugnani, Vivaldi and many Theater, this ‘free fantasy in the misattributed to Joseph Lanner and on 14 September 1901. At the others and claiming in 1935 it Chinese manner’ is notable for its included two companion pieces; same concert appeared his 1897 would be ‘impudent and tactless ebullience and soulful central episode. the uplifting Liebesfreud (Love’s Joy) Chanson de Nuit, Op. 15, No. 1 [7] also to repeat my name endlessly on the Kreisler’s Recitativo und Scherzo- [10] and the wistful Liebesleid (Love’s conceived for violin and piano. It was programmes’. Over fifty years earlier Caprice, Op. 6 [4] is the composer’s Sorrow) [11], both stylish examples originally called Evensong, to reflect he had been, at seven, the youngest only known work for solo violin and of the composer’s elegance. its devotional reverie, but Novello’s student ever enrolled at the Vienna was written for the Belgian violinist recommended the commercial It was Kreisler who in 1910 Conservatory and after further study Eugène Ysaÿe. Issued in 1911, its two advantages of a foreign name to premiered the Violin Concerto of in Paris enjoyed an international sections are strongly differentiated; which Elgar somewhat grudgingly Edward Elgar (1857-1934) some career in Europe and the US where one declamatory and marked by responded ‘Chanson de Nuit was ten years after its composer had he eventually acquired American the interval of a tritone, the other best, but I dislike a French title’. secured his first major success with citizenship in 1943. a parade of techniques requiring the Enigma Variations. From that Unlike Elgar, the talent of Pablo no small degree of virtuosity. It is in Amongst his compositions there are same year (1899) Elgar completed de Sarasate (1844-1908) was works such as the delightful Schön two operettas and a violin concerto, Chanson de Matin, Op. 15, No. 2 [6], recognised early on when he gave his Rosmarin (Lovely Rosemary) [9] yet it was his falsely attributed recital a work of considerable freshness first violin recital in northern Spain where the spirit of Vienna is most pieces for violin and piano that and charm sketched some years aged eight, later catching the ear of affectionally evoked. This exquisite became staples of the repertoire. earlier. Determined to avoid the Queen Isabella II whose patronage miniature surely breathes the same When Schott published a modest financial shortfall of hisSalut d’Amour, enabled him to study at the Paris air as any Johann Strauss waltz, collection of these works in 1910 Elgar urged Novello’s to take care Conservatoire. After solo debuts its pre-war charm and melodic they sold in their thousands. They of Chanson de Matin, ‘It’s not much, in the French capital and London, gift undeniable. Its appearance include Tambourin chinois, Op. 3 [3], but don’t lose it [!] because I can his renown as an international in a 1905 collection entitled a work reflecting the prevailing sell it’. He later arranged it for small violinist flourished, and his ability Alt-Wiener Tanzweisen (Old Viennese vogue for all things oriental. Inspired orchestra, and it was first performed to draw large audiences and Dance Tunes) was deliberately by a visit to San Francisco’s Chinese in this version at the Queen’s Hall command huge fees owed much 6 7 to his technical facility and purity a brilliant tarantella, providing the with the orchestra of the Este court Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) made of tone. While George Bernard Shaw soloist with an exhilarating workout. in Modena and as a composer of highly effective use of a chaconne was less impressed by Sarasate’s music for the violin. He is chiefly in his String Quartet No. 2 in 1945. The works of Niccolò Paganini (1782- interpretative insights, Carl Flesch associated with the Chaconne in G Just a couple of years before there 1840) were also written for himself asserted ‘The history of violin playing minor [14], brought to wide attention appeared his first volume of folk to play. Hailed by Robert Schumann cannot be imagined without him’. by Ferdinand David (remembered song arrangements, including as the ‘turning point of virtuosity’, for premiering Mendelssohn’s The Sally Gardens [15], written Sarasate’s own compositions were his reputation as the greatest Violin Concerto) who attributed the during his ‘exile’ in the United designed mainly to showcase his violinist of his age was secured after work to Vitali after discovering its States when he and Peter Pears technique and his 54 opus numbers a series of recitals given in Vienna manuscript in Dresden’s Sächsische gave regular recital programmes.