Sonata For Violin & Viola And Piano by Isabelle van Keulen / Ronald Brautigam

Dmitri Shostakovich

Isabelle van Keulen / Ronald Brautigam

Sonata For Violin & Viola And Piano

Price: € 18.95
Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917207125
Catnr: CC 72071
Release date: 04 September 2006
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Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917207125

Catalogue number
CC 72071

Release date
04 September 2006

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

About the album

Shostakovich composed only one Sonata for Violin and Piano, written in August, 1968, the month of the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia, and was first performed a year later in Moscow by David Oistrach and Sviatoslav Richter. In this composition as well we find traces of atonality (the first theme is dodecaphonic), but it is always in combination with very tonal tendencies and with traditional elements. Precisely the usage of this amalgam of forms is one of the features so typical of the composer's style.

The Sonata for Viola and Piano is another good example of Shostakovich's eclecticism. The work was written in 1975 and was his last completed composition. Shostakovich was already greatly weakened by heart disease when he was admitted to the Kremlin Hospital in Moscow that year. The composer himself did not live to hear its first performance, which took place on October 1, 1975,less than two months after his death.

Sjostakovitsj' strijksonates
Dmitri Sjostakovitsj componeerde slechtst één sonate voor viool en piano, geschreven in augustus 1968, de maand van de Russische invasie in Tsjecho-Slowakije. Het stuk werd pas een jaar later voor het eerst uitgevoerd in Moskou door David Oistrach and Sviatoslav Richter. Net als in vele andere werken van Sjostakovitsj zijn ook in deze sonate sporen van atonaliteit te horen. Deze atonaliteit wordt in dit stuk voortdurend gecombineerd met hele tonale strekkingen en traditionele elementen: iets dat kernmerkend is voor Sjostakovitsj’ stijl.

Deze Sonate voor altviool en piano is een goed voorbeeld van Sjostakovitsj’ veelzijdigheid. Het werk is geschreven in 1975 en was zijn laatste volledige compositie. De componist was al enorm verzwakt door hartkwalen en was opgenomen in het Kremlin Ziekenhuis in Moskou toen hij deze sonate schreef. Hij heeft zelf nooit de eerste uitvoering van het werk kunnen horen; deze vond twee maanden na zijn dood plaats.

De twee werken worden uitgevoerd door Isabelle van Keulen en Ronald Brautigam, twee van de meest vooraanstaande musici van Nederland. Beide hebben gespeeld in grote Europese orkesten en hebben ook een belangrijke carrière in kamermuziek.

Artist(s)

Isabelle van Keulen

”Her taut musical intelligence and vivid sound combined with a fine instinct for the tender, searching quality of this music … absolutely magical.” The Guardian Since her breakthrough in 1984 winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year, a competition that was broadcast all over Europe and watched live on television by millions, Isabelle van Keulen can now look back on many years of musical diversity. Not only is it always vital for her to approach the musical score with honesty and with an extremely consious approach to interpretation, she also strives to communicate with her audiences and musical partners, allowing her to perform in an inspirational, lively and enthusiastic manner.
Her versatility lies in the fact that she not only plays the violin, but as well viola with the same energy, performing chamber music in any thinkable combination and directing chamber orchestra performances. Whether in the over 20 year intense collaboration with the Dutch pianist Ronald Brautigam, concerts with mezzo soprano Christianne Stotijn, performing/directing the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, combining violin and viola in one appearance, or being a soloist with orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic or NHK Tokyo. Above all, being faithful to the music is her highest priority.
She has over the course of her career engaged works written by contemporary composers. She had many concertos written especially for her (Theo Loevendie, Erkki-Sven Tüür) and has many other 20th and 21st century works in her repertoire: Concertos by Henri Dutilleux, John Adams and Lera Auerbach. She also likes to perform less known works by Colin Matthews and Concertos by Krenek, Pettersson and Busoni.

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Ronald Brautigam

Ronald Brautigam has deservedly earned a reputation as one of Holland’s most respected musicians, remarkable not only for his virtuosity and musicality but also for the  eclectic nature of his musical interests. He has received numerous awards including the Dutch Music Prize and a 2010 MIDEM Classical Award for best concerto recording for his CD  of Beethoven Piano Concertos with the Norrköpoing Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew Parrott.
A student of the legendary Rudolf Serkin, Ronald Brautigam performs regularly with leading orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw, London Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. He has performed alongside a number of distinguished conductors including Riccardo Chailly, Charles Dutoit, Bernard Haitink, Frans Brüggen, Christopher Hogwood, Marek Janowski, Sir Roger Norrington, Marin Alsop, Ivor Bolton, Andrew Parrott, Ton Koopman, Ivan Fisher and Sir Mark Elder. Besides his performances on modern instruments Ronald Brautigam has established himself as a leading exponent of the fortepiano, working with orchestras such as the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Tafelmusik, 18th-Century Orchestra, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, the Hanover band, Concerto Copenhagen and l’Orchestre des Champs-Elysées. Brautigam’s recordings have earned a number of awards including two Edison Awards, a Diapason d’Or de l’année, a MIDEM Classical Award for best solopiano recording (2004) and in 2010 he won the MIDEM Classical Award for best concerto recording. Since September 2011 Ronald Brautigam is a Professor at the Musik-Hochschule in Basel.

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Composer(s)

Dmitri Shostakovich

Dmitri Shostakovich was a Russian pianist and composer of the Soviet period. He is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century.
Shostakovich achieved fame in the Soviet Union under the patronage of Soviet chief of staff Mikhail Tukhachevsky, but later had a complex and difficult relationship with the government. Nevertheless, he received accolades and state awards and served in the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR (1947–1962) and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (from 1962 until his death).
A polystylist, Shostakovich developed a hybrid voice, combining a variety of different musical techniques into his works. His music is characterized by sharp contrasts, elements of the grotesque, and ambivalent tonality; the composer was also heavily influenced by the neo-classical style pioneered by Igor Stravinsky, and (especially in his symphonies) by the late Romanticism associated with Gustav Mahler.
Shostakovich's orchestral works include 15 symphonies and six concerti. His chamber output includes 15 string quartets, a piano quintet, two piano trios, and two pieces for string octet. His solo piano works include two sonatas, an early set of preludes, and a later set of 24 preludes and fugues. Other works include three operas, several song cycles, ballets, and a substantial quantity of film music; especially well known is The Second Waltz, Op. 99, music to the film The First Echelon (1955–1956), as well as the suites of music composed for The Gadfly.

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