Solo Sonatas for Violin nos. 1

Dmitri Shostakovich, Mieczysław Weinberg

Linus Roth

Solo Sonatas for Violin nos. 1 - 3

Price: € 20.95
Format: SACD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917268829
Catnr: CC 72688
Release date: 06 May 2016
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Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917268829

Catalogue number
CC 72688

Release date
06 May 2016

"Linus Roth: athlete on the violin. Sound and interpretation: 9 out of 10! "

Crescendo, 07-2-2017

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

Press

About the album

Just a decade ago the name “Mieczysław Weinberg” drew a blank from music lovers. If you went into a record store you either didn’t find a dedicated index card with his name on it, or else five differently spelled ones. Weinberg’s music and its surge to a more general acknowledgment is the surest sign that there are still unearthed geniuses among composers out there, whose unearthing can enrich our musical diet and change our perception of the musical past. This disc continues Linus Roth’s discovery and exploration of Weinberg, which started with learning about, reading, playing and recording the Sonatas for Violin and Piano and has most recently led to his initiating the International Mieczysław Weinberg Society. He has since recorded Weinberg’s works for violin and orchestra; here he is back with chamber music: Weinberg’s three unaccompanied violin sonatas, whose dates of composition are 1964, 1967 and 1978. This last Third Sonata, op.123, is the most challenging and important: somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes long, it provides challenges all of its own. Apart from its share of technical challenges, its one-movement structure asks for continuous play. This sonata is dedicated to the memory of his father Shmil Weinberg, who was a composer and conductor at the Yiddish theater in Kishinev. Given that Weinberg knew, that his father had been murdered in the Holocaust, the sonata isn’t easy listening. It is a challenge for performers and listeners alike: it demands and deserves dedication on the part of the listener, whom it rewards eventually by revealing a surprising, raw tenderness behind the veneer of thorns.

Herontdekking van een genie in de vioolmuziek
Dit is het derde album dat Linus Roth opdraagt aan de vioolmuziek van Mieczyslav Weinberg. Het zijn drie viool sonates zonder begeleiding die prachtig worden vertolkt door Roth. Het is muziek van een tot nu toe onbekend genie, dat met dit album de erkenning krijgt die het verdient.

De drie vioolsonates zijn gecomponeerd in 1964, 1967 en 1978 en de laatste Derde Sonate, op. 123, is de meest uitdagende. Het is een erg complex en technisch stuk en duurt tussen de 20 en 30 minuten. De sonate is opgedragen aan Shmil Weinberg, de vader van Mieczyslaw. Hij was componist en dirigent bij het Yiddish theater in Kishinev en kwam om in de Holocaust. Het is een uitdaging voor zowel musici om het te uit te voeren en voor luisteraars om er naar te luisteren. De toewijding wordt echter beloond met de kwaliteit en complexiteit van het werk, wat zeer de moeite waard is om te beluisteren.

Linus Roth is een van de belangrijkste uitvoerders van Weinbergs muziek en is ook de oprichter van The International Mieczyslaw Weinberg Society. Hij is violist en heeft een passie voor kamermuziek. Met dit album laat Roth weer zijn enorme toewijding aan Weinberg zien die zo steeds meer bekendheid krijgt en wiens prachtige muziek op deze manier herontdekt wordt.

Vor nur einem Jahrzehnt löste der Name Mieczysław Weinberg bei Musikliebhabern wenig bis nichts aus. In Plattenläden fand man den Namen ebenfalls nicht und wenn, dann diversen verschiedenen Schreibweisen. Die steile Karriere der Weinbergschen Musik ist der beste Beweis dafür, dass es auch in der Vergangenheit noch immer Genies zu entdecken gibt, die unsere Wahrnehmung der Musikgeschichte verändern können.

Diese CD ist die vierte Einspielung, die Linus Roth Weinbergs Violinmusik bei Challenge Classics nach den Sonaten für Violine und Klavier, dem Violinkonzert und dem Concertino für Violine widmet. Damit setzt sie Roths Erforschung und Entdeckung der Musik Weinbergs fort, im Zuge derer er zuletzt die Internationale Mieczysław Weinberg Gesellschaft gründete. Unter anderem deshalb ist er aktuell der wichtigste Weinberg-Interpret.
Auf dieser Aufnahme meldet er sich mit Weinbergs Kammermusik zurück, den drei unbegleiteten Violinsonaten von 1964, 1967 und 1978. Sie sind einnehmende Stücke, die auf intime Weise aus Weinbergs Leben berichten, ein wenig wie Schostakowitschs Streichquartette: Sie sind kein Easy-Listening, doch belohnen den Hörer durch ihre Qualität und Komplexität.
Die letzte dieser drei, op.123, ist die zugleich herausforderndste und gewichtigste: zwischen 20 und 30 Minuten lang, stellt sie vor Herausforderungen, die ihresgleichen suchen. Abgesehen von diesen technischen Schwierigkeiten, erfordert ihre Einsätzigkeit ein besonders zusammenhängendes Spiel. Sie ist Weinbergs Vater Shmil Weinberg gewidmet, der Komponist und Dirigent am Jiddischen Theater Kishinev war. Weinberg wusste, dass sein Vater ein Opfer des Holocausts geworden war und entsprechend ist auch die Sonate keine leichte Kost, vielmehr Herausforderung für Hörer und Interpet zugleich. Sie verlangt und verdient eine gewisse Hingabe durch den Hörer, die sich mit einer überraschenden, blanken Zartheit hinter dem dornigen Schleier bezahlt macht.

Artist(s)

Linus Roth (violin)

Linus Roth, who received the ECHO KLASSIK Award as 'Best Newcomer' 2006 for his début CD on the label EMI, was awarded his second ECHO award in 2017 for his recording of the violin concertos by Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky with the London Symphony Orchestra under Thomas Sanderling.
Linus Roth has made a name for himself internationally, not just with his acclaimed work in core repertoire, but also with his discovery / rediscovery of works that have undeservedly fallen into oblivion. He has devoted special attention to the works of Mieczysław Weinberg, both on the concert platform and the recording studio. Roth's recording of the complete works for violin and piano by Mieczysław Weinberg, released in 2013 by Challenge Classics to wide public and critical acclaim was followed up by recordings of Weinberg’s Violin Concerto with the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester and his Concertino with the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn. Both CDs were selected as 'Editor’s Choice' by Gramophone magazine. Making Mieczysław Weinberg’s oeuvre known to a wider audience is also the aim of the International Weinberg Society, which Linus Roth founded in 2015. This association organises and sponsors concerts, readings, exhibitions, interdisciplinary events and publications on the work and life of the Polish-Jewish composer. For the 100th anniversary of Weinberg’s birth in 2019, Linus Roth will curate two days of events dedicated to the composer in the form of six concerts at Wigmore Hall in London. In addition to chamber music works, all of Weinberg’s six sonatas for violin and piano as well as the three sonatas for solo violin will be played, including by Linus Roth himself.
Linus Roth has played as a soloist with many leading orchestras including the Stuttgart State Opera Orchestra, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn, the German Radio Symphony Orchestras of broadcasters SWR and Berlin, the Orquesta de Cordoba, the Orchestra della Toscana in Florence, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna Chamber Philharmonic, the Bern Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra del Teatro San Carlo in Naples, the Cologne Chamber Orchestra and the Bruckner Orchester Linz. Conductors with whom Roth has worked include Gerd Albrecht, Frank Beermann, Herbert Blomstedt, Andrey Boreyko, Finnegan Downie Dear, Dennis Russell Davies, Kevin John Edusei, Dan Ettinger, James Gaffigan, Hartmut Haenchen, Domonkos Héja, Antony Hermus, Manfred Honeck, Kirill Karabits, Isaac Karabtchevsky, Mihkel Kütson, Leo McFall, Thomas Sanderling, Konstantin Trinks, and Antoni Wit.
A passionate chamber musician, he has performed fellow musicians such as Nicolas Altstaedt, Gautier Capuçon, Kim Kashkashian, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Albrecht Mayer, Nils Mönkemeyer, Andreas Ottensamer, Benjamin Schmid, Christian Poltéra, Julian Steckel, Markus Schirmer, Julien Quentin, Jens-Peter Maintz, Florian Uhlig, Itamar Golan and Danjulo Ishizaka, among others. He has also worked closely for several years with the Argentinean pianist José Gallardo.
Linus Roth attended the preparatory class of Prof. Nicolas Chumachenco at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg, Germany, before going on to study with Prof. Zakhar Bron. Subsequently, he pursued his studies for several years with Prof. Ana Chumachenco at the Universities of Music in Zurich and Munich. Salvatore Accardo, Miriam Fried and Josef Rissin have also been important influences on him. During his studies, Linus Roth held a scholarship from the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation.
In October 2012, Linus Roth was appointed Professor of Violin at the 'Leopold-Mozart-Zentrum' at Augsburg University and is also the artistic director of the Leopold Mozart International Violin Competition in Augsburg. In addition, Linus Roth is the Founder and Artistic Director of the International Festival Ibiza Concerts and from 2020 on of the music festival Schwäbischer Frühling in Ochsenhausen /Germany Linus Roth plays the Stradivarius violin 'Dancla' from 1703 on kind loan from the music foundation of the L-Bank Baden-Württemberg.
In his free time, Roth enjoys fitness sports of all kinds, travelling, eating out and loves boating around the Mediterranean. He has lived in Munich for many years.

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José Gallardo (piano)

A native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, José Gallardo started piano lessons at the age of five, at first at the Conservatory in Buenos Aires. Later he continued his studies with Prof. Poldi Mildner in the Faculty of Music at the University of Mainz, completing his diploma in 1997. Even then he realised his first love would be for chamber music.
His musical inspiration came from such artists as Menahem Pressler, Alfonso Montecino, Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Sergiu Celibidache, Rosalyn Tureck and Bernard Greenhouse.
José Gallardo has won many national and international awards. Invitations followed for numerous tours and festivals, including the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, the Asiago Festival in Italy, the Ludwigsburg Palace Festival, the Schwetzingen Festival, the Kronberg Cello Festival, and the Rheingau Music Festival.
He is very busy playing recitals and concerts, including chamber music appearances with other musicians in Europe, Asia, Israel, Oceania and South America, among them Alberto Lysy, Gidon Kremer, Chen Zimbalista, Julius Berger, Danjulo Ishizaka, Nicolas Altstaedt and many more. Concert halls he has played in include the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, the Zurich Tonhalle, the Hamburg Musikhalle, the Kurhaus Wiesbaden, Teatro della Pergola Florence and the Wigmore Hall London. From 1998 to 2008, he taught in the faculty of music at the University of Mainz; since autumn 2008, he has been teaching at the Leopold Mozart Zentrum in the University of Augsburg.

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Composer(s)

Mieczysław Weinberg

Mieczysław Weinberg was a Russian composer of Polish-Jewish origin. He studied piano at the Conservatory of Warsaw and was soon praised for his musical talent. When the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, Weinberg fled to Russia, first to Minsk and later to Tashkent, where he worked at the opera. There he also met Dmitri Shostakovich, who was impressed by his talent and would become an important influence on his music. Furthermore, he arranged an official invitation to Moscow for Weinberg, where he continued to stay for the rest of his life.
Life under Stalin was not easy for a Jewish composer like Weinberg. His works were not banned by the Soviet authorities, but they were not always well received. Moreover, he had to live in fear of being arrested, which happened to him in 1953. Shostakovich came to his rescue by proving his innocence in a letter to Lavrenti Beria, chief of the secret police. However, it was mainly due to Stalins death that Weinberg was saved.
After Stalins death, Weinberg continued to work on his extensive oeuvre, which consists of amongst others 26 symphonies, seventeen string quartets and more than 40 film scores. The majority of these works were performed by leading Russian musicians and orchestras. Thanks to the increasing amount of recordings, his works become more and more well-known outside of Russia.

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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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Press

Linus Roth: athlete on the violin. Sound and interpretation: 9 out of 10!
Crescendo, 07-2-2017

Roth is an impressive interpreter of Weinberg’s music, but of the three solo works, I’d prefer Kilnits in No.1 and, clearly, Kremer in No.3 – although Roth’s tight focus is a collector’s wish and the SACD sound impressive.
Music Web International, 11-1-2017

The personal nature of Linus Roth’s approach to the music of Mieczyslaw Weinberg is evident as well, in a new Challenge Classics release featuring Weinberg’s three solo-violin sonatas interspersed with violin-and-piano versions of the Three Fantastic Dances by Weinberg’s friend, colleague and longtime supporter, Shostakovich.
Infodad.com, 09-1-2017

01/12/2016 - Péché de Classique
Péché de Classique, 01-12-2016

"That the mildness never becomes a weakness, is to be thankend to the violist by whom the toneforming and rythmic precision are always well balanced."
Luister, 01-11-2016

"On paper, this is far from easy music to assimilate, yet here it sounds radiantly compelling. An outstanding achievement."
The Strad, 23-9-2016

A very rich music, somtimes so intimate and personal that you can not escape it.
kulturradio.de, 31-8-2016

Whimsy, wistful melancholy and dry wit coexist. And, it’s beautifully held together by Roth, playing the work as if he’s delivering a series of soliloquies.
The Arts Desk, 23-8-2016

Given that Weinberg knew his father had been murdered in the Holocaust, the sonata isn’t easy listening but it’s hugely rewarding.
Platomania, 12-8-2016

N.A.
Polskie Radio, 05-8-2016

‘’Roth makes his violin sob and snarl'' (*****)
De Volkskrant, 27-7-2016

For both violinists and listeners, even those with special appreciation for Twentieth-Century music, Mieczysław Weinberg’s Sonatas for solo violin are not easy going. This is music in which unspeakable atrocities are confronted unflinchingly, music in which one man sought answers to questions that ravage all of mankind. Perhaps these are questions with which each man must contend on his own, but few men can contend with Weinberg’s music as authoritatively as Linus Roth does in his performances of the three Sonatas for solo violin. This is not solely music making: what Roth achieves on this disc is the recreation of a solitary voice, now made intelligible to every pair of ears willing to listen.
voix-des-arts.com, 19-7-2016

Roth did great by making this beautiful pieces of Weinberg unlock for the western world, he did this with a great powerfull play that touches the listener.
Nieuwe Noten, 13-7-2016

" [...] This disc provides us with further insight into a remarkable voice in 20th century music. [...] "
Planet Hugill, 08-7-2016

In all three his sense of the architecture his finely sustained, especially in the last sonata.
Planet Hugill, 08-7-2016

" [...] the poise and intensity of Roth’s performance; the Third Sonata, from 1978, unfolds in an unbroken, nearly half-hour stretch, and Roth’s achievement in maintaining its tension is considerable. [...] "
The Guardian, 07-7-2016

Linus Roth, a proven advocate of Weinberg’s music, invites the listener in the fascinating sound world of the composer, where he carefully mingles emotion and intellect, so that the three sonatas become every bit as rewarding as solo sonatas from much better known composers. The recorded sound is silky-smooth as well as clearly defined.
Pizzicato, 30-6-2016

"Impressive virtuosity"
SWR2 Cluster, 14-6-2016