Violin Concerto, Op. 35 | Serenade after Plato’s “Symposium” by Liza Ferschtman

Leonard Bernstein, Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Liza Ferschtman

Violin Concerto, Op. 35 | Serenade after Plato’s “Symposium”

Price: € 14.95
Format: SACD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917275520
Catnr: CC 72755
Release date: 02 February 2018
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Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917275520

Catalogue number
CC 72755

Release date
02 February 2018

"...the great Dutch violinist Liza Ferschtman is not part of the star system. However this almost provocative CD is of astonishing quality. Thanks also to the surround excellent recording of two live flawless performances."

Classic Voice, 05-4-2019

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

Press

About the album

Korngold’s Violin Concerto was completed in 1945. This is a beautiful, late Romantic work that harks back clearly to Korngold's earlier compositional style, when he was a younger man living in Vienna. But had he really turned his back on film music he was used to compose in America? Every movement of the Concerto is scattered with fragments from a range of his film scores. The Violin Concerto was a huge success at its premiere, not least due to the performance by Jascha Heifetz as soloist.
The 1950s, a period when Korngold's career and indeed his life were drawing to a close, were a most productive time for Leonard Bernstein. He was achieving major successes on Broadway with his musicals.
The Serenade for violin, strings, harp and percussion had its premiere in Venice in 1954. There were two factors behind the composition. He had accepted a commission from the Koussevitzky Foundation. Also, he had long been promising a new piece for his close friend, the violinist Isaac Stern. Both of these commitments coincided in the Serenade, an extremely lyrical, five-movement work, akin to a violin concerto.

Op dit album speelt violiste Liza Ferschtman een unieke combinatie van twee lyrische concerten, gecomponeerd in de Verenigde Staten, negen jaar na elkaar. Het vioolconcert van Erich Wolfgang Korngold stamt uit zijn latere periode en Serenade van Leonard Bernstein markeert het moment dat hij tot wasdom kwam. Je hoort in de wonderschone opname duidelijk dat de violiste haar hele ziel en zaligheid in het spel legt, een genot om naar te luisteren.

Liefde en spiritualiteit basis van serenade

Bernsteins Serenade is deels geïnspireerd op de filosofische tekst Symposium van Plato die een banket beschrijft, waarop vooraanstaande personen uit de tijd van de Griekse filosoof, verschillende perspectieven op liefde en spiritualiteit uiteenzetten. Liza: "Voor mij draaien beide werken op dit album om de liefde. In Bernsteins Serenade zelfs letterlijk, als je het beziet vanuit het perspectief van de verschillende filosofen die aanwezig waren op Plato's symposium. Alhoewel het, zoals Bernstein zelf zegt, in klassieke zin geen programmatisch stuk is. In Korngolds concerto worden de liefde, en de liefde voor het leven, zo rijkelijk en genereus gedeeld, dat je als luisteraar en uitvoerder, niet anders kunt dan je door de muziek te laten omhelsen en optillen."

Laatromantische 'filmmuziek'

Korngold voltooide zijn Vioolconcert in 1945. Het is een mooi, laatromantisch werk dat duidelijk teruggrijpt op Korngolds eerdere compositiestijl, toen hij als jongeman in Wenen woonde. Maar had hij nu werkelijk de filmmuziek die hij in Amerika gewend was te componeren de rug toegekeerd? Het lijkt er niet op, elk deel van het concert zit vol met een keur aan fragmenten uit de soundtracks van zijn films. De première van het Vioolconcert was een groot succes, wat niet in de laatste plaats te danken was aan het optreden van solist Jascha Heifetz.

Successen op Broadway

De jaren vijftig, een periode waarin Korngolds carrière, en sterker nog zijn leven, tegen het eind liepen, waren een zeer productieve periode voor Leonard Bernstein. Hij behaalde met zijn musicals grote successen op Broadway. De Serenade voor viool, strijkers, harp en percussie beleefde zijn première in Venetië in 1954. Er waren twee factoren die meespeelden bij de compositie. Ten eerste had Bernstein een opdracht van de Koussevitzky Foundation geaccepteerd en hij had zijn goede vriend, de violist Isaac Stern, al lange tijd een nieuw werk beloofd. Beide verplichtingen vielen samen tijdens het componeren van de Serenade, een zeer lyrisch, vijfdelig werk, lijkend op een vioolconcert.

Enthousiaste recensies
De pers was laaiend enthousiast over Liza Ferschtman's Serenade. Na haar optreden in New York schreef The New York Times: "Mevrouw Ferschtman bracht een laserachtige puurheid en intensiteit in Bernsteins Serenade. Haar geluid was teder en glanzend in de lange frases van het eerste deel en verleidelijk versluierd in het tweede. In de snelle spiccato passages van het derde deel liet ze een vinnigheid horen die meer dan bevredigend was."

Lees ook de recensie van René Seghers in Luister magazine, april 2018.

Korngold vollendete sein Violinkonzert 1945. Es ist ein wunderschönes, spätromantisches Werk, und Korngolds früherer Stil aus der Zeit, in der er als junger Mann in Wien lebte, klingt deutlich durch. Doch hatte er sich wirklich von der Filmmusik, die er in Amerika komponierte, abgewendet? Jeder Satz des Konzertes ist durchsetzt von Fragmenten aus einer Reihe seiner Filmmusiken. Das Violinkonzert war bei seiner Premiere ein großer Erfolg, nicht zuletzt dank Jascha Heifetz’ Darbietung als Solist.

Die 1950er, eine Zeit, in der Korngolds Karriere und auch sein Leben sich zum Ende neigten, waren für Leonard Bernstein eine höchst produktive Zeit, und seine Musicals feierten große Erfolge am Broadway.

Die Serenade für Violine, Streicher, Harfe und Perkussion wurde 1954 in Venedig uraufgeführt. Zwei Aspekte stehen hinter der Komposition: Zum einen hatte er einen Kompositionsauftrag der Koussevitzky Stiftung angenommen. Zum anderen hatte er einem engen Freund, dem Violinisten Isaac Stern, schon lange ein neues Stück versprochen. Beides führte schließlich zur Serenade, einem äußerst lyrischen, fünfsätzigen Werk, das dem Violinkonzert ähnelt.

Artist(s)

Liza Ferschtman (violin)

Dutch violinist Liza Ferschtman is known for her passionate performances, interesting programs and communicative qualities on stage. She is equally at home on the concert stage with concertos, chamber music, recitals and solo works. In 2006 she received the highest accolade awarded to a musician in the Netherlands, the Dutch Music Prize.
Born into a family of Russian musicians, Liza Ferschtman was constantly surrounded by music.
One of her earliest major influences was the violinist Philipp Hirschhorn, a close family friend. She received her formal training from Herman Krebbers at the Amsterdam Conservatory, Ida Kavafian at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and David Takeno in London.
In recent years Liza Ferschtman has performed with all significant Dutch Orchestras, including the Royal Concertgebouw and the Rotterdam Philhamonic. She has been soloist of the Orchestre National de Belgique, European Union Youth Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic, Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, Bremen Philharmonic, Radio Symphony Orchestra of Prague, Malmö Symphony, and Bergen Philharmonic. Conductors she has worked with include Stephan Blunier, Frans Bruggen, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Claus Peter Flor, Neeme Järvi, Yakov Kreizberg, Zdenek Macal, Jun Maerkl, Gianandrea Noseda, Marc Soustrot, Leonard Slatkin, Thomas Sondergard, Karl-Heinz Steffens, Mario Venzago and Jaap van Zweden.
An avid chamber musician, Ms. Ferschtman has collaborated regularly with artists such as Inon Barnatan, Jonathan Biss, Nobuko Imai, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Enrico Pace, Christian Poltera, Lars Anders Tomter and Alisa Weilerstein. In addition to appearances at numerous international Chamber Music festivals, she has performed at venues such as the Alice Tully Hall in New York, the Library of Congress in Washington, Wigmore Hall in London, the Brahms Saal at the Vienna Musikverein, as well the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
Liza Ferschtman has been the artistic director of the Delft Chamber Music Festival since 2007, one of the reputable festivals in Europe. During her tenure the festival has become widely known for adventurous programming with dynamic performances by artists from around the globe.
Highlights in the past season were the performance of the complete solo works by Bach in Amsterdam and a concert tour to Budapest, Amsterdam, New York and Montréal with the Budapest Festival Orchestra. Playing under the baton of Iván Fischer, Ms. Ferschtman received outstanding reviews for her rendition of Bernstein's "Serenade" with this orchestra.
During the current season Liza Ferschtman is scheduled to make her debuts with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Essen, the Staatskapelle Weimar and the Flanders Symphony Orchestra. She will perform chamber music at the Liederhalle in Stuttgart and the Beethoven Haus in Bonn and will be present in the Netherlands with several recitals.
Ms. Ferschtman's recording of the Beethoven Concerto and Romances was received with great critical acclaim, as well as her other recordings with concertos by Dvorak, Röntgen, solo works by Bach and Ysaye, (STRAD CD choice of the month), and duo works by Beethoven and Schubert. Her next CD will be solo works by Bach, Biber, Bartok and Berio (Challenge Classics).

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Prague Symphony Orchestra

The Prague Symphony Orchestra (Prague, Czech Republic, Czech: Symfonický orchestr hlavního města Prahy; FOK) is a Czech orchestra based in Prague. The orchestra has traditionally been known by the acronym 'FOK', standing for 'Film-Opera-Koncert', reflecting the orchestra's fields of activity as envisioned by its founder. When the city of Prague made the orchestra its official concert ensemble in 1952, it retained the acronym, giving it the official title 'Symphony Orchestra of the Capital City of Prague.
Rudolf Pekárek founded the orchestra in 1934. In the 1930s the orchestra performed the scores for many Czech films, and also appeared regularly on Czech radio. An early promoter of the orchestra was Václav Smetáček, who became the orchestra's chief conductor in 1942, and held the post for the next 30 years. Jiří Kout, chief conductor from 2006 to 2013, has the title of Čestný šéfdirigent (Honorary chief conductor) with the orchestra. Muhai Tang served as principal conductor in the 2013-2014 season, following the sudden resignation of Kout for health reasons.In parallel, Jac van Steen became the orchestra's principal guest conductor.

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Het Gelders Orkest

Firmly rooted in Gelderland and Dutch society Het Gelders Orkest (HGO) gives a large number of concerts per season on the important stages in the Netherlands. In addition, the orchestra likes to showcase touring and concerts abroad. The Gelders Orkest is one of the most active Dutch orchestras and fulfills an ambassador role at home and abroad. This makes Het Gelders Orkest one of the top orchestras in the Netherlands. Passion is a key concept for Het Gelders Orkest. It invests in the development of creativity and dynamism and knows how to bind young and talented musicians. Conductors who regularly visited HGO from the nineties are, among others, Bernard Klee, Hans Vonk, Jaap van Zweden, Roy Goodman and Reinbert de Leeuw. The Gelders Orkest works frequently with young conductors such as Antonello Manacorda, Sascha Goetzel, Jakub Hrusa and Damian Iorio. Also soloists like Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Leif Ove Andsnes, Zoltán Kocsis, Nikolaj Znaider, Akiko Suwanai, Maxim Vengerov, Natalia Gutman, Quirine Viersen, Christian Lindberg and Radovan Vlatkovic like to perform with Het Gelders Orkest. The symphonic concerts make the versatile classical repertoire accessible, while the intimate chamber concerts bring musicians and audiences closer together. The orchestra also wants to pass on the passion for live classical music to a young audience. That is why it organizes a large number of family concerts, educational concerts and special participation projects for amateurs every season. In addition, it records several (live) CDs annually. The orchestra feels supported in its mission by a loyal audience and an ever-growing group of Friends, Partners and Patrons.

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Jirí Malát (conductor)

Jiří Malát, born on 1 july 1953 is a Czech principal conductor of the Vogtland Philharmonie.

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Christian Vasquez (conductor)

This Venezuelan conductor has received his education thanks to what men call his native country 'El Sistema': a free state system for music education. The system connects children from disadvantaged neighborhoods with music in about 90 countries. In addition, it offers the most talented children a professional education. That is how Christian Vásquez started as a nine-year-old violinist in one of the country's youth orchestras. From 2001 he studied orchestral conducting under the direction of José Antonio Abreu, the founder of El Sistema. Vásquez feeds several youth orchestras, but his major breakthrough came in 2008 when he conducted Mahler's Second Symphony with the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra. With this orchestra he also made several tours. It brought the conductor to the...

That is how Christian Vásquez started as a nine-year-old violinist in one of the country's youth orchestras. From 2001 he studied orchestral conducting under the direction of José Antonio Abreu, the founder of El Sistema. Vásquez feeds several youth orchestras, but his major breakthrough came in 2008 when he conducted Mahler's Second Symphony with the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra. With this orchestra he also made several tours. It brought the conductor to the attention of many other orchestras such as the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.

Christian Vásquez has been chief conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of Stavanger and the Teresa Carreño Youth Orchestra of Venezuela since 2013, which he had some time ago as a major European tour. At the beginning of 2015, he made his debut as an opera conductor at the Norwegian Opera. There has been a warm relationship between Het Gelders Orkest and Christian Vásquez for years. From 2016 until the beginning of 2019 he was attached to the orchestra as a regular guest conductor.

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Composer(s)

Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein was one of the most iconic American composers and conductors of the 20th century, and was among the first American musicians who gained worldwide recognition.
He actually made his breakthrough as a conductor by chance, when he suddenly had to stand in for the ailing Bruno Walter for a concert by the New York Philharmonic in 1943. The concert, which was broadcast live on radio, received critical acclaim from the press. Bernstein would soon become a sought-after guest conductor.
From 1958 till 1969, Bernstein was principal conductor of the New York Philharmonic, with which he performed amongst others the complete symphonies of Mahler, which sparked a renewed interest in the music of the Austrian composer in the United States. He was also an advocate of the music of American composers, in particular that of his close friend Aaron Copland. Bernstein recorded nearly all of his orchestral works, and paid much attention to his music in his popular television series Young People’s Concerts, in which he introduced a young audience to classical music.
As a composer, Bernstein is primarily known for his accessible theatre works such as Wonderful Town, Candide and The West Side Story, which still is his most popular work. He also composed three symphonies and several shorter chamber works. In his music he fused elements of Jewish music, theatre music and jazz with those of composers like Copland, Stravinsky and Gershwin.

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Press

...the great Dutch violinist Liza Ferschtman is not part of the star system. However this almost provocative CD is of astonishing quality. Thanks also to the surround excellent recording of two live flawless performances.
Classic Voice, 05-4-2019

Liza Ferschtman need not fear any comparisons…(her) imaginative design of each phrase and the closeness of its conception!
Fono Forum, 12-11-2018

I have nothing but enthusiasm for this release, and I look forward to getting to know this violinist’s work better. In an era dominated by conservatory-trained bots, she is the real thing.
Fanfare, 02-7-2018

The Dutch violinist Liza ferschtman manages to do this with sovereign and unforced playing, which emphasizes the immense beauty of this music in a classically balanced way.
Audio.de , 29-6-2018

Here again, Ferschtman takes a subtly shaded approach, the brilliance and energy of her performance thoroughly compelling. The moments when the texture clears and the solo violin emerges alone are particularly entrancing, and Ferschtman’s artistry and flair never falter.
The Strad, 17-5-2018

All concerned respond to its moods with the utmost sensitivity, evoking the Symposium's varieties of love with a refinement that eludes bigger names and might have surprised the composer too. Ferschtman's intonation is well-nigh flawless.
Gramophone, 11-5-2018

A qualified welcome for this new disc; the Bernstein certainly gets a fine performance.
Music Web International, 04-5-2018

Again, though, Ferschtman's playing makes the most of its strengths, eloquent, flexible and fleet-fingered.
Concerto, 25-4-2018

5 for performance and 5 for recording!
WDR3, 13-4-2018

Ferschtman brings Erich Wolfgang Korngold to life in a stunning way.
Luister, 13-4-2018

These are straightforded, well-paced performances that are eminently serviceable for both works. Soloist Liza Ferschtman playing is elaborated and technically accurate.
Pizzicato, 06-4-2018

Her account is impassioned. Her great technical accuracy joins to a driving expressivity, in a travel among endless colour nuances
Amadeus Magazine, 01-4-2018

Liza Ferschtman interprets the piece as an intimate dialogue. The fact that the Dutch violinist reads the score more sensitively and is therefore probably more in line with the mood of the music and closer than her German colleague is especially in the fourth movement.
Deutschlandfunk, 26-3-2018

I’m very happy with this new combination Korngold/Bernstein and Liza’s reading of both.
HRAudio, 10-3-2018

What seems to be incompatible is masterfully combined: that not only applies to Liza Ferschtman, but also to recording technician and editor Bert van der Wolf, who has made a harmonious whole of two incompatible recording spaces.
Opus Klassiek, 28-2-2018

Swoon and swinging with violinist Liza Ferschtman in top form.
De Gelderlander, 28-2-2018

**** Liza Ferschtman sharply captures the character of the two concerts: the creamy mercy of Korngold with the Prague Symphony Orchestra under Jirí Malát and Bernstein's intense dialogues about the love she has with the Arnhem Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Christian Vásquez. The violinist does what she can do best: painting colors with great musicality, evoking images and telling stories.
NRC Handelsblad, 20-2-2018

Win the Album of the Week of star violinist Liza Ferschtman
Classic FM, 19-2-2018

Ferschtman finds the very diverse characters convincing, with freedom and imagination
De Volkskrant, 16-2-2018

A very beautiful performance, a masterful CD!
Stretto, 11-2-2018

She keeps a clear statement with great care for details and adds more than a shred of extra inner meaning to the more meditative music ... The fact that Korngold's Violin Concerto also sounds colorful and pretty passionate in all its bitterness, is trusted to Liza Ferchtman and makes this publication a deserved success.
Musicalifeiten, 05-2-2018

Again a beautiful album by Liza Ferschtman that you should not miss.
Mania, 02-2-2018

Dazzling! Radio 4 CD of the week!
Radio4, 30-1-2018

It brought him and us The Serenade to Plato's Symposium, musical dialogues about the beautiful and dark sides of love. The Gelders Orkest and violinist Liza Ferschtman opened the Bernstein year in the Netherlands with this masterpiece.
Luister, 19-1-2018

Violinist Liza Ferschtman shows with the Serenade another side of the composer in het Muziekgebouw.
Het Parool, 17-1-2018

Both masterpieces touch you directly in the heart.
Daily Classical, 14-1-2018

Liza Ferschtman on tour with Bernstein’s 'Serenade'
BBC Music Magazine, 01-1-2018