Linus Roth / José Gallardo

Complete sonatas and works

Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917256727
Catnr: CC 72567
Release date: 24 March 2013
CD (3 items)
 
Label
Challenge Classics
UPC
0608917256727
Catalogue number
CC 72567
Release date
24 March 2013

""The German violinist Linus Roth and the Argentine pianist José Gallardo bring his complete works for violin and piano.""

Het Parool, 14-11-2015
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
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About the album

A special project: Linus Roth and José Gallardo are the first to interpret Weinberg’s sonatas and works for violin and piano in a complete anthology!

Mieczysław Weinberg had an unbelievably tragic life, full of struggle and pain. As a Polish Jewish composer he flee from the Nazi regime to Russia, got imprisoned by Stalin and was saved at the last minute by his good friend and colleague Dmitri Shostakovich. He lost all his family members in concentration camps. Weinberg's compositions, often with a Jewish slant, were prohibited…

Noted German violinist Linus Roth and the Argentinean piano virtuoso José Gallardo feel a lot of compassion for this composer. It's all there in his beautiful and deeply emotional music where Weinberg put so much of his soul. As a great master of contrasts he goes from very dark, to very bright, from a fortissimo when you think the world breaks into pieces, to a pianissimo you can barely hear. In one bar there can be hope, and in the next bar: no hope!

Linus and José feel obliged and honored to be advocates for Weinberg because they think his music deserves it! Now it was time for them to record the "Complete Sonatas and Works" for violin and piano of Weinberg on a 3CD. This has never been done before! Weinberg’s repertoire has always been only partially performed and recorded, but never as complete collection. The Sonatas Nr. 2 and 6. are even never recorded before and the Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes is the only one available recording right now - it was once recorded around 40 years ago, but the vinyl is not available to buy any more.
Worstelingen met het Naziregime, hoorbaar in muziek
Dit album is een bijzonder project van violist Linus Roth en pianist José Gallardo. Het is een complete collectie van het repertoire van Mieczysław Weinberg. Dit is zeer uniek; hiervoor is zijn repertoire alleen maar gedeeltelijk uitgevoerd en opgenomen, nog nooit volledig. De opnames van de Sonates nummer 2 en 6 zijn een wereldpremière.

Weinberg leidde een tragisch leven vol strijd en pijn. Hij was een Pools-Joodse componist die naar Rusland moest vluchten voor het Naziregime. Hier werd hij gevangengenomen door Stalin en op het laatste moment gered door zijn goede vriend en collega Dmitri Shostakovich. Ondertussen waren al zijn familieleden omgekomen in concentratiekampen. Daarna werden veel van zijn composities verboden omdat ze een Joodse inslag hadden. Dit alles is voelbaar in zijn zeer emotionele muziek, waarin veel gebruik gemaakt wordt van contrasten. Van donkere tot lichte muziek, en van een fortissimo zo hard dat de wereld in stukken lijkt te breken, tot een pianissimo dat bijna onhoorbaar is. In de ene maat kan er hoop zijn, dat in de volgende maat verandert in wanhoop.
Die erste Gesamtaufnahme aller Werke für Violine und Klavier des sowjetischen-polnischen Komponisten Mieczysław Weinberg

„Ich bin ein Schüler Schostakowitschs. Auch wenn ich nie Unterricht von ihm genommen habe, so sehe ich mich doch als sein Schüler, mit Haut und Haar,“ liess der Komponist Mieczysław Weinberg über sich selber verlauten.

Die Beziehung zwischen beiden Komponisten war eng und von gegenseitigem Respekt gekennzeichnet. Weinbergs kritische Sichtweise, die in seiner Musik zum Tragen kommt, hält im Gegensatz zu Schostakowitsch doch auch eine Portion Humor bereit. In seinen ersten Violinsonaten stimmt er auch heitere Töne an und in diesen und vor allem der Rhapsodie über moldawische Themen lässt Weinberg der guten Laune ihren Lauf. Hinter dem Titel „moldawisch“ versteckte der längst politisch verfolgte Komponist jiddische Themen, die auch immer wieder in anderen seiner Werke eingearbeitet sind.

Seit 2006, als der Geiger Linus Roth den ECHO-Preis erhielt, wurde er vom "Geheimtipp" zum international anerkannten Star. Seine Karriere führte ihn auch zur Kammermusik, in der er unglaubliche Erfolge gemeinsam mit dem argentinischen Pianisten José Gallardo feiert.

Weltersteinspielung der Sonaten Nr. 2 & 6
Einzig verfügbare Aufnahme der "Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes"

Artist(s)

Linus Roth

Since he won the Echo Klassik Award for his EMI debut album in 2006 Linus Roth has made a name for himself both as one of the most interesting violinists of his generation and as a champion of wrongly forgotten works and composers. His live performances and his recording of Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s complete works for Violin and Piano for Challenge Classics have brought him both critical and public acclaim. Roth’s commitment to Weinberg is further documented in his recording of Weinberg’s Violin Concerto with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the recording of Weinberg´s Concertino with the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn ( both were named „Editor´s Choice“ by the Gramophone Magazin) and the recording of the 3 Violin Solo Sonatas, making him...
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Since he won the Echo Klassik Award for his EMI debut album in 2006 Linus Roth has made a name for himself both as one of the most interesting violinists of his generation and as a champion of wrongly forgotten works and composers. His live performances and his recording of Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s complete works for Violin and Piano for Challenge Classics have brought him both critical and public acclaim. Roth’s commitment to Weinberg is further documented in his recording of Weinberg’s Violin Concerto with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the recording of Weinberg´s Concertino with the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn ( both were named „Editor´s Choice“ by the Gramophone Magazin) and the recording of the 3 Violin Solo Sonatas, making him the first violinist to have recorded Weinberg´s complete Violin repertoire . In 2015 Linus Roth founded the International Weinberg Society, an organisation whose mission is to bring more attention to the Œuvre of the Polish-Jewish composer, to help organise concerts, lectures, exhibitions, as well as support publications about his life and recordings of his compositions.
After joining Prof Nicolas Chumachenco’s pre-college division at the Music Academy Freiburg, Linus Roth continued his studies with Prof. Zakhar Bron in Lübeck and with Prof. Ana Chumachenco at the Academies of Zurich and Munich. Salvatore Accardo, Miriam Fried and Josef Rissin all strongly influenced his development as a player as did Anne-Sophie Mutter, whose Foundation awarded him a scholarship for the duration of his studies. In 2012 he was appointed Professor for Violin at the “Leopold-Mozart-Centre” of the University of Augsburg, Germany.
Linus Roth has performed with the Radio Symphony Orchestras of the SWR and Berlin, Bruckner Orchester Linz, Orquesta de Cordoba, Orquesta de Navarra, Orchestra della Teatro San Carlo Napoli, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Berner Sinfonieorchester, Orchestra of the State Opera Stuttgart, Vienna Chamber Philharmonic, Cologne Chamber Orchestra, Wuerttemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn and the Munich Chamber Orchestra and has shared the stage with the conductors Gerd Albrecht, Herbert Blomstedt, Andrey Boreyko, Dennis Russell Davies, James Gaffigan, Hartmut Haenchen Manfred Honeck, Mihkel Kütson, Antoni Wit, among others.
A passionate chamber musician, he can be heard with Nicolas Altstaedt, Gautier Capucon, Kim Kashkashian, Albrecht Mayer, Nils Mönkemeyer, Andreas Ottensammerm Itamar Golan and Danjulo Ishizaka and regularly gives recitals with the Argentinian pianist José Gallardo throughout Europe.
Linus Roth plays the A. Stradivari “Dancla” 1703, kindly loaned to him by the “L-Bank, Staatsbank of Baden-Württemberg, Germany”.

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José Gallardo

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...
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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...
more
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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Press

"The German violinist Linus Roth and the Argentine pianist José Gallardo bring his complete works for violin and piano."
Het Parool, 14-11-2015

Not an easy listening experience by any means, but a profoundly moving one.
The Strad, 06-11-2013

Niet een positief recensie
www.opusklassiek.nl, 18-10-2013

Roth and Gallardo overwhelmed the audience.
Luister, 30-9-2013

It's definately worth listening
Fono Forum, 01-9-2013

no quote not positive 
Gramophone, 01-9-2013

The result is a dedicated hommage to Mieczyslaw Weinberg with technical and musical accomplishment.
Klassik Heute, 29-8-2013

"The intelligent interpretations and general accessibility of these works, is sure to win many new fans and admirers."
www.classicalmusicforyou.com, 27-8-2013

Roth and Gallardo control Weinberg lyricism and melancholy into the capillaries.
NRC Handelsblad, 08-8-2013

Artist of the month
L'Orfeo, 04-8-2013

Roth and Galardo play these compositions so striking, evident and  internalized that following artists will have to compete with this recording.
ensemble, 01-8-2013

Discovery
Süddeutsche Zeitung, 28-5-2013

The performances of both artists are virtuosic and commendable, while the recording quality is generally excellent  
Lines that have escaped destruction, 04-4-2013

Altogether, then, these discs are remarkable. The performances of both artists are virtuosic and commendable, while the recording quality is generally excellent 
linesthathaveescapeddestruction, 04-4-2013

Linus Roth and José Gallardo perform Weinberg's music with verve, passion and enthusiasm.
crescendo

Play album
Disc #1
01.
Sonata no. 5 op. 53 for violin and piano : Andante con moto
05:19
02.
Sonata no. 5 op. 53 for violin and piano : Allegro molto
05:50
03.
Sonata no. 5 op. 53 for violin and piano : Allegro moderato
04:48
04.
Sonata no. 5 op. 53 for violin and piano : Allegro - Andante - Allegro - Andante - Allegretto - Andante
07:10
05.
Sonata no. 4 op. 39 for violin and piano: Adagio
09:46
06.
Sonata no. 4 op. 39 for violin and piano: Allegro ma non troppo - Adagio tenuto molto rubato
05:48
07.
Sonata no. 4 op. 39 for violin and piano: Adagio primo
02:57
08.
Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes for violin and piano op. 47, no. 3: Adagio - Allegro vivace - Doppio più lento - Doppio movimento - Prestissimo
10:34

Disc #2
01.
Sonata no. 3 op. 37 for violin and piano: Allegro moderato
04:20
02.
Sonata no. 3 op. 37 for violin and piano: Andantino
07:50
03.
Sonata no. 3 op. 37 for violin and piano: Allegretto cantabile
08:53
04.
Sonatina op. 46 for violin and piano in D major: Allegretto
04:15
05.
Sonatina op. 46 for violin and piano in D major: Lento - Allegro - Tempo primo
06:58
06.
Sonatina op. 46 for violin and piano in D major: Allegro moderato - Lento
05:06
07.
Sonata no. 2 op. 15 for violin and piano: Allegro - Meno mosso
08:32
08.
Sonata no. 2 op. 15 for violin and piano: Lento
06:24
09.
Sonata no. 2 op. 15 for violin and piano: Allegro moderato -  Allegro con fuoco - Tempo primo
05:12

Disc #3
01.
Sonata no. 1 op. 12 for violin and piano: Allegro
06:33
02.
Sonata no. 1 op. 12 for violin and piano: Adagietto
06:43
03.
Sonata no. 1 op. 12 for violin and piano: Allegro -  Meno mosso
09:08
04.
Sonata no. 6 op. 136: Moderato
07:44
05.
Sonata no. 6 op. 136: Adagio
03:26
06.
Sonata no. 6 op. 136: Moderato - Adagio
04:33
07.
3 Pieces: Nokturn - Allegro
06:37
08.
3 Pieces: Scherzo - Moderato
02:08
09.
3 Pieces: Sen o Lalce - Moderato
07:12
show all tracks

Often bought together with..

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Violin Concertos
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Sonatas for solo violin
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Sonatas for violin and piano op. 105 & 121 - 4 song arrangements
Linus Roth / José Gallardo

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