Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 77 / In tempus praesens by Simone Lamsma / The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra

Simone Lamsma / The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra

Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 77 / In tempus praesens

Format: SACD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917268126
Catnr: CC 72681
Release date: 10 March 2017
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Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917268126

Catalogue number
CC 72681

Release date
10 March 2017

"Two stunning Concertos which shine in an outstanding way within the hands of Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma....[Shostakovich] Lamsma is gentle, subtle, with a very fine tone... [Gubaidulina] The work is among the very best of XXIst Century and Lamsma is really extraordinary."

Scherzo, 02-1-2018

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

Press

About the album

The structure of Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto is particularly original, with a sequence of four movements – slow, fast, slow, fast – entitled Nocturne, Scherzo, Passacaglia and Burlesque. The opening movement (Nocturne) is a beautiful song, blossoming from a single melodic fragment. The Scherzo is biting and dazzlingly virtuosic, like a carousel gone wild. The ensuing Passacaglia is, quite simply, the pinnacle of this concerto; a masterpiece – mature, elegiac and highly lyrical. The passacaglia theme is repeated nine times with contrapuntal elaborations. This is followed by a large-scale cadenza that forms a bridge to the finale. The concerto closes with a Burlesque, in which the theme from the Passacaglia has one final, piercing reappearance.

Shortly after the premiere of Gubaidulina’s Offertorium (1981), the Swiss patron of the arts Paul Sacher asked her to compose a further violin concerto for the German soloist Anne-Sophie Mutter, but nothing came of this due to lack of time. It was only in 2007, eight years after Sacher’s death, that Gubaidulina completed In tempus praesens, which was given its première by Mutter at the Lucerne Festival. It is a work of extreme contrasts in which very deep, infernal passages are juxtaposed with extremely high, celestial episodes. Much more so than Offertorium, In tempus praesens is a spectacular work for the violinist, who plays virtually from start to finish and barely has a chance to pause for breath. The virtuosity demanded by the work is never an end in itself.

Pizzicato on Lamsa’s first release on Challenge Classics (CC 72677): "The surround recording from Challenge Classics stands out due to especially brilliant and powerful interpretations and a finely coordinated dialogue between the instruments. This is perfect harmony."

Twee bijzondere vioolconcerten uitgevoerd door Simone Lamsma
In deze opname twee ontroerende vioolconcerten van twee begenadigde componisten. Het Eerste Vioolconcert van Dmitri Sjostakovitsj en het concert In tempus praesens van Sofia Gubaidulina. Topvioliste Simone Lamsma wilde juist deze twee stukken aan elkaar koppelen en ze heeft gelijk, ze vormen een perfecte combinatie. In harmonieus samenspel begeleidt Het Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, onder leiding van de dirigenten James Gaffigan (Sjostakovitsj) en Reinbert de Leeuw (Gubaidulina), de violiste. "Simone Lamsma is een van die fantastische Nederlandse viooltalenten met een gevestigde internationale reputatie voor wie geen zee te hoog gaat." Dagblad van het Noorden, maart 2017.

Simone wilde In tempus praesens graag koppelen aan het Eerste Vioolconcert van Sjostakovitsj, omdat de twee werken op veel manieren met elkaar verbonden zijn. Sjostakovitsj was een van de grootste ondersteuners van Gubaidulina, en op haar beurt putte zij veel inspiratie uit zijn werk. Beide componisten leefden in moeilijke tijden, wat hun werk behoorlijk beïnvloedde. Maar volgens Lamsma is hun belangrijkste connectie, de manier waarop zij zichzelf oprecht kunnen uitdrukken in hun muziek, in ongelooflijke klankwerelden van kleur en emotie, en toch beiden op een heel eigen wijze. Ze wisten allebei hun eigen stem te vinden in hun muziek.

Het Eerste Vioolconcert van Sjostakovitsj staat bekend om zijn originele structuur, met vier delen - langzaam, snel, langzaam snel - oftewel Nocturne, Scherzo, Passacaglia en Burlesque. Het openingsdeel Nocturne, is een schitterend lied wat ontbloeit vanuit een enkel melodisch fragment. Het daaropvolgende Scherzo is bijtend en duizelingwekkend virtuoos, als een op hol geslagen carrousel. Het hoogtepunt van de symfonie wordt bereikt, een waar meesterwerk; volwassen, weemoedig en zeer lyrisch. Het passacaglia-thema herhaalt zich negen maal; telkens met andere versieringen in contrapunt. En sluit af met een grootschalige cadens, die de brug vormt naar de finale, de Burlesque. Waarin als laatste de Passacaglia nog een keer, krachtig wordt gepresenteerd. "In her reading Ms Lamsma not only has the required skills & bravura, but is also able to understand and share the emotional aspects with Maestro James Gaffigan." HR Audio over Sjostakovitsj, maart 2017.

In tempus praesens werd voor het eerst opgevoerd in 2007, maar de compositie kent een langere geschiedenis. Vlak na de première van het Offertorium van Gubaidulina in 1981, vroeg de Zwitserse mecenas Paul Sacher, haar een werk te componeren voor viool en orkest, voor de Duitse soliste Anne-Sophie Mutter. Door tijdgebrek lukte dat toen niet. Pas in 2007, acht jaar nadat Sacher was overleden, voltooide Gubaidulina haar In tempus praesens. Het stuk ging in première op het Lucerne Festival met Mutter als solist. Het is een werk van extreme contrasten, waarin diepe, duivelse passages en hoge, bijna hemelse delen, elkaar afwisselen. Het stuk is, nog veel meer dan het Offertorium, een spectaculair werk voor de violist, die nagenoeg van begin tot eind speelt en nauwelijks de kans krijgt om op adem te komen. "Lamsma gives it a brilliantly extrovert reading, doing full justice to the sense of In tempus praesens. Phenomenal. Expect applause at the end" HR Audio over Gubaidulina, maart 2017.

De Nederlandse violiste Simone Lamsma (Leeuwarden, 1985) speelde al viool toen ze 5 jaar was. Op haar 11e vertrok ze naar Engeland om daar te studeren aan de Yehudi Menuhin School. Ze debuteerde, 14 jaar oud, bij het Noord Nederlands Orkest met het 1e vioolconcert van Paganini. Pers en publiek waren laaiend enthousiast. 5 jaar later zou ze cum laude afstuderen aan de Royal Academy of Music. Inmiddels speelt ze wereldwijd met gerenommeerde orkesten. Jaap van Zweden noemt Simone Lamsma "een van de meest toonaangevende violisten ter wereld". Simone speelt op een 'Stradivarius', haar in bruikleen gesteld, door een anonieme gever.

Der Aufbau von Schostakowitschs Erstem Violinkonzert ist besonders originell und beinhaltet eine Folge von vier Sätzen – langsam, schnell, langsam, schnell – mit den Titeln Nocturne, Scherzo, Passacaglia und Burlesque. Er erste Satz (Nocturne) ist ein wunderschönes Lied, das aus einem einzelnen Melodiefragment erblüht. Das Scherzo ist beißend und überwältigend virtuos wie ein wild gewordenes Karussell. Die folgende Passacaglia ist schlicht und einfach der Höhepunkt des Konzertes: ein Meisterwerk – reif, elegisch und enorm lyrisch. Das Passacaglia-Thema wird neunmal mit kontrapunktischen Ausarbeitungen wiederholt. Dem folgt eine großangelegte Kadenz, die die Brücke zum Finale bildet. Das Konzert schließt mit einer Burlesque, in der das Thema der Passacaglia ein letztes, durchdringendes Mal auftritt.

Kurz nach der Premiere von Gubaidulinas Offertorium (1981) bat der Schweizer Kunstmäzen Paul Sacher sie, ein weiteres Violinkonzert für die deutsche Solistin Anne-Sophie Mutter zu schreiben, doch aus Zeitmangel verlief das Projekt im Sande. Erst 2007, acht Jahre nach Sachers Tod, schloss Gubaidulina In tempus praesens ab, das von Mutter beim Lucerne Festival uraufgeführt wurde. Es ist ein Werk extremer Kontraste, in dem sehr tiefe, infernalische Passagen extrem hohen, himmlischen Episoden gegenübergestellt werden. In tempus praesens ist ein deutlich spektakuläreres Werk als Offertorium für den Violinisten, der praktisch das ganze Stück hindurch spielt und kaum Gelegenheit hat, Atem zu holen. Die Virtuosität, die es dem Solisten abverlangt, ist jedoch niemals Selbstzweck.

Pizzicato über Lamsmas erste Veröffentlichung auf Challenge Classics (CC 72677): „Die Surround-Aufnahme von Challenge Classics hebt sich durch besonders brillante und kraftvolle Interpretationen und einen präzise koordinierten Dialog zwischen den Instrumenten ab. Perfekte Harmonie.“

Artist(s)

Simone Lamsma

Hailed for her "brilliant... polished, expressive and intense" (Cleveland Plain Dealer) and "absolutely stunning" (Chicago Tribune) playing, Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma is respected by critics, peers and audiences as one of classical music’s most striking and captivating musical personalities. Conductor Jaap van Zweden with whom Simone enjoys a regular collaboration, describes her as one of the leading violinists in the world.

With an extensive repertoire of over 60 Violin Concertos, Simone’s recent seasons have seen her perform with many of the world’s leading orchestras.

Notable recent highlights include her debut with the Chicago Symphony, described by the Chicago Tribune as "piercingly beautiful", as well as performances with the Cleveland Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, BBC Philharmonic, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, RTVE Symphony, New Zealand Symphony, a tour of China with the Hong Kong Philharmonic under Jaap van Zweden, and a successful performance of the French première of Michel van der Aa’s Violin Concerto with the Orchestre National de Lyon, stepping in at just 10 days notice.

Stand-out recent festival appearances include her return to the Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom Festival in 2015, as well as the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego, about which the San Diego Reader wrote: “She (Simone Lamsma) appeared to be engaged with Beethoven on a level we seldom encounter….. Beethoven's music was coming through her in a pure state.”

Besides her close collaboration with Jaap van Zweden, Simone has worked many other eminent conductors including Vladimir Jurowski, Sir Neville Marriner, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, James Gaffigan, Sir Andrew Davis, Andrès Orozco-Estrada, Jiří Bělohlávek, Marek Janowski, Carlos Kalmar, Kirill Karabits, Stéphane Denève, Hannu Lintu, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Fabien Gabel and James Feddeck.

Highlights for the 16/17 season include debuts with the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, National Arts Centre Orchestra Ottawa, Vancouver Symphony, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, RTE and Iceland Symphony, as well as return invitations to the London Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, Residentie Orchestra and Royal Flemish Philharmonic.

In April 2017 she will return to the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic to perform the world première of Matijs de Roo’s Violin Concerto at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. This season will also mark her Japanese debut, performing with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra as well as in recital with pianist Yurie Miura.

A dedicated chamber musician, other recital appearances include Simone’s highly anticipated debuts in London’s Wigmore Hall and New York’s Carnegie Hall in March 2017 with pianist Robert Kulek, where their programme will include the world première of a new work by James MacMillan, commissioned by Carnegie Hall. She will also return to the Chicago Winter Chamber Music Festival Evanston performing sonatas and trios with pianist Andrew Armstrong and cellist Kenneth Olson.

In 2015 Simone’s most recent recording of sonatas by Mendelssohn, Janáček and Schumann with pianist Robert Kulek was released on the Challenge Classics label, receiving high accolades from the press. In addition to her many (inter)national prizes and distinctions, Simone was awarded the national Dutch VSCD Classical Music Prize in the category 'New Generation Musicians' in 2010, awarded by the Association of Dutch Theatres and Concert Halls to artists that have made remarkable and valuable contributions to the Dutch classical music scene.

Simone began studying the violin at the age of 5 and moved to the UK aged 11 to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School with Professor Hu Kun. At the age of 14 Simone made her professional solo debut with the North Netherlands Orchestra performing Paganini’s 1st Violin Concerto, her debut highly praised by the press. She continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Professor Hu Kun and Professor Maurice Hasson, where she graduated aged 19 with first class honours and several prestigious awards. In 2011, she was made an Associate of the RAM, an honour given to those students who have made significant and distinguished contributions to their field. Simone currently lives in The Netherlands.

Simone plays the "Mlynarski" Stradivarius (1718), on generous loan to her by an anonymous benefactor.

Composer(s)

Sofia Gubaidulina

Dmitri Shostakovich

Press

Two stunning Concertos which shine in an outstanding way within the hands of Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma....[Shostakovich] Lamsma is gentle, subtle, with a very fine tone... [Gubaidulina] The work is among the very best of XXIst Century and Lamsma is really extraordinary.
Scherzo, 02-1-2018

The performances by the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by James Gaffigan and Reinbert de Leeuw are enhanced by Simone Lamsma's sharp and pregnant tone
Amadeus Magazine , 01-12-2017

Want List 2017 Fanfare Magazine – Robert Maxham “A reading by Simone Lamsma of Shostakovich’s First Concerto that should set a standard for the next several generations in the way David Oistrakh’s did for the last several.
Fanfare Magazine, 27-11-2017

For her pairing of striking performances of striking concertos by two generations of Russian composers, Lamsma deserves an especially high commendation." "The opening of the Passacaglia possesses overwhelming, if not crushing, weight in this reading, and Lamsma enters with a subtly nuanced statement over the bass that almost makes Oistrakh's sound bland by comparison. As she reaches climax after climax, the orchestra growls beneath her with a menace far greater than in Oistrakh's early Russian or American recordings.
Fanfare Magazine, 24-11-2017

For decades, reviewers have been suggesting that this or that violinist (beginning with Perlman) had somehow surpassed Oistrakh's accomplishment; many listeners will now, I believe, judge that Lamsma finally has. Overwhelming.
Fanfare Magazine, 24-11-2017

Sound 9 (Live recording for Gubaidulina) - Booklet 8 - Directory 10 -Interpretation 10 Simone Lamsma is equal to the height of the work, music to discover
Crescendo, 30-10-2017

Rating: Performance: five stars Sound: five stars The Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma demonstrates in both works an inspiring empathy with the music and its driving forces. There is a fabulous finesse and power to her technique, which is always placed at the service of these overwhelming emotions: without overstating the latter or indulging in histrionics or forcedness, she is faithful to the composers and lets serious, spiritual expression shine out.
Primephonic, 30-10-2017

BEAUTY IN THE CHAOS” “Simone Lamsma navigates Shostakovich’s complex scores with an intensely moving performance.” “The rich soundscape on this recording reflects Lamsma’s intense, emotionally driven energy.
Strings Magazine, 01-10-2017

Lamsma's performance is never more than convemionally 'expressive'.
BBC Music Magazine, 22-9-2017

This is a unique coupling from a young Dutch violinist
Gramophone, 08-9-2017

It’s an impressive performance of the Shostakovich, a deeply personal work written a few years after the end of the Second World War...
Wholenote, 01-9-2017

In professional circles highly praised, the 31 year old Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma at least in Germany, what's their degree of popularity, is not ventured so far still in the first series.
Das Orchestor, 01-9-2017

A CD that should not only inspire lovers of violin music.
Svensopernparadies, 29-8-2017

This is already the third recording of a fervent and gripping work, and Simone Lamsma is a more than worthy successor to Mutter
The Strad, 03-8-2017

Simone Lamsma is guilty of nothing, plays Gubaidulina's piece with a sonority, which at the same time light permeable remains for the gentle gleam in this piece of the mystic composer Gubaidulina.
Fono Forum, 01-7-2017

5 ***** Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto and Gubaidulina Second form a remarkable program for a recording. Both works get exquisite and captivating accounts from the young Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma.
Pizzicato, 31-5-2017

"The Magic Violin[…] Yes, it would be difficult to deny, “In Tempus Praesens” is one of the great monuments of the modern violin, and one can only welcome the interpretation given here by the Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma, rightly considered today as one of the most gifted of her generation. She literally embodies the sublime music of Sofia Goubaidulina…[..]” Sound 10 - Booklet 7 - Repertoire 9 - Interpretation 10
Crescendo, 29-5-2017

I'm not chauvinist and don't hesitate to say that Lamsma absolutely the best performance so far with this dramatic and ecstatic piece full of Christian symbolism. You need to hear this.
Klassieke zaken, 26-5-2017

Impressive, intense and personal
Klassieke zaken, 26-5-2017

The Violin Channel recently caught up with Dutch violin virtuoso Simone Lamsma
The Violin Channel, 18-5-2017

Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma stole the show with a revelatory account of Shostakovich’s Violin concerto no. 1
Bachtrack, 14-5-2017

A stunningly mature and powerful performance that goes deeply and subtly into two very complex works.
Gramophone, 28-4-2017

I hope the music on this disc will speak to people and will move them in some way. All I can do is bring out what is inside of me, and with that choose the music that I feel is worthy of being heard. I want to share that passion.
Luister, 14-4-2017

The coloration to a pale and small tone in the heart of the first movement is oppressive. The Scherzo is demonic, the following Passacaglia is especially powerful, and the cadenza that forms the bridge to the Finale, is almost a composition in itself.
De Volkskrant, 14-4-2017

The newspapers praise her emotional intensity and clarity.
De Volkskrant, 25-3-2017

Simone Lamsma (1985) is one of those amazing Dutch violin talents with an established international reputation, no mountain too high for her!
Dagblad van het Noorden, 23-3-2017

... Lamsma enraptures, with a stunning tone ..." "Simone Lamsma (Leeuwarden, 1985) is one of those amazing Dutch violin talents with an established international reputation, for whom no sea is too high.
Het Parool, 18-3-2017

Simone Lamsma to Peter de Grote Festival
Dagblad van het Noorden, 13-3-2017

....I wholeheartedly agree with Jaap van Zweden, whom I’ve heard mention Simone Lamsma as the greatest violinist of our time ....
Opus Klassiek, 10-3-2017

....In her reading Ms Lamsma not only has the required skills & bravura, but is also able to understand and share the emotional aspects with Maestro James Gaffigan..." (about Shotakovich) ".... This is a deeply moving account which has to be heard to be believed... " (about Shotakovich) "...breathtakingly conceived and performed ..." (about Gubaidulina) "...Lamsma gives it a brilliantly extrovert reading, doing full justice to the sense of 'In tempus Praesens' [.....] Phenomenal. Expect applause at the end ... " (about Gubaidulina)
HR Audio, 08-3-2017

.. a violinist with a rich, throaty tone to draw the singing heart out of Shostakovich's first violin concerto...
Washington Post, 02-3-2017

(...) Her playing easily encompassed the wide-ranging techniques required, though her heavily articulated sound occasionally came at the expense of a true legato sound. She was at her best in the five-minute cadenza, drawing in the audience effectively and taking them through a tremendous, exhausting journey (...)
Bachtrack, 17-1-2017