Description
The new album from violinist Liza Ferschtman sees the unique coupling of two lyric Concertos: Korngold's Violin Concerto, Op.35 and Bernstein's Serenade after Plato's "Symposium".
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. 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.
Dutch violinist Liza Ferschtman is known for her passionate performances, interesting programmes and communicative qualities on stage. Ferschtman's worldwide appearances include performances with BBC National Orchestra of Wales and London Philharmonic and Dallas and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras. Recent highlights have been the performance of Bach's complete solo works in Amsterdam and a concert tour with the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Ivan Fischer of which The New York Times wrote: "…with Dutch violinist Liza Ferschtman bringing refined beauty and character to the solo part of the Bernstein [Serenade] …the concert was nothing short of revelatory".
Also available
CC72748 Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, Op 64
CC72635 Biber, Bartok, Berio & Bach
CC72542 Duos for Violin & Cello
CC72384 Beethoven: Violin Concertos & Romances
CC72174 Beethoven: Violin Sonata No.10 in G major, Op.96
CC72530 Dvorak: Violin Concerto in A minor
Tour
31 May – Cadogan Hall, London
Bernstein's Serenade w/ Brussels Philharmonic & Stephane Deneve
