Release Date: 04 January 2003
Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 747313201624
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: VIEUXTEMPS
Description
Henry Vieuxtemps (1820-1881)Violin Concertos Nos. 5 -7The son of a weaver, amateur violinist and violin-maker,Henri Vieuxtemps was born in the Belgian town of Verviers in 1820 and had hisfirst violin lessons at the age of four from his father, followed by study inhis native town with a locally respected teacher. At the age of six he appearedas soloist in a concerto by Rode and after further success at home he embarkedwith his father and teacher on a concert tour of the Low Countries. Asuccessful appearance in Brussels led the violinist Charles de Beriot to offerlessons there and the boy later accompanied his new teacher to Paris, makinghis first concert appearance there in 1829, again in a concerto by Rode. Withthe revolution of the following year and de Beriot's marriage and departure ontour, Vieuxtemps, following his teacher's advice, returned to Brussels, wherehe worked on his own, developing his technique and his musical knowledge andtaste, not least through the duets he played with de Beriot's sister-in-law,Pauline Garcia, later Viardot and mother of the violinist Paul Viardot. A yearyounger than Vieuxtemps, she was a piano pupil of Liszt, although, like hersister, she made her later career as a singer. A concert tour of Germany in 1833 brought friendship withthe violinist-composer Louis Spohr and in Vienna acquaintance with those whohad worked with Beethoven, whose Violin Concerto he performed in Vienna inMarch 1834, after a mere two weeks of study. In Leipzig he was acclaimed bySchumann, who compared the boy to Paganini, whom he met in London in 1834. InParis once more he took composition lessons from Antonin Reicha, who directedhis attention to the composition of concertos, resulting in the Violin Concertoin F sharp minor, Op.19, of 1836, later published as Violin Concerto No. 2(Naxos 8.554114). Vieuxtempsmade his first visit to Russia in 1837, returning there the following year andappearing in concerts, after prolonged recuperation from an illness contractedin the course of the journey. It was in Russia that he wrote the ViolinConcerto No.1 in E major, Op.10I, (Naxos 8.554506). The work was heard there and at home in Brussels, before, in1841, Vieuxtemps introduced it to the public in Paris, winning general criticalacclaim for a work that added a new dimension to the current violin repertoire,which had tended rather towards technically brilliant variations and fantasieson familiar operatic melodies. Concerttours continued in the following years. In 1844 Vieuxtemps was in America,wooing audiences with variations on Yankee Doodle. In Vienna and London heappeared in Beethoven quartets and in concerts there and elsewhere in Europe.In 1846, however, he accepted an invitation to move to St Petersburg as courtviolinist and soloist in the Imperial Theatre. He remained there until 1852 andit was during thi
Tracklisting
Dariia Lytvishko
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop
Alice Di Piazza; Basel Sinfonietta; NDR Bigband; Titus Engel
Anna Alas i Jove; Miquel Villalba
David Childs; Black Dyke Band; Nicholas Childs
Zenz:Cathariou:Iacovidou
Zahir Ensemble
Yun-Yi Qin
