Welcome to "For the Record," Violinist.com's weekly roundup of new releases of recordings by violinists, violists, cellists and other classical musicians. We hope it helps you keep track of your favorite artists, as well as find some new ones to add to your listening!
The Snow Queen
Orchestra Next
Kenji Bunch, composer
Disney took a lot of liberties in "Frozen," its retelling of the Hans Christian Anderson tale, "The Snow Queen," but the Eugene Ballet Company aimed to stay true to the story when it created its own ballet, which was premiered in April of this year. This is a recording of the original, 100-minute score by Portland composer and violist Kenji Bunch. In Anderson's story, childhood friends Gerda, a girl, and Kay, a boy, are separated when Kay is blinded to the good of the world by shards of a frozen mirror made by Satan. Kay is taken to the Ice Palace of the Snow Queen, and with help from various other characters, Gerda rescues him there. "Helping to tell this hauntingly beautiful but entirely wordless story for close to two hours was, simply put, the largest undertaking of my career to date, by a longshot," Bunch said.Tweet
Enter to win a CD of Rachel Barton Pine's newest album, Bel Canto Paganini: 24 Caprices and other works. It includes Nicolò Paganini's 24 Caprices as well as his "Duet for One," Op. 6; "Caprice d'adieu" Op. 68; and a work by Rachel Barton Pine called "Introduction, Theme and Variations on "God Defend New Zealand," inspired by Paganini. Enter now! (Ad)
Chances are, if you are looking at the modern sheet music version of a piece by Ludwig van Beethoven, you are not seeing the whole story.
That's because Beethoven had an enhanced system of musical notation that was far more detailed than what we see in a typical score today.
"His attention to detail is inspiring, meaningful ad worth paying attention to," said violinist Nicholas Kitchen in a lecture he gave at the 2017 Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at The Juilliard School called, "From the Hand of Beethoven: a new world of expressive marks from the manuscripts."
Kitchen is a founding member and first violinist of the Borromeo String Quartet and teaches at the New England Conservatory of Music. He began to notice -- and then unravel -- the mystery of Beethoven's system of extended markings when he gained the ability to read directly from Beethoven's manuscripts. Keep reading...
Comments (8)
In an effort to promote the coverage of live violin performance, Violinist.com each week presents links to reviews of notable concerts and recitals around the world.
Gil Shaham performed the Beethoven with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
Joshua Bell performed Lalo's "Symphonie espagnole" with the San Francisco Symphony.
Violinist.com is made possible by...
Anderson Musical Instrument Insurance
Enter to win a CD of Rachel Barton Pine's newest album
