Corigliano Red Violin Concerto. Violin Sonata
How the Red Violin grew and grew, and Bell delivers it with panache
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: John (Paul) Corigliano
Label: Sony BMG
Magazine Review Date: 2/2008
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 60
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: 82876 88060-2

Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, 'Red Violin Concerto' |
John (Paul) Corigliano, Composer
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra John (Paul) Corigliano, Composer Joshua Bell, Violin Marin Alsop, Conductor |
Sonata for Violin and Piano |
John (Paul) Corigliano, Composer
Jeremy Denk, Piano John (Paul) Corigliano, Composer Joshua Bell, Violin |
Author: Peter Dickinson
Corigliano’s score for François Girard’s film The Red Violin (1997) was the starting-point for the latest concerto. Even before the film was finished the composer extracted a Chaconne for violin and orchestra, which eventually became the first movement of the concerto. He felt that a single movement would get lost compared with a full-scale concerto.
And this is exactly what he has delivered – a romantic, dramatic, lyrical four-movement work with luxuriant orchestral textures that benefited from starting life as a film. In his essay in the booklet Corigliano says this context encouraged him to write with fewer inhibitions; things flowed easily, but he has cunningly adapted the work to the concert hall. Even further the Red Violin Concerto is a resourceful vehicle for the eloquence and panache of Joshua Bell, who gave the premiere in 2003. The opening movement now seems long but the ghostly Scherzo is concise and throughout there is a special rapt atmosphere in pianissimo passages.
Bell and Jeremy Denk give a polished performance of the 1963 Violin Sonata that fuses neo-classical and American styles. Ideal performances well recorded.
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