Placido Domingo and Sarah Chang!
This CD presents a set of romantic music, such as the Massenet Méditation, and flashy virtuoso compositions, such as the Sarasate Carmen Fantasy and Zigeunerweisen. Sarah Chang, violin, excels in both areas. Her Dvorák and Beethoven Romances are sweetly performed, while the insanely virtuosic Tzigane by Ravel, with its wild staccato and chordal effects, she tosses off with seemingly the greatest of ease!
While the recording is several years old, the music will be loved for many years to come!
Tracks on this CD are:
1. Concert Fantasy on themes from Bizet’s “Carmen,” for violin & orchestra Op 25 (Bizet)
2. Méditation, violin & orchestra version and various arrangements (from opera “Thäis”)
Composed by Jules Massenet
3. Tzigane, rhapsodie de concert, for violin & piano (or orchestra)
Composed by Maurice Ravel
4. Romance for violin & orchestra in F minor, B. 39 (Op. 11)
Composed by Antonin Dvorak
5. Romance for violin & orchestra No. 2 in F major, Op. 50
Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven
6. Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068 Air
Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach
7. Zigeunerweisen, for violin & piano (or orchestra) (“Gypsy Airs”), Op. 20
Composed by Pablo de Sarasate
My favorite is the last composition, Zigeunerweisen, with its changes in tempo and direction that could easily set many traps for the performers. Sarah Chang brings it all off brilliantly, and Placido Domingo provides a fluid orchestral support that never interferes with his prime purpose in showing off the soloist. Wonderfully done!
Here is a video of Sarah Chang playing Zigeunerweisen in 2008:
If you’d like to purchase this CD at Amazon, please click the image below:
Tags: Placido Domingo, Sarah Chang, Zigeunerweisen, Fire & Ice