Gil Shaham performs:
- 1930’s violin concertos.
I have been a long-term admirer of violinist Gil Shaham. I met him once personally, when he performed at the Aspen Music Festival. Mr. Shaham has a passion about having audiences become more familiar with many of the great violin concertos that were composed between 1931 and 1939. And we are all better for it.
The Track list for this collection is as follows:
- BARBER Violin Concerto, Op.14
- BERG Violin Concerto, The Memory of an Angel
- HARTMAN Concerto funebre
- STRAVINSKY Violin Concerto in D Major
- BRITTEN Violin Concerto in D minor, Op.15
CD1: Shaham’s recording of the Barber Violin Concerto displays his trademark rich sound, as well as the sonorities of urban America. The weeping solo violin in the Berg concerto, harmonized with very poignant 12-tone chords, reveals emotionally charged heart mourning “The Memory of an Angel”.
CD2: Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto is a concerto with which Gil Shaham and conductor David Robertson have performed together countless times. The result is an interpretation which is fresh, light and dancing. Benjamin Britten’s concerto is one of the most challenging to play on this collection, and it is also the most sobering work here, and shows yet another side of Shaham’s musical personality.
Here is Gil Shaham, talking about 1930’s violin concertos:
Finally, here is Gil Shaham in the Stravinsky Violin Concerto – 1st Movement:
