Vilde Frang plays Mozart.
I spent some time yesterday in listening to Norwegian-born violinist Vilde Frang. Man, that was exciting! I always enjoy experiencing a young person’s musicianship, confidence, and the passion for one’s craft.
Violinist Vilde Frang was born in 1986, and she has established herself as one of the promising violinists of our time. Since her appearance with Mariss Jansons and the Oslo Philharmonic when she was twelve years old, her career has developed organically and on her own terms.
In 2012, Ms. Frang was chosen to receive the Credit Suisse Young Artist Award, which sponsored her debut with the Vienna Philharmonic under Bernard Haitink at the 2012 Lucerne Summer Music Festival.
On this CD, we hear her in the following program:
Mozart:
- Violin Concerto No. 1 in B flat major K207; Cadenza: Jonathan Cohen
- Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, K219 ‘Turkish’; Cadenza: Joachim
- Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola & Orchestra in E flat major, K364, with Maxim Rysanov (viola).
Performed by Vilde Frang, violin, with the Arcangelo Chamber Orchestra, Jonathan Cohen conducting.
Mozart was an accomplished violinist. At age 13, he was appointed honorary concertmaster of the Salzburg Court Orchestra. His first violin concerto, K207, was composed in 1773, and it is filled with brilliant passage – work and with generally high spirits.
By the time he composed the fifth and last concerto, Mozart had created a work still clearly within the Classical concerto tradition yet, in terms of both length and technical demands, approaching the instrumental concertos of the century to come.
Mozart composed his ‘Sinfonia Concertante’ for violin and viola in 1779; The eminent musicologist Alfred Einstein called it Mozart’s “crowning achievement in the field of the violin concerto”.
This CD is scheduled for release on 23 February 2015.
While this recording is of two concertos and the Sinfonia Concertante, I have a real treat for you:
Here is a video of Vilde Frang in a wonderful recital of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Sonata for Violin and piano in F-major, KV 377, and also music by Faure (Sonata Op. 13) and Brahms.
The excellent pianist is Michail Lifits. This is really fine and passionate playing!
An outstanding Andante with Variations begins at 05:20, and then there’s much more to enjoy–
And next, here is one of the Mozart works on this CD: Mozart’s Violin Concerto #5 in A – Major; it is a fresh, direct, and totally sparking performance by Ms. Frang.
Tags: Violinist Vilde Frang, Mozart, violin concerto Sinfonia Concertante, Arcangelo Chamber Orchestra, Jonathan Cohen