Beethoven, Vasks Fanny Clamagirand, English Chamber Orchestra & Ken-David Masur

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827): Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61:
• 1Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61: I. Allegro ma non troppo24:46
• 2Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61: II. Larghetto08:07
• 3Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61: III. Rondo. Allegro09:43
• Peteris Vasks (b. 1946): Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra:
• 4Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra: I. Andante - meno mosso ma molto espressivo - Adagio - Cadenza I – Cantabile11:14
• 5Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra: II. Mosso - Cadenza II - con brio03:58
• 6Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra: III. Cantabile - più mosso - a tempo03:00
• 7Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra: IV. Agitato - Cadenza III - Tempo di Valse04:59
• 8Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra: V. Andante - meno mosso ma molto espressivo - Andante - Tempo di Valse lento07:21
• Total Runtime01:13:08

Info zu Beethoven, Vasks

Beethoven’s only completed violin concerto, composed in 1806, was intended for the virtuoso Franz Clement, Konzertmeister of the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, whom he had met in 1794. With a playing style that combined power and tenderness, Clement was regarded as one of the finest violinists of his time. At the first performance of the concerto on 23 December 1806, the soloist enjoyed great success; but it would seem that he owed this chiefly to his personal pyrotechnics (a sonata of his own composition for violin held upside down and played on a single string, which he apparently inserted between the first two movements).

The work itself disconcerted its first listeners. In particular, the orchestra was thought to be too prominent. It is true that it does more than merely flatter the soloist. The two partners are intertwined, an extension of each other; the soloist appears to emanate from the orchestra, to be its emissary, sent to conquer spheres of light which the orchestral mass cannot reach. In the years following the premiere, performances could be counted on the fingers of one hand. In 1844, the young Hungarian prodigy József (Joseph) Joachim gave it in London under the direction of Felix Mendelssohn; with such ambassadors, the work finally achieved success. ...

Fanny Clamagirand, violin
English Chamber Orchestra
Ken-David Masur, conductor

Fanny Clamagirand
has been established on the international stage for a number of years as violinist of great distinction. Her elegant and brilliant playing and her interpretations combining sensitivity and authority have regularly earned her critical acclaim. Her talent and commitment have been supported by many foundations and by such noted personalities as Anne-Sophie Mutter.

Fanny started playing the violin when she was seven years old, and studied with Larissa Kolos before entering Jean-Jacques Kantorow’s postgraduate course (Cycle de perfectionnement) at the Paris Conservatoire at the age of sixteen. This was followed by study with Itzhak Rashkovsky at the Royal College of Music in London, where she obtained her Artist Diploma in 2004. She subsequently received guidance from Pavel Vernikov at the Wiener Konservatorium and at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole. During this time she also took part in many masterclasses.

Since winning prestigious awards and prizes, including the Rainier III Prize at the Monte Carlo Violin Masters in 2007 and First Prize in the Fritz Kreisler Competition in Vienna in 2005, she has built her career on appearances in the most prestigious international concert halls and festivals. Among the former are Wigmore Hall in London, the Berlin Konzerthaus, the Vienna Konzerthaus, KKL Luzern, Toppan Hall in Tokyo, Taipei National Concert Hall, the Tel Aviv Opera House, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Salle Gaveau and Auditorium du Louvre in Paris. Her festival engagements include Saint-Denis, Verbier, Lucerne, Menuhin Gstaad, Colmar, La Folle Journée in Nantes, Bilbao and Tokyo, St Petersburg Palaces, the West Cork Chamber Music Festival and the Chelsea Music Festival in New York. She has also appeared with the Società dei Concerti di Milano.

She performs as a soloist with such leading orchestras as the Wiener Philharmoniker, Wiener Symphoniker, Münchner Symphoniker, London Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Malmö Symphony, Danish Radio Symphony, National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, Jerusalem Symphony, Wiener KammerOrchester, Sinfonia Varsovia, Orchestre d’Auvergne and the Orchestre Français des Jeunes, alongside conductors and soloists including Dennis Russell Davies, Franz Welser-Möst, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Tughan Sokhiev, Alain Altinoglu, John Axelrod, David Reiland, Gidon Kremer, Antoine Tamestit, Maxim Rysanov, Khatia Buniatishvili, Adam Laloum, Nicholas Angelich, Matan Porat, David Bismuth, Xavier Phillips, Raphaël Sévère and Jonathan Biss.

Fanny Clamagirand is a regular guest on radio and television in France and abroad. Her concerts are often broadcast live on France Musique and Radio Classique.

Her discography, including Ysaÿe’s six solo sonatas (Nascor, 2007), the three violin concertos of Saint-Saëns (Naxos, 2010 – winner of a ‘Choc de Classica’) and the same composer’s complete chamber music for violin and piano (Naxos, 2013), has received high praise and distinctions from the musical press. In 2019 Solstice released (as part of the album ‘Visio’) her recording of the Violin Concerto Missing by Édith Canat de Chizy, of which she gave the world premiere with the Orchestre National de France under the direction of John Storgårds.

Fanny Clamagirand plays a violin by Matteo Goffriller, made in Venice in 1700.

Ken-David Masur
who has been hailed as ‘fearless, bold, and a life-force’ (San Diego Union-Tribune) and ‘a brilliant and commanding conductor with unmistakable charisma’ (Leipziger Volkszeitung), was recently appointed Music Director of the Milwaukee Symphony. In recent seasons, he has conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, Detroit Symphony, the National Philharmonic of Russia, the Orchestre National de France, the Yomiuri Nippon, Munich and Stavanger symphony orchestras, and numerous weeks with the Boston Symphony, where he was Associate Conductor for five seasons. He has also just been named Principal Conductor of the Chicago Civic Orchestra.

Ken-David Masur and his wife, pianist Melinda Lee Masur, are founders and Artistic Directors of the Chelsea Music Festival in New York City, now in its tenth season.

The English Chamber Orchestra
is one of the world’s leading chamber orchestras. Since its establishment in 1960, the ECO has performed in more countries than any other orchestra and played with the world’s greatest musicians. With a discography of over 1,500 works, it is the most recorded chamber orchestra in the world.

The ECO’s illustrious history features many major musical figures, including Benjamin Britten who was the orchestra’s first Patron and a significant musical influence. The orchestra has had long relationships with such great musicians as Mstislav Rostropovich and Pinchas Zukerman, and earlier in its history with Daniel Barenboim. This led to an acclaimed complete cycle of Mozart piano concertos as live performances and recordings, followed later by two further recordings of the complete cycle, with Murray Perahia and Mitsuko Uchida. The orchestra’s film and TV work includes recording Dario Marianelli’s prizewinning scores for Atonement and Pride and Prejudice and several James Bond soundtracks. Under the patronage of HRH The Prince of Wales, the ECO has performed at many royal events, including the first concert ever to be broadcast from Buckingham Palace. The ECO continues to build upon its tradition of maintaining the highest international musical standards, nurturing new talent and focusing on the ‘best of British’ music and musicianship, as well as being the chamber orchestra of choice for many of the world’s greatest soloists.

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