Into Madness Tassilo Probst & Maxim Lando

• Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945): Sonata for violin and piano in E Minor, op. posth.:
• 1 Bartók: Sonata for violin and piano in E Minor, op. posth.: I . Allegro moderato (molto rubato) 09:56
• 2 Bartók: Sonata for violin and piano in E Minor, op. posth.: II. Andante 10:52
• 3 Bartók: Sonata for violin and piano in E Minor, op. posth.: III. Vivace 08:53
• George Enescu (1881 - 1955): Sonata for violin and piano, no. 3 in A Minor, Op. 25:
• 4 Enescu: Sonata for violin and piano, no. 3 in A Minor, Op. 25: I. Moderato malinconico 09:32
• 5 Enescu: Sonata for violin and piano, no. 3 in A Minor, Op. 25: II. Andante sostenuto e misterioso 08:07
• 6 Enescu: Sonata for violin and piano, no. 3 in A Minor, Op. 25: III. Allegro con brio, ma non troppo mosso 07:49
• Joseph Achron (1886 - 1943): Sonata for Violin and Piano, No. 2, Op. 45:
• 7 Achron: Sonata for Violin and Piano, No. 2, Op. 45: I. Giocondo 11:50
• 8 Achron: Sonata for Violin and Piano, No. 2, Op. 45: II. Misterioso e fantastico 06:59
• 9 Achron: Sonata for Violin and Piano, No. 2, Op. 45: III. Burla (Allegro) 03:41
• 10 Achron: Sonata for Violin and Piano, No. 2, Op. 45: IV. Focoso 07:43
• Total Runtime 01:25:22

Info for Into Madness

“Into Madness”: Newcomer Tassilo Probst, joined by duo partner Maxim Lando, is releasing his first album. The young violinist is tackling truly virtuosic repertoire, presenting three sonatas for violin and piano by Béla Bartók, George Enescu and Joseph Achron – the last of these being a world premiere recording. The double album will be released on August 19 by Berlin Classics in collaboration with Bayrischer Rundfunk.

“I love all kinds of music, including Beethoven and Brahms sonatas of course. But for my first recording, I wanted to play unknown sonatas and lay down a real ‘statement’ in the process!” explains Probst in an interview with Malte Hemmerich. The young musician has already made a name for himself on the classical scene. “Tassilo is an exceptional violinist and musician, with a strong will, unique sound and impressive mastery of the instrument,” reports Daniel Hope, who has played host to both Tassilo Probst and Maxim Lando a number of times.

The first work to be heard is Bartók’s Sonata for Violin and Piano in E minor. It is one of the composer’s early works, standing out for its lyrically Romantic harmonies and melodies and so revealing sounds that are somewhat untypical of its composer and strike entirely new tones.

Probst feels as much at home with virtuoso material as with the lyrical repertoire and provides convincing proof of these abilities on “Into Madness”. “In the virtuoso passages, if you like, you can just let it rip, which is a whole lot of fun. People have often told me,” he admits, “that I’m sometimes quite a show-off.”

The Romanian folk atmosphere of Enescu’s Sonata for Violin and Piano in A minor caught the violinist’s fancy as soon as he discovered it on his search for a work for the Enescu competition in which, as the youngest finalist, he won a third place. The interplay between piano and violin was particularly demanding both technically and in its rhythms. The two musicians like making music together and in any case they are good friends. The American pianist Maxim Lando, another very young artist, regularly appears on stage with colleagues like Lang Lang, Daniel Hope or Chick Corea. “There are no limits to the passion, pain, drama, nature, silence, longing, rage and humour that are evoked by this music. In a word: Madness,” comments Lando on their choice of album title.

Enescu’s work was the starting point that led to the never-before-recorded sonata by the Lithuanian-American composer. “This sonata is fantastic musically, but also complete lunacy in places. It’s actually when you’re young and wild that you can make brilliant sense of that sort of thing and just yield to the craziness. This is a sonata where you can see that the CD title ‘Into Madness’ really fits. So: a crazy piece. And I’m a crazy guy and I know Maxim is at least as crazy as I am.” In answer to Hemmerich’s question of whether he is really capable of laying down a benchmark in a premiere recording at such a young age, Probst confesses: “I know it’s a big responsibility when you’re the first to record a great sonata that hopefully will later be recorded and performed more often. But that’s the thill of it for me. You feel as if you’re digging for gold! And this sonata is like your gold nugget.”

Tassilo Probst, violin
Maxim Lando, piano

Tassilo Probst
was born in July 2002 in Munich into a family interested in music. At the age of 16 he completed his school education with the Abitur.

At the age of 14, he made his debut with the Bad Reichenhall Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of General Music Director Christian Simonis with the Glasunov Violin Concerto and was subsequently invited several times by the orchestra for further projects as a soloist. At the age of just 16, he played Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residence as well as in the series „Young Stars in Fürstenfeld“ with the New Philharmonic Orchestra Munich under the direction of Fuad Ibrahimov.

He was a guest at „Hope@9pm-Musik und Talk“ at the Konzerthaus Berlin, at BR Klassik in „Radio Salon“ and in „U 20 – Classic and more“ as well as in various festivals, such as „Stars & Rising Stars Munich“, the „MIECZYSŁAW WEINBERG-FESTIVAL“ Munich, the Residenzfestspiele Darmstadt and many more.

In 2020 BR Klassik and München TV presented him as a young artist. In December 2020 he was presented by Daniel Hope in his program „Hope@Home next Generation“ which was broadcast by Arte TV as „next Generation“ in Berlin.

As a soloist he has already performed with renowned orchestras such as the Georg Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Jena Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestra of the City of Trier, the Bergische Symphoniker, the Bach Collegium Munich, the Göttingen Symphony Orchestra, the Bad Reichenhaller Philharmonic Orchestra, the Southwest German Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bavarian Philharmonic Orchestra and many others.

He is also an enthusiastic chamber musician. His chamber music partners include Danjulo Ishizaka, Daniel Müller-Schott, Alban Gerhardt, Guido Schiefen, Kit Armstrong, as well as the young pianists Maxim Lando (USA), Amadeus Wiesensee and many others.

For many years Tassilo played very successfully at the children’s concerts of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Heinrich Klug, 2014 „Haydn Fun“, 2015 „Mozart & Ravel“, 2016 Vivaldi „The Four Seasons“, 2017 „Peter and the Wolf“, both as soloist and in the orchestra. Furthermore, in 2014/2015/2016/2017 he was a member of the vbw Festival Orchestra Bad Wörishofen under the direction of Prof. C. Adt.

Tassilo performed as a soloist in his younger years at Schloss Schleißheim and at the Münchener Golfclub e.V. for the Lions Club as well as in many other charity concerts. Furthermore, he performed at a very young age, among others, together with his brother and father at St. Peter’s Square in Rome at an audience of Pope Benedict XVI as well as at the Pantheon. ...

This album contains no booklet.