Mozart: Sonatas for fortepiano & violin, Vol. 4 Isabelle Faust & Alexander Melnikov

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791): Violin Sonata in C Major, K. 296:
• 1 Mozart: Violin Sonata in C Major, K. 296: I. Allegro vivace 06:33
• 2 Mozart: Violin Sonata in C Major, K. 296: II. Andante sostenuto 06:10
• 3 Mozart: Violin Sonata in C Major, K. 296: III. Rondo. Allegro 04:24
• Violin Sonata in C Major, K. 303:
• 4 Mozart: Violin Sonata in C Major, K. 303: I. Adagio. Allegro molto. Adagio. Allegro molto 04:55
• 5 Mozart: Violin Sonata in C Major, K. 303: II. Tempo di Menuetto 05:02
• Violin Sonata in E-Flat Major, K. 380:
• 6 Mozart: Violin Sonata in E-Flat Major, K. 380: I. Allegro 06:52
• 7 Mozart: Violin Sonata in E-Flat Major, K. 380: II. Andante con moto 07:00
• 8 Mozart: Violin Sonata in E-Flat Major, K. 380: III. Rondo. Allegro 04:29
• Violin Sonata in E-Flat Major, K. 481:
• 9 Mozart: Violin Sonata in E-Flat Major, K. 481: I. Allegro molto 07:40
• 10 Mozart: Violin Sonata in E-Flat Major, K. 481: II. Adagio 07:57
• 11 Mozart: Violin Sonata in E-Flat Major, K. 481: III. Allegretto 08:19
• Total Runtime 01:09:21

Info for Mozart: Sonatas for fortepiano & violin, Vol. 4

This fourth and last volume devoted to Mozart’s Violin and Piano Sonatas is a virtual journey of initiation, from his light-filled ‘Palatine’ Sonatas to the later, more intense and complex Viennese masterworks, with Mozart completely revitalizing the genre and opening up new aesthetic horizons.

"After many many years of avoiding these Mozart sonatas and after the successful release of my Mozart Concerti discs, Alexander and I finally made the decision that the time was right for us to dive in ... and really concentrate on them ..." Isabelle has told The Violin Channel.

"My hope is the listeners will be able to put these beautiful sonata works in the right historical context ... and really appreciate the fantastic development and innovation of the Baroque sonata ..." she has said.

"Hopefully we've managed to really capture the humor, rhetoric and improvisational aspects of these great works ... each so surprising and truly striking in their beauty."

"Both players on this warmly recorded release respond to the distinctive sound worlds of these three works with performances of great subtlety and flexibility." (BBC Music Magazine)

Isabelle Faust, violin
Alexander Melnikov, fortepiano (after Anton Walter, Vienna 1795)

Isabelle Faust
After early successes at the Leopold Mozart Violin Competition in Augsburg and the Paganini Competition in Genoa, Isabelle Faust soon began performing with renowned orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. She has enjoyed close collaborations with conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, Andris Nelsons, Giovanni Antonini, François-Xavier Roth, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Daniel Harding, Philippe Herreweghe, Jakub Hrusa, Klaus Mäkelä, and Robin Ticciati. Her repertoire encompasses music from all eras, from the works of Biber and Bach to the great Classical-Romantic violin concertos and contemporary compositions. Most recently, she has premiered works by Peter Eötvös, Brett Dean, Ondřej Adámek, and Rune Glerup. Isabelle Faust's numerous recordings, including Bach's solo sonatas and partitas, the violin concertos by Berg and Beethoven with Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic, and violin sonatas by Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms with pianist Alexander Melnikov, have received awards such as the Gramophone Award, the Diapason d'Or, and the Choc de l'année. She is currently Artist in Residence with the SWR Symphony Orchestra.

Alexander Melnikov
graduated from the Moscow Conservatory under Lev Naumov. His most formative musical moments in Moscow include an early encounter with Svjatoslav Richter, who thereafter regularly invited him to festivals in Russia and France. He was awarded important prizes at eminent competitions such as the International Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau (1989) and the Concours Musical Reine Elisabeth in Brussels (1991).

Known for his often-unusual musical and programmatic decisions, Alexander Melnikov developed his career-long interest in historically informed performance practice early on. His major influences in this field include Andreas Staier and Alexei Lubimov. Melnikov performs regularly with distinguished period ensembles including the Freiburger Barockorchester, Musica Aeterna and Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.

As a soloist, Alexander Melnikov has performed with orchestras including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Philadelphia Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, HR-Sinfonieorchester, Munich Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic and BBC Philharmonic, under conductors such as Mikhail Pletnev, Teodor Currentzis, Charles Dutoit, Paavo Järvi and Valery Gergiev.

Together with Andreas Staier, Alexander Melnikov recorded a unique all-Schubert programme of four-hand pieces, which they have also performed in concert. An essential part of Melnikov’s work is intensive chamber music collaboration with partners including cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras.

Alexander Melnikov’s association with the label harmonia mundi arose through his regular recital partner, violinist Isabelle Faust, and in 2010 their complete recording of the Beethoven sonatas for violin and piano won a Gramophone Award. This album, which has become a landmark recording for these works, was also nominated for a Grammy. Their most recent releases feature Brahms and Mozart sonatas for violin and piano.

Melnikov’s recording of the Preludes and Fugues by Shostakovich was awarded the BBC Music Magazine Award, Choc de classica and the Jahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. In 2011, it was also named by the BBC Music Magazine as one of the “50 Greatest Recordings of All Time.” Additionally, his discography features works by Brahms, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich and Scriabin. Along with Isabelle Faust, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Pablo Heras-Casado and the Freiburger Barockorchester, Melnikov recorded a trilogy of albums featuring the Schumann Concertos and Trios (published in 2015-16) and Beethoven’s Triple Concerto (2021). Other releases include a complete recording of Prokofiev’s piano sonatas and “Four Pieces, Four Pianos”, released in 2018 and highly acclaimed by critics.

In the 2021/22 season Alexander Melnikov will tour his project “Many Pianos”, where he performs a solo recital on different instruments reflecting the periods in which the works were written. In addition to concerts with the Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de Sao Paulo, Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Basel Sympony Orchestra he is Artist in Residence at the 2022 Schwetzinger Festspiele.

Further highlights include performances at Muziekgebow Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall London and Konzerthaus Berlin, a concert tour to Japan with Andreas Staier, as well as concerts Isabelle Faust and Jean-Guihen Queyras.

Booklet for Mozart: Sonatas for fortepiano & violin, Vol. 4