Strauss & Shostakovich: Sonatas for Violin & Piano Franziska Pietsch & Josu de Solaun

• Richard Strauss (1864 - 1949): Sonata for Violin & Piano in E-Flat Major, Op. 18:
• 1 I. Allegro, ma non Troppo 12:35
• 2 II. Improvisation. Andante Cantabile 08:58
• 3 III. Finale. Andante - Allegro 08:30
• Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 - 1975): Sonata for Violin & Piano, Op. 134:
• 4 I. Andante 11:52
• 5 II. Allegretto 06:41
• 6 III. Largo - Andante 15:23
• Total Runtime 01:03:59

Info for Strauss & Shostakovich: Sonatas for Violin & Piano

The electrifying duo debut recording of violinist Franziska Pietsch and pianist Josu De Solaun features two masterpieces: the violin sonatas by Richard Strauss and Dmitri Shostakovich.

Since 2017, Pietsch and De Solaun have forged a remarkable partnership, each balancing and complimenting the other's musical temperaments and sensibilities.

Franziska Pietsch, who caused a sensation among other things with her solo recital recording last year, led several prestigious orchestras in Germany and Luxembourg as concertmaster before she continued her career as a soloist and chamber musician. The Spanish pianist Josu De Solaun, winner of the renowned competitions Enescu and Iturbi, has performed with orchestras and in recitals throughout the world. Next to his solo career he is a passionate chamber musician.

Together, these two artists breathe new life into two powerful compositions, presenting a complex, passionate, and emotional portrait of human existence.

The present recording is the start of several upcoming duo recording projects. In addition, Josu De Solaun will present his first solo recording on audite with works by Janáček, Novák, and Suk. More solo recordings are being planned.

Franziska Pietsch, violin
Josu de Solaun, piano

Franziska Pietsch
was raised in the atmosphere of a musicians’ household in East-Berlin. As an eleven-year old girl, she had her debut at the Komische Oper in Berlin and performed as a soloist with renowned orchestras of the former DDR. She began her studies as a junior student at the University for Music Hanns Eisler in East-Berlin with Prof. W. Scholz. In Eastern Germany, she was seen as an extraordinary talent and enjoyed special support from the state up until her Father’s escape to West Germany in 1984. Two difficult years with reprisals by the regime followed. She was able to emigrate to West Germany with her mother and younger sister in 1986 when she was 16.

Her studies continued with Prof. Ulf Hoelscher, Prof. Jens Ellermann and Dorothy Delay at the Julliard School New York. She got important and fruitful impulses from master classes with well-known personalities such as W. Wilkomirska, R. Ricci, H. Krebbers, and Z. Bron.

Franziska Pietsch is a first prize winner of the Bach-Competition for children and adolescents in Leipzig (1982) and the Concours Maria Canals in Barcelona (1989). She received awards like the Parke-Davis scholarship (1987) as well as the award of the Brahms Gesellschaft Baden-Baden (1989). She was a scholarship holder of the German Music Council in 1990.

Her internationally successful concert activities lead her to different countries in Europe, to America and Asia. She performed with conductors like Antoni Wit, Arpad Joo, Moshe Atzmon, Julia Jones, Toshiyuki Kamioka, and George Hanson. As a concert master, she was invited to perform at numerous music festivals.She was the first concert master of the symphonic orchestra of Wuppertal in the years 1998 to 2002, and Deuxième concert master at the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg. Regular invitations as concert master lead her to Düsseldorf Opera, Frankfurt Opera, WDR Köln and Solistes Europèens Luxembourg.

However, she is particularly interested in chamber music. She is a welcome guest at chamber music festivals (Schleswig Holstein Festival, Aspen music Festival). Her chamber music partners are, amongst others, Maki Hayashida, Detlev Eisinger, Thomas Duis, Andra Darzins, Hariolf Schlichtig, and Martin Spangenberg. She founded Trio Testore in 2000 together with the pianist Hyun Jung Kim-Schweiker and the cellist Hans-Christian Schweiker. She was a part of the Trio until 2015. Besides vigorous concert activity, the Trio created the chamber music festival “Mai-Klassik” to commemorate the Trio’s ten-year anniversary.

The complete recording of all Brahms trios (2013) and another recording with works by Rachmaninov and Tschaikowsky (2014) were released on the label Audite. The latter was nominated for the International Classic Music Award 2015. Together with the violist Sophia Reuter and the cellist Johannes Krebs, the Trio Lirico was founded in 2014. Their intense collaboration with the label Audite led to further successful CD productions. Together with the pianist Detlev Eisinger, all sonatas by E. Grieg were released in 2015, while the sonatas and Five Melodies by S. Prokofiev were released in 2016.

Booklet for Strauss & Shostakovich: Sonatas for Violin & Piano