Fritz Kreisler’s Heirs Benjamin Schmid, Ekaterina Frolova, Daniel Auner, Christian Altenburger, Leonhard Baumgartner, Andrea Linsbauer

• Fritz Kreisler (1875 - 1962): Schön Rosmarin:
• 1 Kreisler: Schön Rosmarin 01:50
• Liebesfreud:
• 2 Kreisler: Liebesfreud 03:02
• Variations on a Theme by Corelli in the Style of Tartini:
• 3 Kreisler: Variations on a Theme by Corelli in the Style of Tartini 03:32
• Praeludium and Allegro in the Style of Pugnani:
• 4 Kreisler: Praeludium and Allegro in the Style of Pugnani 05:38
• Serenade espagnole (Cécile Chaminade):
• 5 Kreisler: Serenade espagnole (Cécile Chaminade) 02:17
• Tango (Isaac Albéniz):
• 6 Kreisler: Tango (Isaac Albéniz) 02:11
• Melodie (Christoph Willibald Gluck):
• 7 Kreisler: Melodie (Christoph Willibald Gluck) 02:11
• Frasquita-Serenade (Franz Lehár):
• 8 Kreisler: Frasquita-Serenade (Franz Lehár) 02:15
• Caprice Viennois:
• 9 Kreisler: Caprice Viennois 03:56
• Rondino (Ludwig van Beethoven):
• 10 Kreisler: Rondino (Ludwig van Beethoven) 02:25
• Liebesleid:
• 11 Kreisler: Liebesleid 03:24
• Songs My Mother Taught Me (Antonín Dvořák):
• 12 Kreisler: Songs My Mother Taught Me (Antonín Dvořák) 03:17
• Midnight Bells (Richard Heuberger):
• 13 Kreisler: Midnight Bells (Richard Heuberger) 03:12
• Negro Spiritual Melody (Antonín Dvořák):
• 14 Kreisler: Negro Spiritual Melody (Antonín Dvořák) 04:19
• La Gitana:
• 15 Kreisler: La Gitana 03:08
• Marche miniature viennoise:
• 16 Kreisler: Marche miniature viennoise 03:04
• Syncopation:
• 17 Kreisler: Syncopation 01:53
• Total Runtime 51:34

Info for Fritz Kreisler’s Heirs

It is no exaggeration to call Fritz Kreisler (1875–1962) one of the two or three most significant Austrian violinists in music history. Decades after his passing, his name remains a vibrant touchstone for music lovers worldwide. Viennese pianist Andrea Linsbauer, who has long immersed herself in Kreisler’s enduring legacy, now unveils a singular project with the album “Fritz Kreisler’s Heirs”. Here, she gathers five of Austria’s most celebrated violin virtuosos today—Benjamin Schmid, Ekaterina Frolova, Leonhard Baumgartner, Christian Altenburger and Daniel Auner to offer their deeply personal interpretations of Kreisler’s miniature masterworks. That these artists have been Andrea Linsbauer’s recurring duo partners for years is evident in every note: each performance resonates with the intimacy of shared musical dialogue, honoring Kreisler’s own spirit of reinvention.

Christian Altenburger, violin
Daniel Auner, violin
Leonhard Baumgartner, violin
Ekaterina Frolova, violin
Benjamin Schmid, violin
Andrea Linsbauer, piano

Benjamin Schmid
A truly multifaceted and most versatile of today’s violinists, Viennese-born violinist Benjamin Schmid is renowned for his extraordinarily broad artistic range. In addition to over 75 concertos in his repertoire, he champions works by composers such as Hartmann, Gulda, Korngold, Muthspiel, Szymanowski, Wolf-Ferrari, Lutoslawski and Reger. Schmid also has a successful career in jazz and regularly presents his Hommage à Grappelli programme at jazz venues and classical concert halls alike.

Artistic Director of the Musica Vitae Chamber Orchestra in Sweden from 2020 until 2024, Benjamin Schmid now continues his successful artistic work in diverse play/​direct projects with the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester. Further highlights of the 2024/25 season include appearances with Wuppertaler Sinfonieorchester, Zagreb Philharmonic, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano and Gothenburg Opera Orchestra amongst many others.

Benjamin Schmid has a close relationship with Wiener Philharmoniker and their notable collaborations include the opening concert of the Salzburger Festspiele as well as performances at Vienna Musikverein and, in 2011, at Schloss Schönbrunn with the Paganini-Kreisler Concerto under the baton of Valery Gergiev, which was broadcast in over 60 countries and released on CD and DVD by Deutsche Grammophon.

Ekaterina Frolova
Born in St. Petersburg. Studied with Antonina Kazarina at the Conservatory in her hometown. Studied with Michael Frischenschlager at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and with Pavel Vernikov at the Vienna Conservatory. Master classes were held with Zakhar Bron, Wolfgang Marschner, Pavel Vernikov, and Igor Oistrakh. Prizes were won at the International Louis Spohr Competition for Young Violinists in Weimar (1998), the Premium Yuri Temirkanov in St. Petersburg (1999), the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (2002), the Ludwig Spohr Violin Competition in Freiburg im Breisgau (2003), the Fritz Kreisler Competition in Vienna (2010), and the Concorso Internazionale "Valsesia Musica" in Italy (2011). He has performed with orchestras in China, Russia, Germany, Finland, Slovenia, and Switzerland. He has collaborated with conductors such as Vladimir Fedoseyev, Yuri Temirkanov, and Saulius Sondeckis. Invitations to the Usedom Music Festival, the Kissinger Sommer, the Gergiev Festival in Rotterdam, and the International Orpheum Music Festival for the Promotion of Young Soloists in Zurich. Regular chamber concerts with pianist Vesselin Stanev. Ekaterina Frolova plays an instrument by Nicola Gagliano from 1755.

Daniel Auner
was born in Vienna in 1987 and studied at the University of Music in his hometown and with Igor Ozim at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Master classes with Friedemann Eichhorn, Midori Goto and Rainer Kussmaul have supplemented his training.

Daniel Auner is the winner of several national and international violin competitions, among them the Johannes Brahms International Competition in 2007 and Violin in Dresden in 2008. In addition to his appearances as a soloist, chamber music has become an important aspect of his artistic work. Daniel Auner not only plays in a fixed formation, the Vienna Mozart-Trio, he is also often invited to international Chambermusic Festivals like the Moritzburg Festival or the Schwäbischer Frühling . Artists he has worked together with as a soloist or chamber musician include Dennis Russel Davies, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Markus Landerer, Patrick Demenga, Jan Vogler, Reinhard Latzko, Christian Altenburger, Melvyn Tan, Thomas Selditz, Avri Levitan and Christoph Schiller. Tours as a soloist or chamber musician have taken him to the UK, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Hungary, France, and many countries in south-east Asia. In February 2009, at the invitation of the German radio and television station MDR, he recorded his debut CD, presenting a wide range of repertoire from Eugène Ysaÿe to Fritz Kreisler. In November 2010 he won the "Gradus ad Parnassum" Competition in Vienna and played Alban Bergs Violin Concerto together with the Tonkünstler Orchestra in the Viennese Konzerthaus.

Daniel Auner plays a Violin build by Hieronymus Amati and Johann Christoph Leidolff 1709 in Cremona and Vienna. Since 2011 he is supported by "Thomastik Infeld, Vienna"

Christian Altenburger
studied at the University of Music in his hometown of Vienna and with Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School in New York.

At 19, he made his debut as a soloist at the Vienna Musikverein. This was soon followed by engagements with top international orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouworchester Amsterdam, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra under Claudio Abbado, Dennis Russel Davies, Christoph von Dohnányi, Bernard Haitink, James Levine, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Václáv Neumann, Sir Roger Norrington, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Franz Welser- Möst and others.

In addition to his appearances as a soloist, chamber music has become an important aspect of his artistic work. His chamber music partners include; Bruno Canino, Patrick Demenga, Heinz Holliger, Nobuko Imai, Kim Kashkashian, Reinhard Latzko, Michele Lethiec, Melvyn Tan, Lars Anders Tomter and Lars Vogt.

Since 2003, Christian Altenburger has been Artistic Director of the Schwäbische Frühling Music Festival whose architecturally attractive concert venues in southern Germany offer an ideal ambiance for chamber music as well as Symphony Orchestra concerts.

In 2006 Altenburger became Artistic Director of the Loisiarte Festival in Langenlois, Austria. The festival takes place in the extraordinary surroundings of the Loisium designed by architect Steven Holl. Altenburger’s strong advocacy for the performance of contemporary music has resulted in premiers and recordings of composers such as Theodor Berger, Bert Breit, Gottfried von Einem, Wilhelm Killmayer, Thomas Larcher, Witold Lutoslawski, Werner Pirchner and Kurt Schwertsik.

For many years, Christian Altenburger held a professorship at the Hannover University of Music. In 2001, he was appointed a professorship at the Vienna University of Music.

Leonhard Baumgartner
born in 2007 in Vienna, made his debut performance with Wiener Symphoniker at the age of fifteen. He has since appeared as a soloist with renowned orchestras such as NFM Wrocław Philharmonic, Berlin Baroque Soloists and Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn.

Forthcoming engagements include appearances with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg with Leopold Hager and Wiener Kammerorchester under the baton of Joji Hattori, amongst others.

Baumgartner has won prizes and earned top honours at international competitions including 1st Prize and Special Prize at the Ilona Fehér International Violin Competition, 1st Prize at the Zhuhai International Mozart Competition and the 1st Prize, Grand Prix and Audience Award at the Osaka International Music Competition. Additionally, he was awarded the Carl Flesch Prize in Baden-Baden and the Discovery Award at ICMA International Classical Music Awards.

This album contains no booklet.