Various Composers - 'Fire & Ice' Violin Showpieces [Chang/ Domingo-Berliner Philharmoniker]
This is one of those wonderful albums that i term 'Violin Showpieces', i don't know if that fits, maybe more correct would be 'Concertante Works', but i so love these albums, all made up of singular pieces, a dozen to a couple of handfuls of works, on this disc it roughly translates to 9 minutes per piece on average, the equivalent of an Overture or something, great variety, this disc is called 'Fire & Ice', meaning warm slow pieces interspersed with icy works of bravura, or it it red hot virtuoso works interspersed with cool and calm works?, either way it's a great mix, and it's amazing what their is in the repertoire to choose from, and this is a well chosen programme, with a couple of pieces that are different enough so that this disc doesn't fall into 'the same as everybody else' syndrome, plus Sarah Chang is an ardent interpreter, bringing warmth and a strong projection to all of these pieces, appeared in my Blog earlier in the year [7th February 2012].
Sarah Chang is American, she's now 32, and she made this recording in 2001, the front and back cover photography [by Sheila Rock] is excellent, crystal clear images, the jet black background, and the lettering in orange and blue really stands out, it was inspired to have 'fire & Ice' written sideways, a quarter way off the booklet, makes it look fantastic, a great visual.
Well i especially liked the Beethoven and Bach works on this disc, and i was pleasantly surprised by the Beethoven work, not something i listen to a lot, and not a work i have been particularly enamoured to, but on this listen i thought it was so sublime, but to top that, it was the Bach work, the famous Air from his Suite 3, maybe overplayed and overexposed, but here Chang plays it with the utmost refinement and simplicity, unassuming nobility, the opposite of a showstopper that it can be in the wrong hands, it starts out of nowhere, almost as if it's in mid flow, there's no 'hey i'm the violin Soloist here' about Chang, she smoothly just lets Bach take the front seat and the glory, it's her sweet gentleness that pays off in dividends, the whole work has a slow tread that is purposely unhurried, it's fairly monotonous, but in the most excellent definition of the word, it's hard to pick out any one section inparticular, as the whole piece seems to gel into one whole, and Bach ends the thing without any flourish or finale to it, so it turns up as if it's always been there, and it goes as if it never came, i just can't get this tune out of my head now, it's one of those things i'll wake up with next morning, and it's still going on repeat in my head!.
Here's Sarah Chang playing the Bach Air on YouTube.
Well i especially liked the Beethoven and Bach works on this disc, and i was pleasantly surprised by the Beethoven work, not something i listen to a lot, and not a work i have been particularly enamoured to, but on this listen i thought it was so sublime, but to top that, it was the Bach work, the famous Air from his Suite 3, maybe overplayed and overexposed, but here Chang plays it with the utmost refinement and simplicity, unassuming nobility, the opposite of a showstopper that it can be in the wrong hands, it starts out of nowhere, almost as if it's in mid flow, there's no 'hey i'm the violin Soloist here' about Chang, she smoothly just lets Bach take the front seat and the glory, it's her sweet gentleness that pays off in dividends, the whole work has a slow tread that is purposely unhurried, it's fairly monotonous, but in the most excellent definition of the word, it's hard to pick out any one section inparticular, as the whole piece seems to gel into one whole, and Bach ends the thing without any flourish or finale to it, so it turns up as if it's always been there, and it goes as if it never came, i just can't get this tune out of my head now, it's one of those things i'll wake up with next morning, and it's still going on repeat in my head!.
Here's Sarah Chang playing the Bach Air on YouTube.
