75 Years Ysaye & Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition
CD1 (total time: 65:54)
Pyotr TCHAIKOVSKY - Concerto in D major op. 35
Vadim Repin (Russia, 1st prize 1989)
National Orchestra of Belgium - Georges Octors, conductor
Jean SIBELIUS - Concerto in D minor op. 47
Nikolaj Znaider (Denmark, 1st prize 1997)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders - Marc Soustrot, conductor
CD2 (total time: 72:53)
Edward ELGAR - Concerto in B minor op. 61
Gidon Kremer (Latvia, 3rd prize 1967)
National Orchestra of Belgium - Rene Defossez, conductor
Nicolo PAGANINI - Concerto n. 1 in D major op. 6
Philippe Hirshhorn (Latvia, 1st prize 1967)
National Orchestra of Belgium - Rene Defossez, conductor
CD3 (total time: 71:17)
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN - Concerto in D major op. 61
Kristof Barati (Hungary, 3rd prize 1997)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders - Marc Soustrot, conductor
Felix MENDELSSOHN - Concerto in E minor op. 64
Miriam Fried (Israel, 1st prize 1971)
Symphony Orchestra of the RTB/BRT - Daniel Sternefeld, conductor
CD4 (total time: 72:59)
Dmitry SHOSTAKOVICH - Concerto n. 1 in A minor op. 77 (99)
Yossif Ivanov (Belgium, 2nd prize 2005)
National Orchestra of Belgium - Gilbert Varga, conductor
Bela BARTOK - Concerto n. 2
Barnabas Kelemen (Hungary, 3rd prize 2001)
National Orchestra of Belgium - Gilbert Varga, conductor
Digibook
Texts in English, French and Dutch
Live recordings 1967-2005, remastered and restaured in 2011
A 4CD box set, containing 8 great violin concertos, played by 8 outstanding laureates, inaugurates the celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the Ysaye and Queen Elisabeth Competition.
In 2012 the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Eugene Ysaye Competition.
In association with the ‘muso' label, the Queen Elisabeth Competition has drawn on its extensive archives of unreleased recordings to put together a 4CD box set containing 8 of the most celebrated violin concertos as performed by some of the laureates who have made their mark on the history of the Competition. Handsomely presented as a CD-book, with texts, photographs, and reminiscences by laureates, the set contains live recordings made between 1967 and 2005, which were painstakingly remastered in 2011 in order to ensure optimal sound quality for today' s listeners.
Founded in 1937 on the initiative of Queen Elisabeth, the first Ysaye Competition brought to Brussels a number of talented young violinists and a jury that would be the stuff of dreams for any lover of the instrument - and the name of the first laureate showed just how high the standard was: David Oistrakh! After an interruption caused by the Second World War, the Competition was revived in 1951, when it took the name of its patron: in future it would be known as the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition. The list of the laureates who have succeeded each other on stage at the Centre for Fine Arts (Palais des Beaux-Arts) over its 75 years is dazzling: Kogan, Senofsky, Sitkovetsky, Laredo, Michlin, Hirshhorn, Kremer, Fried, Volckaert, Horigome, Repin, Znaider, Skride, and Khachatryan, to name but a few.
The set opens in 1967 with the Paganini Concerto, played by Philippe Hirshhorn - the quality of sound on this newly restored recording offers an opportunity to rediscover this great artist and teacher, who died in 1996, but not before he had influenced several generations of musicians - and the Elgar Concerto as interpreted by Gidon Kremer, never previously available on disc! It continues with performances by Miriam Fried in Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky' s indispensable concerto from Vadim Repin in 1989, and an equally memorable performance of the Sibelius Concerto by Nikolaj Znaider from 1997, the same year as Kristof Barati' s superb Beethoven concerto. The compilation concludes with two laureates from the past decade: the Hungarian violinist Barnabas Kelemen in the Bartok Concerto and, finally, Belgium' s own Yossif Ivanov in the Shostakovich.
Eight concertos, eight artists, eight sensibilities, and eight very different sonorities can be enjoyed in these performances, each of which in its own way struck a chord with the jury and audience of the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition. ( Queen Elisabeth Competition )
