Violin Declamations from the Twilight of the Workers’ Paradise – Elmira Darvarova

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Nov 272017
 

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An empire in collapse. A daring escapee.
A deeply personal program of music from a time of turmoil — and hope.

Violinist Elmira Darvarova was communist Bulgaria’s worst-kept artistic secret. News of the young virtuoso’s talent had circulated in the West during the 1970s — even coming to the attention of Jascha Heifetz. An artistic collaboration with legendary cellist János Starker led to her daring escape from Bulgaria. She emigrated to the United States, where she eventually became the concertmaster of the MET Orchestra and founder of the New York Chamber Music Festival. Darvarova has extensively recorded both classical and world music, championing scandalously underexposed works by such composers as David Amram, Amanda Maier, Franco Alfano, and Joseph Marx.

Violin Declamations from the Twilight of the Workers’ Paradise is her most personal recording to date — a program of solo violin works from the waning years of the Warsaw Pact and Soviet Union by composers, including several that had been denounced as dissidents in their own countries, whose music was exposing the cracks in the “glorious workers’ revolution” — but also expressing glimmers of hope. The program includes four world premiere recordings. Darvarova also includes a detailed essay on the music and a first-hand account of artistic life behind the Iron Curtain.

Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978): Sonata-Monologue for solo violin (1975)
Sylvie Bodorova (b.1954):Dža More – Gypsy Ballad (1990)
Grigory Zaborov (1935-1985): Improvisation (1978)
Afrodita Kathmeridou (b. 1956): Two Miniatures for solo violin (1978) — World Premiere Recording
Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998): Praeludium in memoriam D. Shostakovich (1975)
Dmitri Smirnov (b. 1948): Two Fugues for solo violin, Op. 6 (1970)
Nikolai Badinski (b. 1937): Dialoghi per violino solo (1973) — World Premiere Recording
Elena Firsova (b. 1950): Fantasia for solo violin, Op. 32 (1985) — World Premiere Recording
Konstantin Soukhovetski (b. 1981): Postcard from the Edge (1990) — World Premiere Recording

Recorded on June 16 and 17, 2013 at Edith Chapel, Lawrenceville, New Jersey
Recording Engineers: John C. Baker and Samuel Ward
Edited by John C. Baker
Mastered by Gene Gaudette
Produced by Elmira Darvarova and Gene Gaudette

Visit Elmira Darvarova’s Web site and Facebook page
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Urlicht AudioVisual UAV-5984 (783583260442)

Digital release date: Nov. 27, 2017

CD available in January 2018

Poulenc | Pascal Rogé et ses amis

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Sep 222014
 

Pascal Rogé is today’s unrivaled master of French piano music. With a legacy of recordings spanning nearly four decades, many acknowledged as benchmarks, Rogé is one of the most critically acclaimed and best-selling pianists of all time.

Poulenc has figured in Pascal Rogé’s repertoire since his earliest years. His desire to revisit the chamber music of Poulenc has led to this unique collaboration with friends from the New York Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, MET Orchestra, and Orchestre National de France, along with his wife Ami Rogé. This cross-continental collaboration — recorded at the church in Paris where his mother was organist and at the acoustically superb Lawrenceville School chapel — brings together four of Poulenc’s sonatas for solo instruments and piano along with other chamber works. Audiophile engineers George Vasiliev and John C. Baker capture these performances in state-of-the-art sound, setting a new standard in this highly listenable and frequently played recital repertoire.

Poulenc | Pascal Rogé et ses amis

Sonata for flute and piano (1956) — Michel Moraguès, principal flute, Orchestre National de France
Sonata for oboe and piano (1962) — Liang Wang, principal oboe, New York Philharmonic
Élégie for horn and piano (1957) in memory of Dennis Brain — Howard Wall, horn, New York Philharmonic
Sonata for clarinet and piano (1962) — Pascal Moraguès, 2ème principal clarinet, Orchestre de Paris
Sonata for Piano Four Hands (1918, rev. 1939) — Ami Rogé, piano
Sonata for violin and piano (1942-3 rev. 1949) to the memory of Federico Garcia Lorca / Bagatelle for violin and piano (1932) — Elmira Darvarova, past concertmaster, MET Orchestra

Pascal Rogé, piano

Recorded 2013 in Paris and Lawrenceville, New Jersey
Engineered by George Vassilev and John C. Baker
Edited by George Vassilev and Gene Gaudette
Produced by Gene Gaudette

Urlicht AudioVisual UAV-5986

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