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Sunday, March 22, 2020

Hans Gál; Joseph Kaminski; Leonard Bernstein - Violin Concertos (Erez Ofer)


Information

Composer: Hans Gál; Joseph Kaminski; Leonard Bernstein
  • (01) Gál - Concertino for violin and string orchestra
  • (02) Kamiski - Concerto for violin and symphony orchestra
  • (05) Bernstein - Serenade for solo violin, string orchestra, harp and percussion

Erez Ofer, violin
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin
Frank Beermann, conductor (1-4)
Omer Meir Wellber, conductor (5-9)

Date: 2019
Label: Hänssler Classic
https://haensslerprofil.de/shop/unkategorisiert/violin-concertos-2/

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Review

Hans Gál’s Concertino for violin and string orchestra (1939) was one of the first works he composed in Britain following his escape from Nazi Vienna, one of the few completed before his internment the following year as an enemy alien. A convincingly balanced diptych, the Concertino is continuous and a melodic delight from first bar to last. The opening Andante tranquillo alternates lyrical and rhythmic elements, while the finale is a delightful Rigaudon. Erez Ofer has just the right touch for this lovely work, providing a performance that runs Annette-Barbara Vogel’s very close.

Ten years later, Joseph Kaminski (1903 72) – a pupil of Gál in the mid-1920s who had emigrated to Palestine in 1937 and was concertmaster of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra – completed his three-movement Violin Concerto and premiered it himself. The concerto received much praise and won the Engel Prize in 1950. A more dramatic work, the opening Moderato and central Adagio comme una elegia (the latter curiously omitted from the booklet commentary) may reflect the momentous political events during its composition: Israel’s independence and first war against its Arab neighbours. The Molto vivo finale, however, is lighter, built on a Jewish melody and Sephardic rhythms. It deserves to be much better known and Ofer plays it with great panache, accompanied – as in the Gál – with élan by the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under Frank Beermann.

Omer Meir Wellber takes up the baton for the final work, a sparkling rendition of Bernstein’s brilliant Serenade after Plato’s ‘Symposium’. The benchmark recordings are the composer’s own with Francescatti, originally welcomed in these pages half a century ago, and – as per David Gutman’s Gramophone Collection piece (8/18) – Hilary Hahn’s brilliant account with Zinman 30 years later. Ofer’s stands up very well indeed; if not first choice then close to the top. With superb sound, strongly recommended.

-- Guy Rickards, Gramophone

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Hans Gál (5 August 1890 – 3 October 1987) was an Austrian-British composer, teacher and author. Gál was born to a Jewish family near Vienna, and studied music history at the University of Vienna with Guido Adler. After serving in World War I, he was appointed to the directorship of the Mainz Conservatory. Immediately after the Anschluss in 1938, Gál fled to London and and eventually resided in Edinburgh, where he would remain for the rest of his life. Gál’s music style is rooted in the Austro-German musical tradition; his output was considerable with over 150 published works in virtually all genres.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_G%C3%A1l

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Joseph Kaminski (17 November 1903 in Odessa - 14 October 1972 in Tel Aviv) was a Polish and Israeli composer and violinist. He studied violin and composition with Friedrich Ernst Koch in Berlin, and completed his study in Vienna with Hans Gál and A. Rozsa. As a violinist, Kaminski was celebrated by the German press. In 1937 he emigrated to Tel Aviv and became concertmaster of the Palestine Symphony (Israel Philharmonic). Kaminski's compositions include Three Israel Sketches, a ballad for harp and orchestra and a violin concerto, as well as many chamber and piano works. He was also a teacher of Itzhak Perlman.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kaminski

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Leonard Bernstein (August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American composer, conductor, author, music lecturer, and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the US to receive worldwide acclaim. His fame derived from his tenure as the music director of the New York Philharmonic, his concerts with most of the world's leading orchestras, and his composition. As a composer he wrote in many styles encompassing symphonic and orchestral music, ballet, film and theatre music, choral works, opera, chamber music and piano. He also gave numerous television lectures on classical music.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Bernstein

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Born in Israel, violinist Erez Ofer studied with Josef Gingold at Indiana University, Nicolas Chumanchenco at the University of Music Freiburg, and Dorothy Delay at the Juilliard. Among Ofer's prizes and awards are 1st Prize at the ARD Competition in Munich, and Silver medal at the Queen Elisabeth competition in Belgium. Between 1993 and 1998, Ofer was concertmaster of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Lorin Maazel and the Philadelphia Orchestra under Wolfgang Sawallisch. He has been the first concertmaster of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin since 2002.
http://philharmonie.com/en/artist/erez-ofer
https://www.rsb-online.de/en/artists/erez-ofer

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5 comments:

  1. Choose one link, copy and paste it to your browser's address bar, wait a few seconds (you may need to click 'Continue' first), then click 'Skip Ad' (or 'Get link').
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  2. Hello RD,

    a wonderful blog, though with almost all links dead after April 2019. What if we consider a generous donation to your blog (preferably Visa), and i send you (although its quite a lot) the links I would like to be revived.
    Let me know.

    BR
    J

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    1. I really don't have time to mass-reup, so you can just leave requests at any posts you'd like to have new links (not too much at once). Donation is not necessary.

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  3. excellent recording ! gal's violin concert a gem, thank you very much

    ReplyDelete
  4. che disco raffinatissimo ! grazie, ne sconoscevo l'esistenza. questo blog è meraviglioso
    S.

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