Description
Sir Neville Marriner and the Los Angeles Philharmonic perform Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 with soloist Martin Chalifour in magnificent Walt Disney Concert Hall. Andrey Boreyko conducts the orchestra and Chalifour in Lutoslawski’s violin concerto Chain 2. This album also includes the world premiere recording of Steven Stucky’s Tres Pinturas, and Esa Pekka Salonen’s now iconic Lachen verlernt.
Working in Walt Disney Concert Hall is a recording engineer’s dream, with excellent acoustics thanks to Yasuhisa Toyota. And thanks to architect Frank Gehry, the hall is an inspiring and beautiful place to work. Our friends Jerry and Terri Kohl once again allowed us to use their magnificent golden period Stradivarius for this recording. Martin plays this legendary Nathan Milstein Strad (the “ex Goldmann” from 1716) with Sir Neville Marriner in the Mozart Violin Concerto No. 5. Thank you Jerry and Terri, for making this violin available to your friend Martin, and for being so generous to us at Yarlung Records. In talking about this instrument with me, Martin said “I ended up choosing several violins for this recording because of the way they made me feel. The Milstein Stradivarius of 1716 had the nobility and steady luster of sound needed in the “old world” works…. A sort of smoky color that is rich and mysterious…. This is one of the greatest string instruments on earth and I feel privileged to play it.”
Martin chose the famous 1729 “Joachim,” or “Petschnikoff” or “Jack Benny” Strad owned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the premiere Green Umbrella performance of Lachen verlernt. And Martin played his Miralles (made for Martin in 2007) in Tres Pinturas. Brenda and Mario Miralles have been friends of Martin’s (and mine) for many years, and they make some of the finest contemporary violins, violas and ‘cellos in the world. Many extraordinary Miralles instruments sing alongside the Strads, Guarneris and Amatis in the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestras. Martin wrote “My Miralles violin is to this day the most comfortable violin I have ever played. It was made just for me and I am so proud of it (and him!) I will never part with it.”
Martin and I especially want to thank Jerry and Terri Kohl, Michelle Rohe, Marilyn and Don Conlan, and Bruce and Marty Coffey, all good friends, who made it possible to release this album.
— Bob Attiyeh, producer
Hunter Martin –
This is a wonderful recording of both compositions and performances that cannot be found in any other places. Even if the sound quality were not so excellent the CD would be very worthwhile for the music within.
The several modern pieces are all fascinating and challenging compositions of the sort that are not distributed and heard often enough. If given serious attention they can all draw the listener into their performances, and then encourage repeated listening later on. The Stucky, especially, is inviting and worth spending time with.
Having such works performed by Mr. Chalifour and Mr. Marriner gives them a sense of clarity and purpose, with a flow from moment to moment that leads to a realization of the overall purpose of each piece. It doesn’t get any better than having these two people and all of the musicians in your listening room.
The sound is once again another Yarlung triumph. It is clear, smooth across the spectrum, and exciting in the emotional, not tactical, sense. The production and engineering is exactly as it should be – there to make sure the sound is recorded and presented exactly as it unfolded at the time. The “sound” is not an element as something for the listener to be aware of, but in the background to support the music and performance. This is the best quality of any good recording.
Highly recommended.