April 2008

Naxosnews 6: DOHNANYI, E.: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 +holiday to London to see sheetmusic Dohnanyi2, Royal Albert Hall, James Bond, Claudia Schiffer

April 21, 2008 13:15

DOHNANYI, E.: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 and 2
Best known for his Variations on a Nursery Theme for piano and orchestra, the Hungarian composer Ernő von Dohnányi also wrote two published Symphonies, two Piano Concertos and two Violin Concertos, all of which have been undeservedly neglected. The rarely heard Violin Concerto No. 1, notable for its Brahmsian slow movement, combines virtuosity and lyricism. Written in the mould of the great Romantic violin concerto, and with an unmistakably Hungarian flavour, the superbly orchestrated and remarkably inventive Violin Concerto No. 2 (1949-50) is worthy of being ranked alongside the Concertos by Barber and Korngold.
more....
Erno Dohnanyi
Violin Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 27
Ludwig, Michael, violin
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Falletta, JoAnn, Conductor
I. Molto moderato, maestoso e rubato 12:32
II. Andante 08:24
III. Molto vivace 06:04
IV. Tempo del primo pezzo, rubato 13:41
Violin Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 43
I. Allegro molto moderato 11:23
II. Intermezzo: Allegro comodo e scherzando 03:42
III. Adagio molto sostenuto - 09:18
IV. Allegro risoluto e giocoso 06:20
Total Playing Time: 01:11:24

Because I had seen the sheetmusic of the 1th violinconcerto of Dohnanyi in a music library in the neighboorhood and I found out that the 2th violinconcerto of Dohnanyi was in London, next to the Royal Albert Hall

(capacity of 5200!! visitors) in the Royal College of Music,

I made a holiday to London and Cambridge with a train under the sea between France and the united Kingdom to see this 2th Dohanyi. A friend who was with me took this photo:

In the orchestration of the 2th violinconcerto THERE ARE NO 1TH OR 2TH VIOLINS!!! No big chance to play this piece once with an orchestra.(No change for violins anyway)

In London we saw the marathon and the new James Bond, Daniel Craig promoting on the red carpet his new film Flashbacks of a fool:

Also topmodel Claudia Schiffer was one of the guests.

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Wax recording of Brahms from 1889!! (hardly recognisable)

April 10, 2008 15:34

Added: April 10, 2008 (Less info)
This is my attempt to restore the 1889 Brahms cylinder.
The source was not the 1936 acetate transfer, but a
mp3 file from the original cylinder. I am searching for a
good quality cd version of the cylinder (not the 1936
acetate disc!) to further improve the sound.
The first 30 seconds still are not audible, but....
after 30 seconds, I think my version
finally let you hear at least something of his playing....

For three years I have a website, where I post "out-of-copyright" (in the Netherlands)
classical lp's and 78rpm's. It is updated every Friday:
Otterhouse-music

Enjoy!
Category: Music

4 replies | Archive link

Playing a concert and bowing with a frozen shoulder and a hurting armsinew

April 5, 2008 07:14

I wrote (with my left hand, which I still do) on 25 februari on my blog, because of a fall on my elbow (with elbowprotectors!!, safety first) on ice on 1 januari 2008: "I am injured in my schoulder, because of a fall on the ice during skating ( I had luck I wear my icehockeyshoulderprotector otherwise the consequenses of the fall would be worse said the fysiotherapeut) and during a rehearsal of an orchestra I went to home because of the pain. The pain is now diminishing because of treatment by a fysiotherapeut."
I am doing 3 times a day strechingexercises with my shoulder to give more room in my shoulder so the inflamation of the sinew in my arm will diminish. The fysiotherapeut says it will take at least 3 months to get my shoulder unfrozen and my arm normal again.
My violinteacher has had the same injury and stopped lessons till I will be healthy again. The fysiotherapeut siad that it was important for me to excercise my right arm a little till it hurts, so I try to play violin a little bit. I only could bow a little bit with my right hand against the right site of my body resting on my left leg. I also use my left hand to bow by moving the violin up or down, so I did not need to use my right arm. I got trouble to play the Ging, because than I have to lift up my right arm too much and hurt my armsinew. So I changed my shoulderrest of my violin, so now the violin is in a more vertical position, so I can easier bow on my Ging. Of course I could not play with this injury the fast 1/16 notes, so I only play every 1/4 note, so I left 3 of the 4 notes to stay in the right rhythm.
Today we had the last general rehearsal and tomorrow is the concert. I think a lot of people in the audiece will make remarks of that strange playing 1th violinist, but the orchestra did not forbid me to play, so I can play this beautiful and unknown harp-concerto of Reinecke.

2 replies | Archive link

Dutch Wooden Shoe-Violin

April 1, 2008 14:47

Our factory exits 110 years. This was a reason for a day out in Amsterdam and in a touristic place in the neighboorhood of Amsterdam (I had never been there before) Zaanse schans with a lot of Dutch windmills and wooden shoes: