For the Record, Op. 126: Ray Chen's 'Solace' Solo Bach; David Park Plays Fritz Kreisler

August 6, 2020, 12:46 PM · Welcome to "For the Record," Violinist.com's weekly roundup of new releases of recordings by violinists, violists, cellists and other classical musicians. We hope it helps you keep track of your favorite artists, as well as find some new ones to add to your listening!

Violinist Ray Chen.

Solace: Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin
Ray Chen, violin

What has violinist Ray Chen been doing during the global pandemic? Finding "Solace" in Bach - and with some help from record producer Jonathan Allen, building a top-notch professional recording studio in his own home, so he could record it. On Friday he releases the result: a recording of six movements from Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, including: the E major Preludio; G minor Fugue; D minor Sarabande; the last-movement Allegro from the A minor Sonata; Largo from the C Major Sonata; then circling back to the E major Partita, the Gavotte en Rondeau. On Friday on his YouTube Channel, he'll also share his vlog that details the process of creating the album. BELOW: Ray Chen plays the Sarabande from Bach's Partita in D minor (recording from 2018).

Violinist David Park.

David Park Plays Fritz Kreisler
David Park, violin
Melissa Garff Ballard, piano

Violinist David Park teams up with pianist/politician Melissa Garff Ballard to perform a program of 14 popular works and transcriptions by the great violinist-composer Fritz Kreisler. Park started playing the violin at the age of five in Seoul, Korea and studied with Josef Gingold and Dorothy Delay, earning his Bachelor of Music at the University of Indiana and Master of Music at the Juilliard School. At the age of 14, he was one of the last students of the great violinist Jascha Heifetz. Park is the Assistant Concertmaster of Utah Symphony and Adjunct Professor of Violin at University of Utah. In 2013, he was appointed as the Concertmaster of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Music Festival. BELOW: Preview from the recording session:

If you have a new recording you would like us to consider for inclusion in our Thursday "For the Record" feature, please e-mail Editor Laurie Niles. Be sure to include the name of your album, a link to it and a short description of what it includes.

Note: Some of the links above are Amazon Associate links; purchases made by following these links help support Violinist.com.

You might also like: