For the Record, Op. 297: Joshua Bell; Mari Samuelsen; Daniel Lozakovich

August 30, 2024, 4:07 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!

Jeremy Denk, Joshua Bell, Steven Isserlis

L-R: pianist Jeremy Denk, violinist Joshua Bell, and cellist Steven Isserlis.

Mendelssohn Piano Trios
Joshua Bell, violin
Steven Isserlis, cello
Jeremy Denk, piano

Violinist Joshua Bell reunites with cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist Jeremy Denk for a recording of the piano trios of Felix Mendelssohn. The new recording follows their all-Brahms collaboration from 2018, For the Love of Brahms. "Steven Isserlis and Jeremy Denk have been my most cherished chamber music partners for decades," Bell said. "They bring seemingly limitless imaginations and uncanny musical intelligence to every work I have had the privilege of exploring with them." In his liner notes for the new recording, Isserlis quotes Robert Schumann’s belief – written shortly after the premiere of his friend’s Piano Trio No. 1 – that "Mendelssohn… has soared so high, that we may venture to say that he is the Mozart of the nineteenth century, the brightest among musicians, the one who looks most clearly of all through the contradictions of the time and reconciles us to them." BELOW: Trailer for the album.

Life
Mari Samuelsen, violin

Norwegian violinist Mari Samuelsen explores the phenomenon of motherhood through music in her new album, "Life," which includes works by Olivia Belli, Bryce Dessner, Ludovico Einaudi, Nils Frahm, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Mário Laginha, Hania Rani, Max Richter and Steve Reich, with a little Schubert also thrown into the mix. Samuelsen came up with the idea for "Life" around the time her first child was born, and she recorded the album while pregnant with her second. "Getting to know a tiny new human being is fantastic; seeing their reactions to everything: how they start to communicate, how they react to surprises, to light, to smiles – for the very first time in their life. I wanted to put a sound to that: love, happiness, curiosity." BELOW: "Song for Octave" by Bryce Dessner, arranged by Christian Badzura.

Grieg/Franck/Shostakovich/Shor-Pletnev
Daniel Lozakovich, violin
Mikhail Pletnev, piano

Swedish violinist Daniel Lozakovich describes the Franck Sonata as "the epitome of spiritual beauty, an ideal expression of dialogue between the violin and piano, with its never-ending magical melodies where you can find an infinite number of colors." His new album, the first with Warner, features three sonatas – by Franck, Grieg and the contemporary Ukrainian-born composer Alexey Shor – and popular shorter works by Grieg and Shostakovich. BELOW: Grieg’s "Solveig’s Song" from Peer Gynt.

Keel Road
Danish String Quartet
Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen, violin
Frederik Øland, violin
Asbjørn Nørgaard, viola
Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin, violoncello

Keel Road is the latest chapter in the Danish String Quartet’s reckoning with music from – or inspired by – northern folk and traditional sources, rounding off a decade of sustained engagement with the genre, including Wood Works, in 2014 and Last Leaf in 2017. "Keel Road" is a retracing of musical pathways across the North Sea, with traditional music from Northern Europe, from Denmark, Norway and Sweden to the Faroe Islands, and to Ireland and England. BELOW: "Once a Shoemaker," composed by Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen and arranged by Danish String Quartet, featuring the traditional clog fiddle from Southern Sweden.

Transylvanian Dance
Mat Maneri, viola
Lucian Ban, piano

Transylvanian Dance takes as its starting point transcriptions of folk songs and dance tunes collected by Béla Bartók a century ago. For Lucian Ban and Mat Maneri, these pieces have become "springboards and sources of melodic material" for performances "that capture the spirit of the original yet allow us to improvise and bring our own world to them," Ban said. An album-release concert on Sept. 19 at Fotografiska Museum in New York City will feature a montage of photos taken by Bartok himself in Transylvania in 1910 (Click here for more information). This album follows their 2013 release, Transylvanian Concert. BELOW: from the album, Transylvanian Dance.

If you have a new recording you would like us to consider for inclusion in our "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.

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For the Record, Op. 297: Joshua Bell; Mari Samuelsen; Daniel Lozakovich

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