For the Record, Op. 326: James Ehnes; Benjamin Schmid; Takács Quartet

March 29, 2025, 8:05 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! Click on the highlighted links to obtain each album or learn more about the artists.

Violinist James Ehnes.

Johann Sebastian Bach: The Complete Violin Concertos
James Ehnes, violin
Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra,

Only two of Bach's solo violin concertos have survived intact, and only one - the A minor, BWV 1041 - survives in autograph. However, one considers the reconstructed concertos and the concertos for multiple instruments, there is a significant body of work showing Bach’s superlative violin writing. "In reconstructing the solo violin parts of BWV 1044, 1052, 1056, and 1060, I have tried to remain faithful to his keyboard arrangements whenever possible, while adding or amending elements that seem to me to be in the spirit of the music," wrote James Ehnes. "Performing and recording these works with the magnificent musicians of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra was an immensely rewarding experience." BELOW: Violin Concerto in D Minor, BWV 1052R: III. Allegro.

Lalo - Saint-Saëns - Sarasate
James Ehnes, violin
BBC Philharmonic; Juanjo Mena, conducting

This recording by violinist James Ehnes centers on Pablo de Sarasate, who was born in Pamplona, Spain, and became an acclaimed virtuoso of the violin by the age of 12. The child prodigy was sent away to study at the Paris Conservatoire, and Sarasate spent the rest of his life in Paris. In demand nationally and internationally as a soloist, he was the dedicatee of a large number of important concertos, including Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole and Saint-Saëns’s Third Violin Concerto. Completing the album is Sarasate’s own fantasia on Bizet’s Carmen – a virtuosic tour de force for the soloist. BELOW: Lalo's "Symphonie espagnole" in D Minor, Op. 21: I. Allegro non troppo.

Friedrich Gulda, Kurt Weill: Concertos for Violin and Wind Orchestra.
Benjamin Schmid, violin
Salzburg Wind Philharmonic; Hansjörg Angerer, conducting

Versatile violinist Benjamin Schmid is equally at home in the classical and jazz genres, and this album is a follow-up to his collection of jazz violin concertos. Friedrich Gulda’s Concerto for Violoncello and wind orchestra, heard here in a version for violin, had its world premiere in 1981 at the Vienna Konzerthaus, and borrows from pop music, yodeling themes, brass bands, swing, funk and free-jazz. Kurt Weill’s Violin Concerto Op. 12, which premiered in 1925, represents the peak of the composer’s avant-garde tendencies: the harmony suggests the influence of Schoenberg, the formal characteristics Busoni, and the often motoric rhythm Hindemith. Two works for solo violin – "For Fritz" (dedicated to Fritz Kreisler) by Benjamin Schmid and "Youkali" by Kurt Weill – round out the album. BELOW: Violinist Benjamin Schmid on Friedrich Gulda and the famous cello concerto, now in a version for violin.

Dvorák & Price: Piano Quintets
Takács Quartet
Marc-André Hamelin, piano

This is the fifth album together pairing the Takács Quartet with pianist Marc-André Hamelin, and here they present Antonin Dvorák's Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major (1887) and Florence Price's Piano Quintet in A minor, The Price is a relatively recent find — the manuscript was only discovered in 2009, about 70 years after Price wrote it and more than 50 years after her death. BELOW: Price: Piano Quintet in A Minor: I. Allegro non troppo.

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. 326: James Ehnes; Benjamin Schmid; Takács Quartet

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