4CD Violin 2009 - 2012 / Ray Chen - Lorenzo Gatto - Vineta Sareika - Andrey Baranov

4CD box set - Queen Elisabeth Competition

Violin 2009 - 2012

Ray Chen - Lorenzo Gatto - Vineta Sareika - Andrey Baranov

The Queen Elisabeth Competition 2024 gives us the opportunity of diving back into the performances of four prize-winning laureates of the 2009 and 2012 sessions devoted to the violin.

In this exclusive box set we shall hear Ray Chen (First Prize and Canvas-Klaraprijs 2009), Lorenzo Gatto (Second Prize and Prix Musiq3 2009), Vineta Sareika (laureate 2009) and Andrey Baranov (First Prize 2012).

Ray Chen starts off this box set with the concerto of Tchaikovsky with which he made such an impression in 2009, also winning the audience’s Canvas-Klaraprijs. An indelible moment of the Queen Elisabeth Competition; Ray Chen had won over the public, taking with him the Belgian National Orchestra conducted by Gilbert Varga at the height of its form. He had previously offered in the final a magnificent Sonata of Franck, full of maturity, and this can be found on disc for the first time.

Next comes the Belgian Lorenzo Gatto, revealed to the international audience in this same competition. In the final he had presented a masterly Concerto of Paganini, yet also a very great Sonata No. 3 by George Enescu. His programme is here completed by two extracts of his performances in the semi-final at the Brussels Conservatory: the Sonata for violin solo Op. 27/6 by Eugène Ysaÿe, and, as an encore, the Havanaise Op. 83 of Saint-Saëns.

Vineta Sareika also left her mark on the 2009 competition. She who is today Konzertmeister of the Berlin Philharmonic had offered the highly majestic Concerto of Elgar, a monument of the repertory. Yet the Queen Elisabeth Competition is also the occasion to hear Mozart’s concertos, and here we find Vineta Sareika in the Concerto No. 5 KV 219 of which she gave a splendid rendition in the semi-final, accompanied by the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie conducted by Michael Hofstetter.

Finally, this box set concludes with Andrey Baranov, First Prize in the 2012 Competition. Imperial in the Concerto No. 1 by Shostakovich, he shows that he is also a musician full of refinement and sensitivity in Mozart’s Concerto No. 3 KV 216; and the two pieces of Tchaikovsky in the semi-final in Flagey – the Méditation (Souvenir d’un lieu cher) and the Valse-Scherzo – complete the portrait of this musician who is also a magnificent chamber music player.

Four personalities, four sensitivities, four superb violinists to rediscover without delay in some of the great concertos in the repertory and in recordings, for the most part newly released.

PROGRAMME

CD1 - Ray Chen

1-3      Pyotr TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893) – Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35

4-7      César FRANCK (1822-1890) – Violin Sonata in A Major *

8          Camille SAINT-SAËNS (1835-1921) – Introduction et rondo capriccioso in A Minor, Op. 28 *

Belgian National Orchestra – Gilbert Varga, conductor (1-3) – Thomas Hoppe, piano (4-8)

CD2 - Lorenzo Gatto

1-3      Nicolò PAGANINI (1782-1840) – Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 6

4-6      George ENESCU (1881-1955) – Violin Sonata No. 3 *

7          Eugène YSAŸE (1858-1931) – Sonata for Solo Violin in E Major, Op. 27/6 *

8          Camille SAINT-SAËNS – Havanaise, Op. 83 *

Belgian National Orchestra – Gilbert Varga, conductor (1-3) – Eliane Reyes, piano (4-6 & 8)

CD3 - Vineta Sareika

1-3      Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791) – Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major, KV 219 *

4-6      Edward ELGAR (1857-1934) – Violin Concerto in B Minor, Op. 61 *

Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie – Paul Goodwin, conductor (1-3)

Belgian National Orchestra – Gilbert Varga, conductor (4-6)

CD4 - Andrey Baranov

1-4      Dmitry SHOSTAKOVICH (1906-1975) – Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, Op. 77

5-7      Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART – Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major, KV 216 *

8          Pyotr TCHAIKOVSKY – Méditation (Souvenir d’un lieu cher), Op. 42/1 *

9          Pyotr TCHAIKOVSKY – Valse-Scherzo in C Major, Op. 34 *

Belgian National Orchestra – Gilbert Varga, conductor (1-4) – Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie – Michael Hofstetter, conductor (5-7) – Dana Protopopescu, piano (8-9)

(* unreleased recordings)

4CD

Total duration: 5h05’38’’

Digifile

Live recordings in 2009 & 2012 at the Royal Conservatoire, Flagey / Studio 4 and the Centre for Fine Arts (Brussels)

Recording, editing and mixing: Aline Blondiau, Frédéric Briant, Nicolas de Béco, Hugues Deschaux