Sarasate: Violin and Orchestra Music, Vol. 1 Tianwa Yang

• 1Zigeunerweisen, Op. 20 (version for violin and orchestra)08:57
• 2Airs Espagnols, Op. 18 (version for violin and orchestra)09:46
• 3Miramar, Op. 42 (version for violin and orchestra)03:55
• 4Peteneras, Op. 35 (version for violin and orchestra)07:01
• 5Nocturne-serenade, Op. 4506:23
• 6Viva Sevilla!, Op. 38 (version for violin and orchestra)07:48
• 7Fantasie sur la Dame Blanche, Op. 309:39
• Total Runtime53:29

Info for Sarasate: Violin and Orchestra Music, Vol. 1

Her recordings of Sarasate’s music for violin and piano (8.557767, 8.570192) have earned the young violinist Tianwa Yang praise for her ‘great polish and confidence’, American Record Guide describing her playing as ‘perfect’. This disc is her first volume of the Spanish virtuoso-composer’s music for violin and orchestra, a delightful survey of some of his most bewitching and demanding creations. Albert Spalding’s description of Sarasate’s playing could well apply to Tianwa Yang’s interpretations: ‘His violin sang like a thrush, and his incomparable ease tossed aside difficulties’.

„Such mellifluous and delightful music deserves the widest possible exposure. There was a time when the typical violin recital (with piano) consisted primarily of this kind of music, roundly sneered at by snooty “artistes” who replaced it with penitential programs consisting of all the Bach Sonatas and Partitas at a sitting, or all the Brahms sonatas, or other forms of aural flagellation. Somewhere between seriousness unto death and cloying fluff there has to be a happy medium. The fact is that Pablo Sarasate was a very good composer of the virtuoso school, and these performances—always stylish and tasteful but technically brilliant—do him full justice.

The most popular item here will be Zigeunerweisen, but Airs espagnols and the Fantasie are more substantial still. La Dame Blanche is in fact a very beautiful opera, and Sarasate’s arrangement couldn’t be lovelier, or more affectingly played. Most of the other works have a Spanish flavor and reveal Sarasate in his element. Alternately vivacious and soulful, they are wonderful pieces and they hold no obvious terrors for Tianwa Yang. Whether she’s slipping a few harmonics into insanely fast passage-work, or firing off a volley of left-hand pizzicatos, she has all of this music under firm control. Ernest Martínez Izquierdo and the Navarra orchestra accompany with equal verve, and the sonics are excellent in all respects.“ (David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com)

Tianwa Yang, violin
Navarre Symphony Orchestra
Ernest Martínez Izquierdo, conductor

Tianwa Yang
called “an unquestioned master of the violin” (American Record Guide) who “rises above her competition” (Fanfare), Tianwa Yang has quickly established herself as a leading international performer and recording artist. The young violinist, a resident of Germany and heralded by the Detroit News as “the most important violinist to come on the scene in many a year,” has debuted with such major orchestras as the Detroit, Seattle, Baltimore, Nashville, Kansas City and New Zealand Symphonies, in addition to the MDR-Sinfonieorchester-Leipzig, Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Orchestre National d’Île de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, and the Hong Kong, Buffalo, BBC, Deutsche Radio, Warsaw and Royal Liverpool Philharmonics. Ms. Yang has performed under the baton of renowned conductors Marc Albrecht, Andreas Delfs, JoAnn Falletta, Giancarlo Guerrero , Günther Herbig, Yoel Levi, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Gerard Schwarz, Vassily Sinaisky amongst others. Other international engagements include those at the Ravinia Festival, Virginia’s Arts Festival, London’s Wigmore Hall, Paris’ Salle Pleyel and Leipzig’s Gewandhaus. Ms. Yang has also given live concert broadcasts from the Schwetzingen Festival, broadcast by the SWR Stuttgart, from the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, broadcast by Deutschlandradio, and from the Montpellier Festival, broadcast by Radio France.

As a critically acclaimed recording artist for Naxos, Ms. Yang will soon expand her discography with the release of the complete Solo Sonatas by Eugene Ysaye. Of her previously released recordings of Pablo de Sarasate’s complete works for violin, David Hurwitz of Classics Today calls Ms. Yang a “sensationally talented violinist,” while All Things Strings speaks of her “stunning effortless virtuosity” and “uncanny affinity for Spanish music.” Ms. Yang most recent releases are both Mendelssohn Violin Concertos and the works for violin and piano by Wolfgang Rihm. She has also has also recorded Piazzolla’s Las 4 Estaciones Porteñas with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and the Vivaldi/Piazzolla Eight Seasons performed with her own ensemble. The remaining two albums from the eight disc set of complete Sarasate works for violin are due for release during this season.

During the 2012-2013 season, Ms. Yang continues to build her growing reputation in concert halls across Europe, Australasia and North America. She has given debut performances in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and New York on tour with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, and will debut with the Pacific and Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestras returning to many of the symphony and recital centers of the world.

Raised in the Chinese capital city, Ms. Yang began studying violin at the age of four. Demonstrating unquestionable ability, Ms. Yang won six competitions as a young child. At the age of ten she was accepted to study at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing as a student of Lin Yaoji. Within one year, Hong Kong media described the young artist as “A Pride of China.” Ms. Yang recorded the 24 Paganini Caprices at the age of thirteen, making her the youngest artist to release the works. In 2003 Ms. Yang was awarded a scholarship by the German Academic Exchange Service to study chamber music in Germany, marking the beginning of her European career.

Ms. Yang has won several awards during her career including the Volkswagen Foundation prize “Star of Tomorrow” by Seiji Ozawa and the 2006 “Prix Montblanc.” She holds a place on teaching faculty of the Music Academy of Kassel, Germany and is grateful to Lin Yaoji, Jörg-Wolfgang Jahn and Anner Bylsma for the musical insight and support they have offered throughout her career.

Booklet for Sarasate: Violin and Orchestra Music, Vol. 1