Sassmanshaus Violine

Awarded the quarterly German Record Critics' Award, this disc brings the chamber music from the period between 1968 and 1982, which reveals Ligeti's development that is particularly impressive with the old-fashioned harpsichord and the Continuum entrusted to it. The piece has an unreal opalescence, literally whirring and flickering. Sheets of sound transform threateningly – quite unlike the more grounded, Hungarian-tinged pieces. The works for piano duo suddenly present a standard theme of painting as a musical subject: the self-portrait! The full title of the composition translates as "Self-portrait with Reich and Riley (and Chopin is in there too)." Ligeti does not deny the irony here. In his Trio, obstinately enough, he does not assemble a classical set of instruments but instead includes representatives of different "families," juxtaposed more or less irreconcilably: violin, horn, and piano.

Benjamin Schmid has long been regarded as one of the most versatile violin virtuosos of our time, at home in both the classical and jazz genres. Following his album of jazz violin concertos, Schmid now returns with the Salzburger Bläserphilharmonie under the direction of Hansjörg Angerer with works by Friedrich Gulda and Kurt Weill. Gulda opened a new era of musical freedom with his "Concerto for Violoncello and Wind Orchestra" (here in the version for violin) at its premiere in the Vienna Konzerthaus in 1981.

Benjamin Schmid has long been recognised as one of the most versatile violin virtuosos of our time, at home in both the classical and jazz genres.

Niemand spielt Paganini so virtuos wie die berühmte Geigerin Ane Larrazábal. Doch dies war ihr letztes Konzert – nach der Aufführung des Capriccio Nr. 24, des schwierigsten Geigenstückes aller Zeiten, findet man sie stranguliert in den Räumen des Konzertgebäudes. Auf ihrer Brust prangt in blutiger Schrift das arabische Wort für »Satan«; und ihre einzigartige Stradivari mit dem geschnitzten Teufelskopf ist unauffindbar.

Buxtehude’s Opus 1 and 2 Sonatas for violin, viola da gamba and harpsichord belie the composer’s common image as austere and sober. They instead delight the listener with what Johann Mattheson, writing in 1739, called their « unfamilar progressions, hidden ornamentation, and ingenious colourations ». It comes as no surprise to learn that the sonatas were a great success when they were first published in Germany in the 1690s, in the midst of the fashion for the ‘stylus fantasticus’ (described by Athanasius Kircher in 1650 as “…especially suited to instruments. It is the most free and unrestrained method of composing, it is bound to nothing, neither to any words nor to a melodic subject. It was instituted to display genius, and to teach the hidden design of harmony and the ingenious composition of harmonic phrases and fugues.")

'This violin originates from Mozart s estate and Mozart always played it. I bought it from Mozart s widow', noted publisher and composer Johann Anton André around 1840. And in a diary entry by William Hill written on 11 Nov. 1909 he noted: 'Dr. Henkel, who wants to sell his Violin by Petrus della Costa, has sent me the history of the fiddle, it is as follows. His father bought the violin from Hofrath Anton André of Offenbach about 1840 since which time it has been in the family.

Die Geige - welch ein wunderbares Ding eine Geige istl Sinne dem Gedanken nach, ihrem Tone, ihrer Gestalt, ihrer Geschichte und ihrer Stellung in der Kunstwelt von heute: und du stehst vor einem kleinen Wunder. Etwas Wunderbares, Unerklärliches, nenn' es wie du willst, etwas von göttlichem Vorhaben, göttlicher Kraft scheint hinter diesem kleinen zarten menschlichen Gebilde zu liegen.