Antonella Ruggiero Sospesa

"Salzedo has done for the harp what Bach did for the organ, Paganini for the violin, Chopin, Liszt and Debussy for the piano, which is to enlarge the technical and expressive potentialities of their chosen instruments". These are the words of the great conductor Leopold Stokowski when writing about the figure of Carlos Salzedo, who was born in Arcachon, France, in 1885 and died in Waterville, U.S.A., in 1961. A tireless organizer, performer of the harp and piano, and conductor, Salzedo was the co-founder with Edgard Varèse of the International Composers' Guild (active from 1921 to 1927). He was also a member of the International Society for Contemporary Music and of countless other prestigious associations: his desire to promote the music of new composers and to inform the public remained constant throughout his whole life. The programme presented here provides the opportunity to couple the broad soundscape of the Variations sur un theme dans le style ancien (1911), marked by a virtuosity aimed at exhibiting all the resources offered by the instrument, with a more intimate collection like the Five Preludes of 1917, then concluding with the Suite of Eight Dances composed in 1943.

Collected together for the first time are all of RUGGIERO RICCI’s nine solo albums taped for American Decca between 1960 and 1970. The sessions brought concertos by Vivaldi (The Four Seasons with an all-Stradivarius ensemble), Paganini and Saint-Sa?ns as well as several concept albums. ‘The Glory of Cremona’, a recording ‘that all fiddle fanciers will insist on having’ (Stereo Review) saw him play fifteen priceless violins. The 1967 traversal of the complete Bach Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin were described by Gramophone as ‘a miracle’. One of the last century’s most spell-binding technicians on the violin, Ricci was a complete musician, to whom this set pays eloquent tribute.

The most complete tribute ever issued to the fiendish fingers and sublime artistry of a true virtuoso, Ruggiero Ricci: a feast of concerto, solo and recital repertoire recorded by Ricci, collected together for the first time, and including a previously unpublished set of the Brahms Violin Sonatas.

This recording presents 16 different cadenzas for this work, written by Ferruccio Busoni, Joseph Joachim, Edmund Singer, Hugo Heermann, Leopold Auer, Eugène Ysaÿe, Franz Ondricek, Franz Kneisel, Henri Marteau, Fritz Kreisler, Donald Francis Tovey, Jan Kubelik, Adolf Busch, Jascha Heifetz, Nathan Milstein, and Ruggiero Ricci. Each cadenza is tracked separately and can be programmed by the listener into the concerto.