Violin Declamations from the Twilight of the Workers’ Paradise – Elmira Darvarova

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Nov 272017
 

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An empire in collapse. A daring escapee.
A deeply personal program of music from a time of turmoil — and hope.

Violinist Elmira Darvarova was communist Bulgaria’s worst-kept artistic secret. News of the young virtuoso’s talent had circulated in the West during the 1970s — even coming to the attention of Jascha Heifetz. An artistic collaboration with legendary cellist János Starker led to her daring escape from Bulgaria. She emigrated to the United States, where she eventually became the concertmaster of the MET Orchestra and founder of the New York Chamber Music Festival. Darvarova has extensively recorded both classical and world music, championing scandalously underexposed works by such composers as David Amram, Amanda Maier, Franco Alfano, and Joseph Marx.

Violin Declamations from the Twilight of the Workers’ Paradise is her most personal recording to date — a program of solo violin works from the waning years of the Warsaw Pact and Soviet Union by composers, including several that had been denounced as dissidents in their own countries, whose music was exposing the cracks in the “glorious workers’ revolution” — but also expressing glimmers of hope. The program includes four world premiere recordings. Darvarova also includes a detailed essay on the music and a first-hand account of artistic life behind the Iron Curtain.

Aram Khachaturian (1903-1978): Sonata-Monologue for solo violin (1975)
Sylvie Bodorova (b.1954):Dža More – Gypsy Ballad (1990)
Grigory Zaborov (1935-1985): Improvisation (1978)
Afrodita Kathmeridou (b. 1956): Two Miniatures for solo violin (1978) — World Premiere Recording
Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998): Praeludium in memoriam D. Shostakovich (1975)
Dmitri Smirnov (b. 1948): Two Fugues for solo violin, Op. 6 (1970)
Nikolai Badinski (b. 1937): Dialoghi per violino solo (1973) — World Premiere Recording
Elena Firsova (b. 1950): Fantasia for solo violin, Op. 32 (1985) — World Premiere Recording
Konstantin Soukhovetski (b. 1981): Postcard from the Edge (1990) — World Premiere Recording

Recorded on June 16 and 17, 2013 at Edith Chapel, Lawrenceville, New Jersey
Recording Engineers: John C. Baker and Samuel Ward
Edited by John C. Baker
Mastered by Gene Gaudette
Produced by Elmira Darvarova and Gene Gaudette

Visit Elmira Darvarova’s Web site and Facebook page
Visit Urlicht AudioVisual’s Web site and Facebook page

Urlicht AudioVisual UAV-5984 (783583260442)

Digital release date: Nov. 27, 2017

CD available in January 2018

Amanda Maier Meets Johannes Brahms (Extended Edition)

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Oct 012013
 

UAV5994.cover.273Amanda Maier was greatly admired by Johannes Brahms for both her virtuoso artistry as a violinist and her ambitious, challenging compositions, including her own Violin Sonata. Brahms gave Maier an early edition of his own Third Violin Sonata — and made numerous revisions before publication based on Maier’s advice.

Amanda Maier Meets Johannes Brahms brings together their mutually infuential violin sonatas along with Brahms’ Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano. Elmira Darvarova, the frst female concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, is joined by rising Canadian piano star Bryan Wagorn and, in Brahms’ Horn Trio, New York Philharmonic principal hornPhilip Myers in a rare solo appearance.

This release contains the only recording of the Maier Sonata currently available. The download edition also includes a bonus work not available on CD: Clara Schumann’s 3 Romanzen for piano and violin, Op. 22!

Amanda Maier Meets Johannes Brahms

  1. Brahms: Horn Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 40
  2. Maier: Violin Sonata in b minor
  3. Brahms: Violin Sonata No. 3 in d minor, Op. 108
  4. Bonus tracks in the download edition ONLY — Clara Schumann: 3 Romanzen for piano and violin, Op. 22

Elmira Darvarova, violin • Philip Myers, horn • Bryan Wagorn, piano

Recorded January 6 & 7, 2013 at Bristol Hall, Westminster Choir College, Princeton, NJ
Engineered by John C. Baker
Produced by Gene Gaudette

Urlicht AudioVisual UAV-5984

HD download release date: October 15, 2013

Buy the CD Edition here .

Also available in download formats:

  • Download editions are delivered in .zip format and contain all music files with
    • full metadata,
    • complete liner notes in .pdf format,
    • and .cue sheets and mini-covers for portable players!
  • FLAC is for audiophile portables and home theater systems and requires a FLAC-compatible player
  • iTunes users: download the mp3 to your iTunes directory, unzip, and enjoy!
  • We accept PayPal for download sales. Downloads are delivered by the secure Payloadz service; after purchase, you will receive an e-mail with a direct download link.

Download the High Definition FLAC edition here — $10.99

Download the CD quality FLAC edition here — $9.99

Download the mp3 (VBR 48kHz maximum quality) edition here — $8.99