Francesca Dego

Francesca Dego, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Dalia Stasevska – Brahms & Busoni Violin Concertos (2024) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · March 1, 2024 · Comments off

The celebrated violinist Francesca Dego is joined by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and her regular collaborator Dalia Stasevska for this recording of the violin concertos by Brahms and Busoni. A cornerstone of the repertoire, Brahms’s Concerto dates from 1878, a year after the Second Symphony, and was composed for (and dedicated to) the virtuoso Joseph Joachim. The Concerto takes the standard three-movement form, and as in Beethoven’s Concerto (considered by many as Brahms’s inspiration for the work) the first movement is significant in its length and its complexity. Busoni’s Violin Concerto in its turn is inspired by both Brahms and Beethoven, and like both previous works it is in the key of D major. Premièred in Berlin in 1897 by the Dutch violinist Henri Petri, the Concerto is dazzlingly virtuosic. Francesca Dego writes: ‘To be able to record Brahms’s Violin Concerto is a dream and a milestone for every violinist and I feel that with “my” Brahms I do not want to compete with the many gorgeous versions out there but instead to declare my own love and history with my favourite violin concerto. Busoni’s Concerto, however, is a rarely performed work, brought to the studio only a handful of times. It represents a different kind of responsibility, one that pushed me to want to rediscover every detail of this music as if it had never been played before.’

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Francesca Dego, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Sir Roger Norrington – Mozart Violin Concertos, Vol. 2 (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · February 2, 2024 · Comments off

Francesca Dego, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Sir Roger Norrington - Mozart Violin Concertos, Vol. 2 (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

Francesca Dego, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Sir Roger Norrington – Mozart Violin Concertos, Vol. 2 (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:07:56 minutes | 1,20 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Chandos

Following their critically acclaimed first volume of Mozart’s violin concertos (CHAN 20234), Francesca Dego and Sir Roger Norrington complete the set, once again with outstanding support from a reduced Royal Scottish National Orchestra. This cycle not only represents the first time Sir Roger has recorded these concertos, but the present album is also his final recording project. All five concertos were written before Mozart was twenty; nevertheless, his rapid development as a composer is evident in the progression from the first to the fifth, which has an unusual Adagio section within the first movement, an extensive slow movement, and of course the extensive ‘Turkish’ episode in the final movement (probably based on Hungarian folk music). Whilst given on modern instruments with metal strings, these are performances immersed in Norrington’s lifetime of experience in period performance practise. As The Sunday Times noted of the first album: ‘Pairing the veteran Mozartian Norrington – a pioneer of historical performance practice – with the young Italian-American soloist Dego proves inspiring in what promises to be one of the freshest of recent cycles of the Mozart concertos.’
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Francesca Dego, Timothy Ridout, Laura van der Heijden, Federico Colli – Mozart: The Piano Quartets (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · September 4, 2023 · Comments off

Following a highly successful series of concerts in the summer of 2022, Francesca Dego, Timothy Ridout, Laura van der Heijden, and Federico Colli headed into the studio to record Mozart’s Piano Quartets. Whilst he may not have been the first composer to add a viola to the popular piano trio, Mozart was certainly the first to do so with such outstanding success. In his piano quartets, the strings become an equal partner to the piano, rather than mere accompaniment – much as in his piano concertos. This link is reinforced by his choice of form – unlike his string quartets, the piano quartets have three movements rather than four: a full-bodied movement in sonata form, a lighter central slow movement in a related key, and a rondo finale. Both works were composed during the three-year period, from February 1784 to December 1786, in which Mozart wrote twelve piano concertos. The first quartet is written in the key of G minor – rarely used by Mozart – and the overall mood is quite dark, almost disturbing. The second quartet, in E flat major, is by contrast much sunnier in atmosphere. Consequently, the two works together make for a very satisfying programme.

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Francesca Dego & Francesca Leonardi – Suite Italienne (2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · February 5, 2023 · Comments off

A world premiere recording of three works by the Italian composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. The Italian violin and piano duo Francesca Dego and Francesca Leonardi will release a new album on Deutsche Grammophon this October, featuring Stravinsky’s Suite Italienne, Respighi’s Violin Sonata in B minor for violin and piano and the world premiere recording of three works by the Italian composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco.

In addition to violin paraphrases of operas by Rossini and Verdi, the album includes Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s “Ballade” Op. 107 for violin and piano, which was written for and premiered by Tossy Spivakovsky in 1940. It was left to gather dust until February 2018, when it was recovered by Dego with the assistance of the composer’s granddaughter, Diana Castelnuovo-Tedesco. It is now available internationally in print thanks to Edizioni Curci.

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Francesca Dego & Francesca Leonardi – Il Cannone: Francesca Dego Plays Paganini’s Violin (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · February 4, 2023 · Comments off

Paganini’s violin, the legendary “il Cannone”, made by Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù in 1743, is one of the most important musical instruments in the history of Western music. Paganini was the greatest virtuoso of his time, acclaimed throughout Europe and an inspiration to performers and composers alike. On his death, he bequeathed “il Cannone” to his home city of Genoa, where it is permanently housed under high security in the Town Hall.

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Francesca Dego – Mozart: Violin Concertos Nos. 3 & 4 (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · February 4, 2023 · Comments off

The virtuoso violinist Francesca Dego joins forces with the legendary conductor and period performance pioneer Sir Roger Norrington for this recording of Mozart’s Third and Fourth Violin Concertos – the first time either soloist or conductor has recorded the works. The outstanding musicians of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra provide the accompaniment, with reduced numbers of strings and antiphonal violin seating to replicate the size and seating of the Salzburg court orchestra which gave the first performances of these works.

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Francesca Dego, Francesca Leonardi – Mozart Violin Sonatas KV. 301, KV. 303, KV. 305, KV. 454 (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · January 31, 2023 · Comments off

Francesca Dego, Francesca Leonardi - Mozart Violin Sonatas KV. 301, KV. 303, KV. 305, KV. 454 (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

Francesca Dego, Francesca Leonardi – Mozart Violin Sonatas KV. 301, KV. 303, KV. 305, KV. 454 (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:10:13 minutes | 1,19 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Chandos

Following her critically acclaimed recording with Sir Roger Norrington and the RSNO of Violin Concertos by Mozart, Francesca Dego turns to a selection of his violin sonatas with her long-term recital partner, Francesca Leonardi. Dego comments: “Francesca and I have been playing together for seventeen years, more than half my life and the totality of my career. To work as a duo on a regular basis means reaching common interpretative solutions, ones that sum up each player’s qualities, and creates a great sense of mutual responsibility. What you do together somehow feels naturally complete. We decided to build this album around our very favourite Sonata, KV 454 in B-flat major, which we had been performing for many years and in which Mozart’s simplicity and flamboyance coexist in perfect harmony”.
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Francesca Dego, Francesca Leonardi – Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Nos. 6, 7 & 10 (2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · August 26, 2022 · Comments off

Francesca Dego, Francesca Leonardi - Beethoven: Violin Sonatas Nos. 6, 7 & 10 (2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

Francesca Leonardi has established herself as one of the best young violinists on the international musical scene. Recently signed by Deutsche Grammophon, her debut album with the 24 Paganini Caprices recorded on the ex-Ricci Guarneri del Gesù was released in October 2012 and received high critical acclaim. She is now recording the complete Beethoven violin sonatas, the final volume to be released in Fall 2015. She is also featured guest artist in Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo’s album ‘Ave Maria’ released by Sony Classical. She is a winner of numerous national and international competitions. In 2008 she was the first Italian female violinist since 1961 to reach the final of the renowned “Paganini Competition” in Genoa and she won the “Enrico Costa” prize for having been the youngest finalist.
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