Maria Krestinskaya – L’arte del violino solo (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 48:11 minutes | 935 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ReachSound.Art
“For this Album I choosed three different violins with bows to match have helped to maintain the performance authentic throughout the program.
The first one is an authentic baroque violin made in 1627 by Jovanni Paolo Maggini and tuned to 415 Hz. This violin is the best for performing Locatelli’s Capriccio and Tartini’s Devil Trill.
The second violin is a classic instrument made in 2019 by Alexander Rabinovitch, one of the best violin makers of our time, and tuned to 430 Hz. The instrument has a deep and vibrant tone required for classical music and it sounds perfect with gut strings and in tandem with a bow to match made by Eugene Ivanov in 2017.
The third violin is a modern instrument carefully assembled by Alexander Rabinovitch in 2011 and tuned to 440 Hz. Being extremely demanding in terms of sound quality and intonation, Paganini’s music dictates some delicate attention to the instrument, especially when one uses gut strings. This violin is perfectly capable of demonstrating all the illustrious brilliance of Paganini’s variations while also keeping its own gentle and romantic tone. For the “Nel Cor piu non mi Sento” variations I have chosen a bow after Tourte specifically made by Alexander Rabinovitch in 2019. All the three violins complement each other flawlessly creating varied and complex acoustic effects.”
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Grigory Krotenko, Barocco Concertato, Ilya Mazurov & Maria Krestinskaya – Travels with Goliath, In the footsteps of Josef Kämpfer (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 57:55 minutes | 582 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © RUBICON
The Goliath in question, as the kind reader might have guessed, is none other than the double bass, an instrument with which is admittedly harder to travel than a recorder. This is however what double bass player Joseph Kämpfer did from the 1770s to the 1810s: after resigning from the Austrian-Hungarian cavalry, he decided to learn the double bass (the market for pianists or violinists was already saturated) and once he became a virtuoso, he travelled throughout Europe accepting positions from time to time, but mostly giving concerts from Saint-Petersburg to Bratislava, from Munster to Salzburg, Vienna or even Paris, where his appearance at the highly famous Spiritual Concerts seems to have quite surprised the audience, unaccustomed to the double bass’ growling. His repertoire probably covered many of the works recorded here by Grigori Krotenko, concertos or sonatas from Hoffmeister, Vaňhal, Sperger and even Mozart! Because, yes, Mozart wrote in 1791 an aria sung by bass, solo double bass and orchestra, Per questa bella mano, which is in no way an adaptation or an apocryphal transposition. It seems that this colorful moment was created for the bass-baritone Franz Xaver Gerl and the double bass player Friedrich Pischelberger, both present during the world premiere ofThe Magic Flute. Splendid sonorities, probably highly uncommon, but who make you hope that this Goliath will never meet his David, as that would be too bad.
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