Sherban Lupu – Ernst: Complete Works, Vol. 6 (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 53:53 minutes | 965 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Toccata Classics
Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst (1812–65) was one of the leading musicians of his day, a friend of Berlioz, Chopin, Liszt and Mendelssohn, and for Joseph Joachim ‘the greatest violinist I ever heard’. But the popular encore pieces by which Ernst is remembered today represent only a fraction of his output. This fifth volume – in series of seven presenting all his compositions for the first time – shows his mastery of large- and small-scale forms: the Polonaise de Concert and Variations on the National Anthem are grand and brilliant compositions for the concert hall, while the sparkling operatic miniatures and tender arrangements are altogether more intimate.
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Sherban Lupu, Henri Bonamy, Liepaja Symphony Orchestra & Paul Mann – Eugene Ysaye: Violin Discoveries (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:07:17 minutes | 1,15 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Divine Art
Belgian violinist, conductor and composer Eugène Ysaÿe (1858–1931) has been recognized as one of the greatest violin virtuosos of the 19th and early 20th centuries; regarded as the ‘King of the Violin’ by Nathan Milstein, his legacy has inspired generations of musicians. Ysaÿe was also a true avant-garde composer whose works feature revolutionary modern violin technique, unique expressive devices, profound musicality and harmonic originality, which eventually served as the bridge between the era of the Romantic virtuoso and contemporary music. It is odd, then, to realise that many of his works remain unknown, unpublished and unrecorded. This album presents for the first time several works for violin and piano ranging from 1885 to 1924, and a previously unknown Violin Concerto in G minor from 1910, which was orchestrated by Sabin Pautza. Romanian violinist Sherban Lupu is internationally known; he studied in London with Yehudi Menuhin and other leading teachers and has a very busy career, being best known for his discovery, publication and performance of the music of Enescu, but also has held prestigious posts in Italy and Romania and as concertmaster of San Francisco Opera, USA. He is accompanied here by the bright young pianist Henri Bonamy (who was Professor of Piano in Seoul, Korea and now teaches in Munich) and the fine orchestra of Liepāja, Latvia. The conductor is Paul Mann who has made a name recently with many recordings for Toccata Classics.
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Sherban Lupu, Viorela Ciucur, Sinfonia Da Camera & Ian Hobson – The Unknown Enescu, Vol. 2 (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:12:50 minutes | 684 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Toccata Classics
Although Enescu gave opus numbers to only 33 of his works, he left an enormous number of pieces in varying stages of composition, from sketches and draft outlines to isolated movements and some scores that are almost complete. Working with a handful of composers and musicologists – fellow Romanians with specialist knowledge of Enescu’s style – the violinist Sherban Lupu has produced performing editions of a number of previously unknown works, heard here in the context of other Enescu rarities. One of these ‘rescued’ pieces, hiding behind the modest title of Caprice Roumain, is nothing less than a major violin concerto.
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