Violin Sonatas: Strauss | Respighi
Tasmin Little (violin), Piers Lane (piano)

Tasmin Little has decided to showcase works by Ottorino Respighi and Richard Strauss in her latest recital album for Chandos. She is joined by the well-respected Australian pianist Piers Lane.

Respighi is best known for his orchestral music, and Richard Strauss for both his orchestral music and operas, and therefore their chamber music has tended to take a back seat, however unfairly. On this recording we explore a few such neglected works, all of which display the full range of emotion, drama, harmonic exploration, and technical brilliance that characterised romanticism at its height.

Respighi wrote his Violin Sonata at the peak of his creative powers. Full-blooded and romantic, it explores both Italian lyricism and powerful dramatic gestures, and as such provides both instrumentalists with a virtuoso workout.

The composer’s Sei pezzi (Six Pieces) for violin and piano inhabit the very different world of intimate salon music.

Tasmin Little and Piers Lane have chosen three of the six pieces for this album. No. 2, Melodia, is the only one originally intended for violin and piano, a brief, but lovely song without words. No. 4, Valse caressante, was written first for piano solo and, with its lolloping melodic lilt, is appropriately titled. Finally, No.5, Serenata, is based on material from Respighi’s first opera, Re Enzo, composed in 1904 – 05.

The Violin Sonata of Richard Strauss represents a crossroads in his creative journey. On the one hand, the language evokes the rigour and definition of Strauss as we know him. On the other, the sonata is an abstract work, not far removed from the dramatic sound-pictures and high romanticism so characteristic of the works of Liszt and Wagner.

Tasmin Little enjoys a flourishing career that has taken her to every continent and major orchestra around the world. She continues to champion seldom-performed repertoire, and her playing helped secure the Critics’ Choice Award at the 2011 Classic BRIT Awards for the Chandos recording of Elgar’s Violin Concerto, with alternative cadenza, and rarely heard Polonia. In great demand as a chamber musician, Piers Lane has given sold-out recitals at the Wigmore Hall, London and the opening recital at the new Melbourne Recital Centre.

BEETHOVEN: Complete Works for Piano and Orchestra
Tasmin Little (violin), Tim Hugh (cello), Howard Shelley (piano and conductor)
Opera North Orchestra and Chorus

The piano remained the main instrument of Beethoven throughout his life, and this specially priced 4-CD box set represents his entire and sizeable output for piano and orchestra, starting with the early Piano Concerto in E flat, WoO 4 a work of tremendous energy and great technical demands, which Beethoven wrote when he was just twelve years old and ending with Piano Concerto No. 5, the only one that Beethoven never performed himself in concert, due to his developing deafness. Howard Shelley was awarded an OBE for services to classical music at the 2009 New Year Honours. He here conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of Opera North from the piano. Shelley has recorded extensively for Chandos over the years, and he has combined the role of solo pianist and conductor on numerous occasions, most recently with the Orchestra of Opera North in Piano Concertos by Schumann, Saint-Saëns, and Grieg (CHAN 10509), but also with the London Mozart Players, recording works by Cramer, Hummel, Mendelssohn, and Mozart. All his recordings have received superb reviews. Beethoven wrote the Triple Concerto on this disc in 1803 during a lull in the composition of his opera Fidelio. Works for violin, cello and piano were fairly common at the time but combining them with orchestra was, as Beethoven himself observed, something entirely new, and no other concerto of this kind from this period is known today. In this work, Howard Shelley is joined by the violinist and exclusive Chandos artist Tasmin Little, who won the Critics Choice Award at this years Classic BRITS, and by the cellist Tim Hugh, of whom The Times said: Mr Hugh is much more than just a Cellist, he is a musician with a compelling insight into the creative urge behind the notes.

This collection of recordings illuminates two different sides of violinist Tasmin Little's accomplished playing. While the Brahms and Sibelius Concertos are a testament to her technical skill and breadth of expression, the Pärt works display a more pared-back approach, making full use of Little's pure and resonant tone.