I have just been informed that Naxos has recorded Ignatz Waghalter's Violin Concerto together with his Rhapsody for violin & orchestra & violin sonata, to be issued in 2012. The soloist is Irmina Trynkos and a short video is available to view at www.knuckle.tv/clients/the-waghalter-project/ (http://www.knuckle.tv/clients/the-waghalter-project/). On the basis of the sound clips this is going to be a most eagerly awaited release!
Friends may not have noticed the general thread on Waghalter where news of this forthcoming recording has also been reported...
http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,1702.0.html (http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,1702.0.html)
If you have been wondering what has happened to the Naxos release, it seems that it now won't be coming out until the autumn...
<<Irmina's debut CD will include premiere recordings of all Waghalter's violin works. This was possible thanks to the collaboration with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by British conductor Alexander Walker and Georgian virtuoso pianist Giorgi Latsabidze. The CD will be released on NAXOS in Autumn 2012.>>
http://www.irminatrynkos.com/downloads/Biography.pdf (http://www.irminatrynkos.com/downloads/Biography.pdf)
All good things come to he who waits... (or something like that).
I now notice that the launch of this eagerly awaited release will take place at a recital (by the artists featured on the recording!) at St.Johns Smith Square on Monday 1st October at 7.30pm. The recital includes a performance of Waghalter's Violin Sonata, as well as sonatas by Schumann and Elgar. Hoping to be there, of course!
Thanks for this excellent news, Martin.
Having today received the autumn schedule of concerts from Cadogan Hall, I notice that the concert on Wednesday 14th November 2012 will include both the Waghalter Violin Concerto & Rhapsodie for violin & orchestra in what are stated to be first performances since 1911 & 1907 respectively! Same artists as the Naxos release. It seems therefore we have a mini Waghalter festival here in London this autumn!
Oooh, lovely. I hope to be there...
And so, I hope, shall I.
http://www.knuckle.tv/clients/the-waghalter-project/ (http://www.knuckle.tv/clients/the-waghalter-project/)
KnuckleTV has an interesting film about the production of this recording with some tantalizing excerpts of the music and interviews of Irmina and Alexander
Friends might like to note the previous thread on Waghalter...
http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,1702.msg29947.html#msg29947 (http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,1702.msg29947.html#msg29947)
News of the recital at St John's, Smith Square can be found here:
http://www.sjss.org.uk/events/ignatz-waghalter (http://www.sjss.org.uk/events/ignatz-waghalter)
And details of the concert at Cadogan Hall can be found here:
http://www.cadoganhall.com/event/english-chamber-orchestra-121114/ (http://www.cadoganhall.com/event/english-chamber-orchestra-121114/)
The CD is due out on 1st October:
http://www.mdt.co.uk/waghalter-ignatz-violin-concerto-rhapsodie-philharmonic-orchestra-alexander-walker-naxos.html (http://www.mdt.co.uk/waghalter-ignatz-violin-concerto-rhapsodie-philharmonic-orchestra-alexander-walker-naxos.html)
Alan and I will definitely be there. Shall we meet up with you, Gareth and anyone else who is going?
That would be great, wouldn't it?
Yes, let's do that.
I've contacted our ally. She might be able to conduct the American premiere. After all, Naxos is her label, too. ;D
That's great, Jim.
I don't want to get hopes up too high! But she did like the Raff CD I burned for her, so that's a good sign! I sent her a couple of Miaskovsky CDs (VC, Symphonies 5, 15 and 27) and I'm still waiting for her reaction when she gets them. We've been emailing back and forth several times a day. My next CDs will be Rufinatscha (Dramatic Overture, PC and 5th Symphony) and Gounod (La Nonne Sanglante Overture, Piano-pédalier Concerto and Symphony 2). She's going to Europe from the 10th to the 19th. I think I'll send her some Bruch (Die Loreley Overture, VC 3 and 2nd Symphony) followed by a Russian disc with Golovanov's Russian Overture, Arensky's VC and the Catoire Symphony after she gets back. There is some talk of doing some music by Howard Blake, who is out of the remit of this forum, but who composes in a neo-Romantic/modal style somewhat reminiscent (to me) of Vaughan Williams. I'm going to download a couple of his works and send them to her. Man, I can't believe this is happening!
All I can say, Jim, is: keep it up! An entrée like that doesn't come along every day. Well done!
I would very much appreciate if you could pitch your "ally" to perform and record some unrecorded violin concertos: Bruch 3, Miaskovsky, Arensky are all recorded more than enough and the recording of the Blake concerto is pretty much perfect, so why not performing something exciting?
Best,
Tobias
Right now my emphasis is trying to get some of the stuff that's been "recorded enough" performed live in concert. However, I do see your point. Maybe down the road I'm going to see if I can do something about that G minor symphony of Albert Becker over at NWU. The problem seems to be that she wants me to send her CDs of the works in advance. I get the feeling she has to hear something that tickles her fancy before she'll give the score a look. So anything that she'll perform has to at least have been recorded in some form and accessible for me to download and burn to CD in order to merit consideration. Sorry, but that's how we're operating right now. Give it time and trust and who knows? As far as Blake is concerned, somebody *spoiler alert* over in Ulster has taken a fancy to his music and wants her to conduct it over there.
As an aside, Jim, I have written to the music library at NWU to see if I can get a copy of Becker's G minor, so that's in hand.
Quote from: JimL on Sunday 02 September 2012, 15:31
I get the feeling she has to hear something that tickles her fancy before she'll give the score a look.
Pretty understandable. Thats why I build a sound archive for the violin concertos of the 20th century. So if she wants to listen to anything from my archive, she can get in touch with me via my website.
Best,
Tobias
I think it's a question of sending music to her, Tobias. As far as your (marvellous!) archive is concerned, she might wonder where exactly to begin...
She don't have to decide where to begin, she just tells me what she wants (what kind of music) and I will give recommendations. I did this before to some violinists who were on the search for new repertoire. So if she will drop a line and sketch her wishes, I surely can make some suggestions.
Best,
Tobias
Between works with recordings in the violin concerto archives (e.g. ... ) and works with scores and parts in either Free Library Philadelphia , IMSLP, Sibley/BSB/ThULB/... or somewhere else reasonably accessible , one has a good beginning, I think - and there are likely at least a few works meeting those requirements, enough to fill a CD and a parcelpassel-of-parts. Yay! (No sarcasm intended- I love the idea. Apologies though, realise that it is offtopic(%Waghalter(yes)).)
Quote from: violinconcerto on Sunday 02 September 2012, 19:23
She don't have to decide where to begin, she just tells me what she wants (what kind of music) and I will give recommendations. I did this before to some violinists who were on the search for new repertoire. So if she will drop a line and sketch her wishes, I surely can make some suggestions.
The lady in question obviously responds to having recommendations made to her and then hearing a recording. As far as UC is concerned, this would mean sending her a recording of what you might consider worthy of investigation from the late-Romantic repertoire. After all, she doesn't know where to begin because she doesn't know the music...
In my experience, real impetus is given to getting unsung music performed when one actually takes the trouble to send a score/recording, etc. to someone. For example, if Rufinatscha's music hadn't been sent to Chandos, there would have been no recording of the 6th Symphony. We could have waited forever for Chandos to discover him by themselves...
I send a CD and then email the score (if I have it) as an attachment, or provide what information I have on score availability in the body of the email. If were to make a recommendation of something I don't already have, and it's in your archive, you might send a download to me via WeTransfer, however, I wouldn't generally recommend a work I don't already have, or at least haven't heard. Most of it I can get via download here, over at Sydney Grew's site, or from YouTube.
Naxos has just posted the notes that apparently accompany the Waghalter CD. They are written by Michael Haas, who played a major role in Decca's "Degenerate Music" project back in the 1990s. The notes are very interesting, and the passages that describe the music cannot help but arouse great interest. One doesn't have the impression that Waghalter was a minor composer. And he seems to have been a very progressive artist. He attempted to found an orchestra of Afro-American musicians after arriving in the United States! At the end of the notes, Haas writes: "This recording brings to light one of the most unjustly forgotten musicians of pre-1933 Europe, inviting the question: how was it possible that this music went missing for a century?"
The URL to the Naxos notes is:
http://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_reviews.asp?item_code=8.572809&catNum=572809&filetype=About%20this%20Recording&language=English# (http://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_reviews.asp?item_code=8.572809&catNum=572809&filetype=About%20this%20Recording&language=English#)
Available next month - details at jpc here (http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/Ignatz-Waghalter-1881-1941-Violinkonzert/hnum/3134864).
...and also here:
http://www.mdt.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=waghalter&t=general (http://www.mdt.co.uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=waghalter&t=general)
BTW we're looking at a concerto similar in length to Bruch VC1; so, not a big work. Hopefully an entertaining one, though.
The Naxos CD of Ignatz Waghalter's violin music is, acording to Amazon, scheduled for release on October 2. Excerpts of the music can be heard both on Amazon and Itunes. To the extent that it is possible to form an impression, based on these excerpts, this is very important music. The question posed by Michael Haas needs to be answered: how was it possible that work of this caliber wenr missing for a century? Well, I suppose that 1933-45 had a great deal to do with it. BTW, the violinist is fabulous.
Yes, the extracts available at Amazon promise a very worthwhile CD indeed. It all sounds lovely stuff and I'm really looking forward to hearing the Concerto live in November but, just to carp for a moment, what a shame that Naxos couldn't find another 20 minutes of music to fill out the CD.
Agreed. There does seem to be a late piece for violin and orchestra called An Age-Old Fairy-Tale:
http://www.waghalter.com/hist.html (http://www.waghalter.com/hist.html)
It's also a shame that the Naxos CD actually includes three works that have already been recorded!
http://www.waghalter.com/music.html (http://www.waghalter.com/music.html)
Waghalter is completely new to me and I've listened with excitement to the audio samples. The VC could be a gem, but the Rhapsody doesn't sound less promising. The music for violin and piano proves to be really romantic, and therefore I'm actually happy these pieces are the fillers of this almost 60 minutes during Naxos release. This varied music for violin from an unknown composer will surely give me a hour of listening pleasure. Now we have to be patient for few more weeks...
I think the VC will definitely prove to be a gem.
Many thanks, Alan, for providing us with the link to the website devoted to Waghalter. Really interesting stuff - and heavens, those operas!
You begin to suspect that, surely, there can't be any further unsung and unknown composers to discover. But, lo, Waghalter emerges - and I strongly suspect he's a stunner!
I am the grandson of Ignatz Waghalter. I am deeply moved by the renewed interest in the music of my "Opi," (as he was always referred to in my family, even years after his death). This is truly an extraordinary development, especially when one considers the almost complete oblivion that descended over his work for more than six decades. I hope and believe that the potential for a Waghalter revival arises from a desire for a music that evokes a range of emotions beyond "angst" and "verzweiflung" [anxiety and desperation]. I would like to thank the contributors to this site who have expressed interest in the "Waghalter Project" and for your championing of "unsung composers" whose music deserves to be heard. I will be in London for the October 1 concert, and hope that I will have a chance to meet some of you who have been discussing Waghalter's music. With best regards, David Waghalter Green
David, thanks so much for this. At least three of us will be at the concert and we'll see if we can arrange to meet you there. Your grandfather's music clearly strikes a chord with many more of us here and it's to be hoped that the CD and concert will spark a wider revival of interest.
Well, we'll be at the November 14th orchestral concert at Cadogan Hall, rather than at the recital at St John's, Smith Square in October...
Below are excerpts from a blog by violinist Irmina trynkos, who is the soloist in the new Waghalter CD.
"A major contributing factor to the conservative tastes of audiences is the lack of exposure for a wider range of music composed shortly before the Second World War. Part of this was caused by the turmoil of the war itself, and the strong change in aesthetics thereafter. As a result, a very large number of musical personalities were forgotten in the chaos of this era, without any regard to the actual quality of their music and the success of their careers.
"Today, we do hear a good amount of modern music, composed by living artists, which definitely deserves its place in concerts worldwide. I am, however, convinced that audiences deserve the opportunity to make up their minds about composers whose music has been unjustly suppressed due to uncontrollable historical events. Among these is one I immediately fell in love with - Ignatz Waghalter. The emotional authenticity and force of his lyricism are the unique expression of an extraordinary musical culture. This intense melodic imagination gave me the instant impetus to establish the Waghalter Project, the purpose of which is to popularise the composer's music once again."
The entire text can be accessed at: http://www.gramophone.co.uk/blog/gramophone-guest-blog/rediscovering-ignatz-waghalter (http://www.gramophone.co.uk/blog/gramophone-guest-blog/rediscovering-ignatz-waghalter)
Dear everyone,
For those of you based on the continent, there will be another Waghalter Project concert in Berlin on the 5th October at 19:30 at Kammermusiksaal, Philharmonie, Berlin. The programme will be as follows:
Schumann: Sonata for Violin and Piano in A minor No. 1 op. 105
Elgar: Sonata for Violin and Piano in E minor op. 82
Waghalter: Sonata for Violin and Piano in F minor op. 5
Waghalter: Idyll for Violin and Piano
Wieniawski: Fantasie brillante on themes from Gounod's 'Faust" op. 20
Irmina Trynkos: violin
Giorgi Latsabidze: piano
You can buy tickets here: http://www.classictic.com/en/waghalter_project__irmina_trynkos___giorgi_latsabidze/22431/151976/ (http://www.classictic.com/en/waghalter_project__irmina_trynkos___giorgi_latsabidze/22431/151976/)