On Oct 28, Decca Releases Alisa Weilerstein’s Album Solo, Featuring Kodály’s Classic Sonata for Cello Plus Works by Cassadò, Bright Sheng and Osvaldo Golijov
With the Decca Classics release of her album Solo on October 28, cellist Alisa Weilerstein underscores her role as an instrumentalist with something deeply personal to say. The centerpiece of the album is the MacArthur Fellow’s interpretation of Zoltán Kodály’s classic Sonata for Solo Cello of 1915. A New York Times review of a live Weilerstein rendition of the work described the Hungarian composer’s score as giving “full rein to his tormented and craggy vision, qualities fully conveyed in the tireless Ms. Weilerstein’s staggering performance.” Kodály’s sonata will figure in Weilerstein’s solo recitals this season at London’s Wigmore Hall (Jan 5) and the Aspen Festival’s Winter Music Series (Feb 12) with unaccompanied suites by J.S. Bach also on the program.
Weilerstein’s account of the Kodály also features in the recent film If I Stay (and on its accompanying soundtrack album); based on the best-selling novel by Gayle Forman, the movie marks Weilerstein’s feature-film debut, in a cameo appearance as herself. Along with the Kodály and Spanish composer-cellist Gaspar Cassadó’s Suite for Solo Cello of 1926, the CD version of Solo includes Bright Sheng’s Seven Tunes Heard in China and Osvaldo Golijov’s Omaramor, highlighting Weilerstein’s passion for contemporary music. A deluxe digital version of the album also includes György Ligeti’s Sonata for Solo Cello and Britten’s Tema Sacher, as well as Prokofiev’s March from “Music for children” arranged for solo cello by Gregor Piatigorsky.
Weilerstein – who recently won BBC Music magazine’s “Recording of the Year” award for her inventive Decca album pairing the cello concertos of Edward Elgar and Elliott Carter – curated the program of Solo to encompass a century’s worth of unaccompanied music for her instrument. The works span four countries and three continents, all of which are linked by their embrace of folk elements, gypsy inflections and colloquial idioms. Golijov is one of the composers with whom Weilerstein has worked most extensively, and the Argentine composer rewrote his Azul for cello and orchestra especially for her season-opening appearance at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival. Golijov’s Omaramor – a playful fantasia inspired by the tango icon Carlos Gardel – and the Cassadó suite will feature in her solo recital later this season at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in San Francisco (Feb 14), where, as in her London and Aspen solo concerts, she balances the program with unaccompanied Bach.
About Solo, Weilerstein says: “I wanted to record some of my favorite pieces, and each one of them has a folk element, a fantasy element and a meditative element. Recording a solo disc was an immensely satisfying, if terrifying, experience. I find audiences are so responsive to this repertoire, as it’s visually dramatic to watch as well as hear, with me using every possible technique all over the instrument.”
An exclusive Decca Classics recording artist since 2010, Weilerstein is the first cellist to be signed by the prestigious label in more than 30 years. It was her debut Decca album, featuring her in the Elgar and Carter concertos with Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin Staatskapelle, that won the BBC Music “Recording of the Year” award. Her live rendition of the Elgar with the same conductor leading the Berlin Philharmonic impressed the New York Times as “incandescent” and The Guardian as “technically complete and emotionally devastating.” The Berlin concert was broadcast to a television audience of millions worldwide, with EuroArts subsequently releasing a DVD of the event. Having already launched the Milwaukee Symphony’s season with the Elgar concerto, the cellist performs the work around the world this season – with the Stuttgart Philharmonic (Oct 4) and on tour with London’s Philharmonia Orchestra (Canterbury, Oct 11; London’s Royal Festival Hall, Oct 12; and the Bruges Concertgebouw, Oct 14), as well as with the Cleveland Orchestra (Nov 6–9), Dallas Symphony (Nov 14–16), Japan’s NHK Symphony (Feb 7–8) and Netherlands Philharmonic (March 14–16).
Another recent Decca success for Weilerstein has been her chart-topping recording of Dvorák’s Cello Concerto, with the Czech Philharmonic under Jirí Belohlávek. The interpretation is distinguished by a “take-no-prisoners emotional investment that is evident in every bar,” according to the New York Times. On December 4, Weilerstein will return to the New York Philharmonic to perform the Dvorák, with Christoph von Dohnányi conducting.
Weilerstein’s rise as one of the most exciting performers of our day has been noted far and wide. A critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer marveled: “Weilerstein has taken on maturity without losing her youth, an entrancing combination. … Her sound was intense yet restrained…an ethereal laser beam. I’ve never heard anything quite like it.” And the Los Angeles Times said: “Weilerstein’s cello is her id. She doesn’t give the impression that making music involves will at all. She and the cello seem simply to be one and the same.”
Details of Alisa Weilerstein’s 2014-15 engagements are provided below, and more information is available at the artist’s website: alisaweilerstein.com.
Alisa Weilerstein: 2014-15 engagements
Sep 26-28
Minneapolis, MN
Minnesota Orchestra / Osmo Vänskä (season opening)
Barber: Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 22
Oct 4
Stuttgart, Germany
Stuttgarter Philharmoniker/ Dan Ettinger
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
Oct 8
Frankfurt, Germany
Alte Oper
Australian Chamber Orchestra
Haydn: Cello Concerto No. 1 in C, Hob. VIIb/1
Oct 9
Cologne, Germany
Kölner Philharmonie
Australian Chamber Orchestra
Haydn: Cello Concerto No. 1 in C, Hob. VIIb/1
Oct 11
Canterbury, England
Philharmonia Orchestra / Nicholas Collon
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
Oct 12
London, England
Royal Festival Hall
Philharmonia Orchestra / Nicholas Collon
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
Oct 14
Bruges, Belgium
Concertgebouw
Philharmonia Orchestra / Nicholas Collon
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
Oct 23
Aalborg, Denmark
Aalborg Symphony Orchestra / Rafael Payare
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 2, Op. 126
Nov 6, 8 & 9
Cleveland, OH
Cleveland Orchestra / Robin Ticciati
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
Nov 14–16
Dallas, TX
Dallas Symphony Orchestra / Jaap van Zweden
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
Nov 24
Berlin, Germany
Berliner Philharmonie
Recital with Inon Barnatan
Bach: Sonata for Viola da Gamba No. 2 in D, BWV 1028
Prokofiev: Sonata in C, Op. 119
Lera Auerbach: Shostakovich 24 Präludien für Klavier, Op. 34 ”bearbeitet für Violoncello und Klavier”
Schubert: Fantasie in C, D. 934
Dec 4, 5, 6, 9
New York, NY
Lincoln Center
New York Philharmonic / Christoph von Dohnányi
Dvorák: Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104
Dec 7
New York, NY
92nd Street Y
Chamber Music with members of the New York Philharmonic
Dec 12
Warsaw, Poland
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra / Jacek Kaspszyk
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat, Op. 107
Dec 13
Warsaw, Poland
Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra / Jacek Kaspszyk
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat, Op. 107
Dec 17
Oviedo, Spain
Oviedo Filarmonía / Rafael Payare
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
Dec 31
Zurich, Switzerland
Tonhalle Orchester / Lionel Bringuier
Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33
Jan 5, 2015
London, UK
Wigmore Hall
Solo recital
Bach: Cello Suite No. 5 in C minor, BWV 1011
Kodály: Sonata in B minor for solo cello, Op. 8
Jan 9
Saarbrücken, Germany
Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern / Karel Mark Chichon
Dvorák: Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104
Jan 15 & 16
Madrid, Spain
Orquesta Sinfónica de Radio Televisión Española / Kirill Karabits
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
Feb 7 & 8
Tokyo, Japan
NHK Hall
NHK Symphony Orchestra / Paavo Järvi
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
Feb 12
Aspen, CO
Aspen Music Festival and School
Solo recital
Golijov: Omaramor
Bach: Cello Suite No. 3 in C, BWV 1009
Bach: Cello Suite No. 1 in G, BWV 1007
Kodály: Sonata in B minor for solo cello, Op. 8
Feb 14
San Francisco
St Mark’s Lutheran Church
Solo recital
Britten: Tema Sacher
Bach: Cello Suite No. 3 in C, BWV 1009
Ligeti: Sonata for Solo Cello
Golijov: Omaramor
Cassadó: Suite for Cello Solo
Feb 26
Valencia, Spain
Orquesta de Valencia
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
March 4 & 6
Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg / Emmanuel Krivine
Strauss: Don Quixote, Op. 35
March 14 & 16
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra / Karl-Heinz Steffens
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
March 19
Manchester, UK
Hallé Orchestra / Sir Mark Elder
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 2, Op. 126
March 20
Bradford, UK
Hallé Orchestra / Sir Mark Elder
Dvorák: Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104
April 1 & 2
Montreal, Canada
Montreal Symphony Orchestra / Larry Foster
Bloch: Schelomo: Rhapsodie Hébraïque
April 16
Winston-Salem, NC
Wake Forest University
Recital with Inon Barnatan
Bach: Sonata for Viola da Gamba No. 2 in D, BWV 1028
Prokofiev: Sonata in C, Op. 119
Joseph Hallman: New work
Schubert: Fantasie in C, D. 934
April 18
San Juan, PR
Recital with Inon Barnatan
Bach: Sonata for Viola da Gamba No. 2 in D, BWV 1028
Prokofiev: Sonata in C, Op. 119
Joseph Hallman: New work
Schubert: Fantasie in C, D. 934
April 23
New York, NY
Carnegie Hall, Isaac Stern Auditorium
Orchestra of St. Luke’s / Pablo Heras-Casado
Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 2, Op. 126
April 26
Sonoma State University, Green Music Center
Recital with Inon Barnatan
Bach: Sonata for Viola da Gamba No. 2 in D, BWV 1028
Prokofiev: Sonata in C, Op. 119
Joseph Hallman: New work
Schubert: Fantasie in C, D. 934
April 27
Santa Barbara, CA
Recital with Inon Barnatan
Bach: Sonata for Viola da Gamba No. 2 in D, BWV 1028
Prokofiev: Sonata in C, Op. 119
Joseph Hallman: New work
Schubert: Fantasie in C, D. 934
May 1
Boston, MA
“Celebrity Series”
Jordan Hall
Recital with Inon Barnatan
Bach: Sonata for Viola da Gamba No. 2 in D, BWV 1028
Prokofiev: Sonata in C, Op. 119
Joseph Hallman: New work
Schubert: Fantasie in C, D. 934
May 6
Las Palmas, Spain
Solo recital
Britten: Tema Sacher
Bach: Cello Suite No. 3 in C major, BWV 1009
Ligeti: Sonata for Solo Cello
Golijov: Omaramor
Cassadó: Suite for Cello Solo
May 7
Barcelona, Spain
Solo recital
Britten: Tema Sacher
Bach: Cello Suite No. 3 in C major, BWV 1009
Ligeti: Sonata for Solo Cello
Golijov: Omaramor
Cassadó: Suite for Cello Solo
May 9
Weiden, Germany
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra / Jiri Belohlavek
Dvorák: Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104
May 10
Friedrichshafen, Germany
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra / Jiri Belohlavek
Dvorák: Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104
May 13
Paris, France
Orchestre de Paris / Emmanuel Krivine
Dvorák: Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104
May 21
Dublin, Ireland
The National Concert Hall
Ulster Orchestra / Rafael Payare
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
May 22
Belfast, Ireland
Ulster Hall
Ulster Orchestra / Rafael Payare
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85
July 4
Berlin, Germany
Konzerthaus Berlin
Konzerthausorchester Berlin / Juraj Valcuha
Prokofiev: Sinfonia concertante
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