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

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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

 

 

alisaweilerstein.com

 

www.facebook.com/AlisaWeilerstein

 

twitter.com/aweilerstein

 

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© 21C Media Group, September 2014

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