Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 1 in C minor, Op. 88

Allegro grazioso


  • Recorded: 8th December 2007
  • Record Place: Barbican Hall, London
  • First Release: 2007
  • (P) 2007 SUPRAPHON a.s.
  • Genre: Chamber Music

Artists

  • music by: Josef Bohuslav Foerster
  • violin: Ivan Ženatý
  • conductor: Jiří Bělohlávek
  • musical group: BBC Symphony Orchestra

Album

Ivan Ženatý, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Jiří Bělohlávek

Foerster: Violin Concertos

Catalogue Number: SU 3961-2
Published: 20th June 2008
Genre: Chamber Music
Format: 1 CD
This album has received following awards:
  • Gramophone Recommends (2008)
  • Empfohlen von Klassik.com (2008)
The Times called it a "superbly played concert:" Ivan Ženatý and the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek performed Foerster's first violin concerto at London's Barbican Hall in December, 2007. The concerto was written at the urging of Czech violin virtuoso Jan Kubelík, the dedicatee of the work, and the soloist who premiered it in Chicago in 1910. Thesecond concerto, recorded in the studio, is a somewhat neglected part of the solo repertoire, not being a work for the presentation of superficial violin virtuosity. Ženatý, however, succeeds indelving beneath the piece's surface and uncovering its introverted beauty for the audience. Thus these pieces appear together for the first time ever on this album, produced in cooperation with BBC Radio 3. The combination of Foerster's music with a soloist and conductor of this calibre could be called a truly fortunate constellation. Bělohlávek is a conductor of worldwide reknown whose years of musical activity have earned him the position of a specialist in the Czech symphonic and operatic repertoire. Under his guidance, the London orchestra rings with the tones, colors and ardor traditionally associated with Czech ensembles, while Ženatý's playing is characterized as always by passion and virtuosity in the service of the composition. The unique firstrecording of Foerster's complete violin concertos in a spectacular performance by Ivan Ženatý and the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek.
Josef Bohuslav Foerster
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 1 in C minor, Op. 88
1. Allegro moderato 17:28
2. Andante sostenuto (quasi Adagio) 04:26
3. Allegro grazioso 09:38
Josef Bohuslav Foerster
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 2 in D minor, Op. 104
4. Andante sostenuto 13:47
5. Andante moderato 07:39
6. Allegro 12:24