Composer: Max Bruch, Claude Achille Debussy, George Gershwin, Stephan Koncz, Fritz Kreisler, Manuel Maria Ponce, Cyril Scott
Performer: Ray Chen, Julien Quentin, Jascha Heifetz, Stephan Koncz
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Decca
Release: 2018
Size: 989 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Koncz: A New Satiesfaction
02. Kreisler: Syncopation
03. Ponce: Estrellita
Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26
04. 1. Vorspiel (Allegro moderato)
05. 2. Adagio
06. 3. Finale (Allegro energico)
Debussy: Suite Bergamasque
07. 3. Clair de lune (Arr. Koncz)
08. Kreisler: Schön Rosmarin
Gershwin: Porgy and Bess
09. Summertime (Arr. Heifetz)
10. Scott: Lotus Land (Arr. Kreisler)
11. trad.: Waltzing Matilda (Arr. Koncz)
In dubbing his album “The Golden Age” violinist Ray Chen wanted to evoke an era when violinists Fritz Kreisler and Jascha Heifetz travelled the world, and when the ink was barely dry on the works of Claude Debussy, Erik Satie, Max Bruch, Cyril Scott and George Gershwin. Chen thought of his bouquet as a great big spray bordered by smaller flowers whose size hides an often exquisite perfection. And so it is that Max Bruch’s First Concerto a major work, and musically a classic, dating from 1866, is hemmed around with a few pearls from Gershwin, Ponce and Scott re-written by Heifetz et Kreisler, not to forget a few delightful winks from Stephan Koncz (born 1984) at Satie in The New Satiesfaction or Debussy in his revision of Clair de lune. It’s Stephan Koncz himself, who is also the cellist of the Berlin Philharmonic, who holds down the cello role in the revisions for string quartet. Ray Chen won the 2008 Menuhin Competition and the following year won the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels: two big door-openers for the great international career which he has enjoyed since, with a constant companion in the form of a Stradivarius which had belonged to Joseph Joachim.