Signs, Games + Messages Jennifer Koh & Shai Wosner

• Leoš Janáček (1854-1928): Sonata for Violin and Piano JW VII/7
• 1 I. Con moto 04:51
• 2 II. Ballada - Con moto 05:16
• 3 III. Allegretto 02:42
• 4 IV. Adagio 04:47
• György Kurtág (1926)
• 5 Doina 02:30
• 6 Signs, Games and Messages for Violin - The Carenza Jig 00:48
• 7 No. 1. Öd und traurig 02:17
• 8 No. 2. Vivo 01:10
• 9 No. 3. Sehr leise, ausserst langsam 02:10
• 10 Alapelemek (Fundamentals) (2) 00:33
• 11 Signs, Games and Messages for Violin - In memoriam Blum Thomas 03:11
• 12 Mint az mezei viragoc … (Like the flowers of the field…) 01:55
• 13 Postcard to Anna Keller 00:31
• 14 A Hungarian Lesson for Foreigners 00:20
• 15 Fanfare to Judit Maros' wedding 00:49
• 16 Les Adieux (in Janaceks Manier) 02:07
• 17 In Nomine - all'ongherese (Damjanich emlekko) 04:55
• Béla Bartók (1881-1945): First Sonata for Violin and Piano, Sz. 75
• 18 I. Allegro appassionato 12:43
• 19 II. Adagio 12:15
• 20 III. Allegro 10:17
• Total Runtime 01:16:07

Info zu Signs, Games + Messages

Grammy-nominated violinist Jennifer Koh and virtuoso pianist Shai Wosner play 20th-century works by three remarkable Central European composers who intertwine folkloric influences with their own unmistakable originality.

The album includes Leoš Janáček’s Moravian influenced Sonata for violin and piano, Béla Bartók’s impassioned Violin Sonata No. 1, and compelling miniatures by György Kurtág, including Tre Pezzi for violin and piano and selections from Signs, Games and Messages.

The Philadelphia Inquirer praised Koh’s “strikingly beautiful” playing in the Bartok sonata. Wosner brought a “diaphanous tone deeply sympathetic to the Debussy-like writing” to the Janáček.

„Janáček’s searching, strangely beautiful Violin Sonata and Bartok’s pugnacious, rhapsodic Violin Sonata No. 1 turn up in recordings, but not often in accounts as gripping as these by the probing violinist Jennifer Koh and the dynamic pianist Shai Wosner. In an inventive stroke, this duo plays these formidable works along with a series of ingenious and impish pieces by the Hungarian modernist master Gyorgy Kurtag. A standout new recording“. (New York Times)

Jennifer Koh, violin
Shai Wosner, piano

Recorded at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York City, April 27–28 and October 14–17, 2012.
Produced and engineered by Judith Sherman
Edited by Bill Maylone

Jennifer Koh
is recognized for her intense, commanding performances, delivered with dazzling virtuosity and technical assurance. With an impassioned musical curiosity, she is forging an artistic path of her own devising, choosing works that both inspire and challenge. She is dedicated to performing the violin repertoire of all eras from traditional to contemporary, believing that the past and present form a continuum.

The exploration of Bach’s music and its influence in today’s musical landscape has played an important role in Ms. Koh’s artistic journey. She is also passionate in her efforts to expand the violin repertoire and has established relationships with many of today’s composers, regularly commissioning and premiering new works. In 2009 she debuted “Bach and Beyond” a three recital series that explores the history of the solo violin repertoire from Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas to works by modern day composers and new commissions. In 2012, she launched “Two x Four” —a project that pairs Bach’s Double

Violin Concerto with newly commissioned double concerti—with her former teacher from the Curtis Institute of Music, violinist Jaime Laredo. She frequently performs the complete Bach Sonatas and Partitas in a single concert.

Ms. Koh has been heard with leading orchestras around the world including the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, and the Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, Houston, New World, Montreal, and National Symphonies. Abroad she has appeared with the Czech Philharmonic, BBC London and Scottish Symphonies, Helsinki Philharmonic, Lahti Symphony, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, and Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de Sao Paulo in Brazil. A prolific recitalist, she frequently appears at major music centers and festivals.

Highlights of her 2013–14 season include “Bach and Beyond” recitals worldwide and “Two x Four” concerts with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. She makes her Munich Philharmonic debut performing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto conducted by Lorin Maazel, and performs Barber’s Violin Concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra, Berg’s Violin Concerto with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, and Tchaikovsky’s Concerto with the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. She will perform the role of Einstein in Philip Glass’s Einstein on the Beach in Los Angeles. Her New York concerts include the U.S. premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s Frises for violin and electronics and Bach’s Partita No. 2 at Miller Theatre and the New York premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s The Singing Rooms, a concerto for violin and chorus, with the New York Choral Society at Carnegie Hall.

Signs, Games + Messages is Ms. Koh’s eighth recording for Cedille Records. Other albums include Bach & Beyond Part 1, Rhapsodic Musings: 21st Century Works for Solo Violin; the Grammy-nominated String Poetic, featuring the world premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s eponymous work, performed with pianist Reiko Uchida; Schumann’s complete violin sonatas (also with Uchida); Portraits with the Grant Park Orchestra under Carlos Kalmar, featuring concertos by Szymanowski, Martinu, and Bartók; Violin Fantasies: fantasies for violin and piano by Schubert, Schumann, Schoenberg, and saxophonist Ornette Coleman (with Uchida); and her first Cedille album, from 2002, Solo Chaconnes, an earlier reading of Bach’s Second Partita coupled with chaconnes by Richard Barth and Max Reger.

Born in Chicago of Korean parents, Ms. Koh began playing the violin by chance, choosing the instrument in a Suzuki method program only because spaces for cello and piano had been filled. She made her debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age 11 and went on to win the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the Concert Artists Guild Competition, and an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Ms. Koh has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Oberlin College and studied at the Curtis Institute, where she worked extensively with Jaime Laredo and Felix Galimir.

Shai Wosner
has attracted international recognition for his exceptional artistry, musical integrity and creative insight. His performances of a broad range of repertoire from Beethoven and Mozart to Schoenberg and Ligeti, as well as music by his contemporaries, communicates his imaginative programming and intellectual curiosity. Mr. Wosner’s virtuosity and perceptiveness have made him a favorite among audiences and critics, who have praised him for his “keen musical mind and deep musical soul” (NPR’s All Things Considered).

Mr. Wosner has appeared with numerous major orchestras in North America including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, Berkeley, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and San Francisco. In Europe, he has appeared with the Bournemouth Symphony, Staats-kapelle Berlin, LSO St. Luke’s, Gothenburg Symphony, Barcelona Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Sym-phony, Orchestre National de Belgique and Nieuw Sinfonietta Amsterdam, and at Cardiff’s Hoddinott Hall, among others. He made his debut with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in Salzburg, during the 250th anniversary celebrations of Mozart’s birth. He has worked with such conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Jirí Bolohlávek, James Conlon, Alan Gilbert, Gunther Herbig, James Judd, Zubin Mehta, Peter Oundjian, Donald Runnicles, and Leonard Slatkin.

Mr. Wosner’s 2013–14 orchestral engagements include Mozart piano concertos with the Hamburger Symphoniker, the BBC Scottish Sym-phony, and the Discovery Ensemble at Boston’s Jordan Hall. He plays Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto with the Pasadena Symphony and the German premiere of Michael Hersch’s concerto “Along the Ravines” (a work he commissioned and premiered with the Seattle Symphony in 2012) with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie–Saarbrücken. Widely praised for his interpretations of Franz Schubert’s solo works, both in concert and on recording, Mr. Wosner will present Schubert works in recital throughout the season, with performances at Cal Performances in Berkeley, in Fresno, CA, and Schenectady, NY; at Wigmore Hall in London; and at the Festival de Musica de Camara in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

His previous recordings include an album of solo piano works by Schubert that incorporate elements of folk music and a album that juxtaposes works by Brahms and Schoenberg, both released on the Onyx label.

Mr. Wosner is widely sought after by colleagues for his versatility and spirit of partnership. He is a former member of Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Society Two and performs regularly at various chamber music festivals, including Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, the Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival, the Oregon Bach Festival, the Piano Aux Jacobins festival in France, and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. He has performed at summer festivals including the Ravinia Festival, Hollywood Bowl, Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival, and Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival. For several consecutive summers, Wosner was involved in the West-Eastern Divan Workshop led by Daniel Barenboim and toured as soloist with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra.

Mr. Wosner is a recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award. He was in residence with the BBC as a New Generation Artist, during which he played frequently with BBC orchestras, including appearances conducting Mozart concertos from the keyboard with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. He also returned to the BBC Scottish Symphony in both subscription concerts and performances at the Proms with Donald Runnicles, and appeared with the BBC Philharmonic in a live broadcast from Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall.

Born in Israel, Mr. Wosner enjoyed a broad musical education from a very early age, studying piano with Emanuel Krasovsky as well as composition, theory, and improvisation with André Hajdu. He later studied at The Juilliard School with Emanuel Ax. Mr. Wosner resides in New York City with his wife and two children.

Booklet für Signs, Games + Messages