Ligeti: Violin Concerto - Concert Românesc - Piano Concerto Isabelle Faust, Les Siècles & François-Xavier Roth

• GYÖRGY LIGETI (1923 - 2006): Violin Concerto:
• 1 Ligeti: Violin Concerto: I. Praeludium. Vivacissimo luminoso 04:16
• 2 Ligeti: Violin Concerto: II. Aria - Hoquetus - Choral. Andante con moto 07:29
• 3 Ligeti: Violin Concerto: III. Intermezzo. Presto fluido 02:18
• 4 Ligeti: Violin Concerto: IV. Passacaglia. Lento intenso 06:28
• 5 Ligeti: Violin Concerto: V. Appassionato. Agitato molto 07:10
• György Kurtag (b. 1926): Aus der Ferne III:
• 6 Kurtag: Aus der Ferne III 02:51
• György Ligeti: Concert Românesc:
• 7 Ligeti: Concert Românesc: I. Andantino 02:45
• 8 Ligeti: Concert Românesc: II. Allegro vivace 01:17
• 9 Ligeti: Concert Românesc: III. Adagio ma non troppo 03:14
• 10 Ligeti: Concert Românesc: IV. Molto vivace 05:10
• György Kurtag:Aus der Ferne V:
• 11 Kurtag: Aus der Ferne V 03:23
• György Ligeti: Piano Concerto:
• 12 Ligeti: Piano Concerto: I. Vivace molto ritmico e preciso 03:43
• 13 Ligeti: Piano Concerto: II. Lento e deserto 06:29
• 14 Ligeti: Piano Concerto: III. Vivace cantabile 04:20
• 15 Ligeti: Piano Concerto: IV. Allegro risoluto, molto ritmico 04:39
• 16 Ligeti: Piano Concerto: V. Presto luminoso 03:19
• Total Runtime 01:08:51

Info for Ligeti: Violin Concerto - Concert Românesc - Piano Concerto

The poetics of space and the art of time, high-precision mechanism, rhythmic exhilaration . . . Ligeti’s music defies criteria and codes. This recording provides an opportunity to assess the evolution of the musical language of one of the twentieth century’s greatest composers, from the early Concert Românesc to the later concertos for piano and violin, performed here by two fabulous virtuosi.

Isabelle Faust, violin
Les Siècles
François-Xavier Roth, direction

Isabelle Faust
captivates her audience with her compelling interpretations. She dives deep into every piece considering the musical historical context, historically appropriate instruments and the greatest possible authenticity according to a contemporary state of knowledge. Thus, she manages to constantly illuminate and passionately perform the repertoire of a wide variety of composers.

After winning the renowned Leopold Mozart Competition and the Paganini Competition at a very young age, she soon gave regular performances with the world’s major orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Baroque Orchestra Freiburg.

"To fully appreciate such exquisite softness, such clarity wedded to such fragility, one needs to hear Faust live. Trust a listener who’s heard countless performances: this was Beethoven’s Violin Concerto as Cleveland rarely gets to hear it." (Zachary Lewis, cleveland.com, Februar 2020)

This led to close and sustained cooperation with conductors like Claudio Abbado, Giovanni Antonini, Frans Brüggen, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Bernard Haitink, Daniel Harding, Philippe Herreweghe, Andris Nelsons and Robin Ticciati.

Isabelle Faust’s vast artistic curosity includes all eras and forms of instrumental cooperation. Thus she never considers music as an end in itself but rather advances the piece’s essence in a devoted, subtle and conscientious way. In addition to big symphonic violin concertos this includes for instance Schubert’s octet with historical instruments as well as György Kurtág’s "Kafka Fragments" with Anna Prohaska or Igor Stravinsky’s "L’Histoire du Soldat" with Dominique Horwitz. With great commitment she renders an outstanding service to the performance of contemporary music, recent world premieres include works by Péter Eötvös, Brett Dean and Ondřej Adámek.

Numerous recordings have been unanimously praised by critics and awarded the Diapason d’or, the Grammophone Award, the Choc de l’année and other prizes. The most recent recordings include Arnold Schönberg’s violin concerto with Daniel Harding and the Swedish Radio symphony Orchestra, published in 2020, followed in 2021 by Ludwig van Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with Alexander Melnikov, Jean-Guihen Queyras, Pablo Heras-Casado and the Freiburger Barockorchester. Isabelle Faust presented further popular recordings among others of the Sonatas and Partitas for violin solo by Johann Sebastian Bach as well as violin concertos by Ludwig van Beethoven and Alban Berg under the direction of Claudio Abbado. She shares a long- standing chamber music partnership with the pianist Alexander Melnikov. Among others, joint recordings with sonatas for piano and violin by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms have been released.

Les Siècles
A unique orchestra composed of musicians from a new generation, playing each repertoire on the appropriate historical instruments: Les Siècles puts several centuries of musical creation into perspective in a relevant and unexpected way.

Les Siècles is in residence in the Atelier Lyrique in Tourcoing as well as in the Aisne department, in the Hauts-de-France French region, and is an associate artist in the Cité de la Musique in Soissons. The orchestra is also an associate artist of the Théâtre du Beauvaisis, the Berlioz Festival in La Côte-Saint-André, the Théâtre-Sénart, the Théâtre de Nîmes and Les Musicales de Normandie festival.

Les Siècles performs regularly in Paris (Philharmonie, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées), Amiens, Caen, Royaumont, Aix-en-Provence and abroad in London (BBC Proms, Royal Festival Hall), Berlin (Philharmonie, Konzerthaus), Hamburg (Elbphilharmonie), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Bremen, Brussels (Bozar, Klara Festival), Bucharest (Enescu Festival), Aldeburgh, Wiesbaden, Köln, Luxemburg, Rome, Venice, Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Essen, Moscow and many more.

Three times winner of the prestigious Deutschen Schallplattenkritik prize (Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” & “Petrushka”, Berlioz’ “Harold en Italie”, Moussorgsky-Ravel’s “Pictures at an Exhibition”) and twice awarded with the Edison Klassiek prize in the Netherlands (Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” & “Petrushka” and Berlioz’ “Symphonie fantastique”), it is several times the only French orchestra nominated for the Gramophone Classical Music Award, which it won in 2018, in the ‘classical recording of the year’ category (Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloé”).

Les Siècles have been recording for the harmonia mundi label since 2018. They are currently recording the complete orchestral music of Berlioz, Ravel and Debussy and are beginning a new cycle dedicated to Mahler symphonies. Les Siècles also made the world's first recordings of “Le Timbre d'argent” by Saint-Saëns, “Christophe Colomb” by Félicien David and the cantata “Velléda” by Paul Dukas.

In order to spread their passion for classical music to as many people as possible, the orchestra's musicians regularly organise educational activities in schools, hospitals and prisons. The orchestra is a partner of the Jeune Symphonie de l'Aisne, the Jeune Orchestre Européen Hector Berlioz and DEMOS (a social music and orchestral education program) in the Hauts-de-France and Ile-de-France regions.

Booklet for Ligeti: Violin Concerto - Concert Românesc - Piano Concerto