Adams & Korngold: Violin Concertos Ilya Gringolts, Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, Santtu-Matias Rouvali & Julien Salemkour

• John Adams (b.1947): Violin Concerto:
• 1 I. Quarter Note = 78 15:19
• 2 II. Chaconne (Body Through Which the Dream Flows) 09:37
• 3 III. Toccare 07:52
• Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897 - 1957): Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35:
• 4 I. Moderato nobile 08:28
• 5 II. Romance. Andante 08:11
• 6 III. Finale. Allegro assai vivace 06:56
• Total Runtime 56:23

Info for Adams & Korngold: Violin Concertos

Sought-after violinist Ilya Gringolts has selected two very different concertos for this collaboration with Copenhagen Phil, but both have an emphasis on melody.

Young Finnish conductor Rouvali is the Principal Guest Conductor of the CPhil and Chief Conductor of Gothenburg Symphony.

This album follows on from the critically-acclaimed Beethoven series by CPhil that has received enthusiastic reviews worldwide.

“[The Adams Concerto is] played with authority and spark by Gringolts...Korngold’s 1947 concerto – this one conducted by Julien Salemkour – is an even better showcase for Gringolts, whose strikingly expansive lyricism keeps schmaltz at bay.” (The Guardian)

Ilya Gringolts, violin
Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra
Santtu-Matias Rouvali, conductor (Adams: Violin Concerto)
Julien Salemkour, conductor (Korngold: Violin Concerto)

Ilya Gringolts
The Russian violinist Ilya Gringolts wins over audiences with his extremely virtuosic playing and sensitive interpretations, and is always looking for new musical challenges. As a sought-after soloist, he devotes himself to the great orchestral repertoire but also to contemporary and seldom-played works. He has premiered compositions by Peter Maxwell Davies, Christophe Bertrand and Michael Jarrell and is interested in historical performance practice as well.

Ilya Gringolts has performed with leading orchestras around the world, such as the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, NHK Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony and Warsaw Philharmonic amongst others, and been invited to prestigious halls including the Berliner Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall and the Concertgebouw Amsterdam to name but a few.

As a keen chamber musician Ilya Gringolts collaborates with artists such as Yuri Bashmet, David Kadouch, Itamar Golan, Peter Laul, Aleksandar Madzar, Nicolas Altstaedt, Andreas Ottensamer, Antoine Tamestit and Jörg Widmann. He is also the first violinist of the Gringolts Quartet, which he founded in 2008 and which enjoys great success with performances at the Salzburg Festival, Lucerne Festival, Menuhin Festival Gstaad and Teatro La Fenice in Venice among others.

Santtu-Matias Rouvali
Finnish conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali is one of the most exciting conductors of the younger generation. Already with an extremely established career in September 2012 Rouvali was announced as the next Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra and began this post, alongside his position as Principal Guest Conductor of the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, in September 2013. He is Chief Conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra from the 2017/18 season.

In Europe he regularly works with orchestras such as the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Bamberger Symphoniker, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Philharmonia Orchestra in London and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Further afield, he has returned to the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and toured in Japan, and conducts a number of prominent orchestras in North America including the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

In opera, Rouvali has conducted Bizet’s Carmen and Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte with the West Coast Kokkola Opera and he looks forward to future projects with his own orchestra at Tampere Opera.

Julien Salemkour
has been Daniel Barenboim’s assistant conductor for 12 years, from 2000 to 2012. In 2011, he was awarded the title “Staatskapellmeister” for his contributions in service to the Berlin State Opera — an honour which had heretofore only been bestowed upon Sebastian Weigle, and Herbert von Karajan. A highlight in Salemkour’s career came in 2006, when he was called upon to step in for Daniel Barenboim, who was slated not only to conduct, but also as soloist in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.23. Salemkour took over both roles on that evening. The concert, a gala event in celebration of Mozart’s 250th birthday, was broadcast live in 23 different countries.

Julien Salemkour has also guest-conducted at the Metropolitan Opera in New York (Turandot), La Scala in Milan (Swan Lake), the Semperopera in Dresden (The Magic Flute, The Barber of Seville, and Rigoletto), and the Israel Symphony Orchestra (Salome), among others. He has stood on the podium for over 250 performances at the State Opera in Berlin.

Copenhagen Phil
in the summer also known as Tivoli Copenhagen Phil, is based in Copenhagen, but as one of five nationally-supported Danish orchestras charged with bringing symphonic music to the entire country, is active all over the island of Zealand. The orchestra also tours internationally.

Copenhagen Phil is dedicated to renewing and developing itself in order to play a significant role in its culture and to maintain relevance in society at large. An important aspect of the orchestra’s culture is that everything is accomplished internally by the musicians and administration together. The orchestra’s comprehensive work with children takes as its starting point that all sensory and experience-based learning creates an opportunity to cultivate a relationship to art and culture, and that this opportunity renews itself again and again. Copenhagen Phil has developed new concert formats, including the indie-classical series “60 Minutes,” unique concerts where the orchestra works with artists across genres. The orchestra has also set a focus on establishing and cultivating a meaningful presence in the digital world, being among the first orchestras in the world to conduct successful “flash mobs,” which later became viral videos on YouTube. This success is being followed up by a large-scale digital project entitled “Open Orchestra”, where internet users all over the world can embark on a journey of musical discovery behind both the music and the orchestra’s musicians.

The foundation under Copenhagen Phil’s activities is the performance of classical music on the highest level. An example of this ambition made manifest is the orchestra’s recent recordings of the complete Beethoven symphonies. But all of the orchestra’s activities start with the musicians’ own dreams and the wealth of their own ideas. In this way, tradition and renewal equal far more than the sum of their component parts.

Booklet for Adams & Korngold: Violin Concertos