Audio

Tessa Lark violin
with
Jon Batiste piano
Michael Cleveland fiiddle
Sierra Hull mandolin
Edgar Meyer double bass

The Stradgrass Sessions

Tessa Lark Jig and Pop (Lark)
Sierra Hull Chasin’ Skies (Hull)
Tessa Lark Le Soka – Cheese in the Wine (Lark)
Edgar Meyer Concerto Duo for Violin and Bass – movements 1 and 4 (Lark/Meyer)
Eugène Ysaÿe Sonata for Solo Violin no.5 in G major, Op.27
Tessa Lark Hysedelje (Lark)
Béla Bartók 44 Duets for Two Violins, Sz 98 – Nos 35, 39 and 43 (Lark/Hull)
Michael Cleveland Lazy Katie (Lark/Cleveland)
John Corigliano STOMP (Lark) premiere recording
Stephen Foster Meditation on ‘My Old Kentucky Home’ (Lark/Batiste)

First Hand Records FHR100 | firsthandrecords.com

Long-awaited and finally released on 5 May on First Hand Records, violinist Tessa Lark’s The Stradgrass Sessions brings together luminaries of the bluegrass world to duet with Tessa. Bridging the classical and bluegrass worlds in scintillating style, the folk tradition behind such classical composers as Ysaÿe and Bartók meets the American tradition of bluegrass with Sierra Hull on mandolin; Edgar Meyer on bass; Michael Cleveland on fiddle and Jon Batiste on piano. This music is infectious!

Consone Quartet

Mendelssohn
String Quartet in E flat ‘1823’
String Quartet in E flat, Op 44 No 3

LINN CKD 716 | LINN Records

In part supported by its 2022 BBT Fellowship, the Consone Quartet’s debut CD for LINN is the first in a projected series of Mendelssohn quartets. Here two E-flat quartets – his first and last in that key – are paired together. Composed in 1823, when Mendelssohn had just turned 14, his very first full quartet was never given an opus number so is simply known by its year. 15 years later, his last E-flat quartet was the third of his Op 44 set, and marked the penultimate quartet in his output. The recording, recorded last year at The Menuhin Hall, is released on CD on 24 March, and will be available for download.

Dudok Quartet Amsterdam

Reflections
Shostakovich String Quartet No 5 in B flat Op 92
Shostakovich arr Judith van Driel & David Faber Six of 24 Preludes Op 34
Bacewicz String Quartet No 4

Rubicon Classics RCD1099 | rubiconclassics.com

“The music we play is never old or new, but always relevant and present.” After focusing on Haydn and Brahms, Amsterdam’s Dudok Quartet turn east to pair Polish Grażyna Bacewicz and Russian Dimitri Shostakovich quartets (Nos 4 and 5 respectively) with the quartet’s own arrangements of some of Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes Op 34. These composers lived and worked in a time and social environment of repression and control but, although both these quartets were written in 1951, they display contrasting moods. Shostakovich demands intense physical, emotional and intellectual stamina from the players, while the Bacewicz offers an abundance of virtuosic fun and rhythmic exuberance, reflecting her original and independent spirit. Release date: 25 November

Itamar Zorman violin
Ieva Jokubaviciute piano §
Kwan Yi piano ¶
Julia Thompson tambourine *

Violin Odyssey

Moshe Zorman Wanderings (1994) §
Joseph Achron (arr. Jascha Heifetz ) Children’s Suite, Op. 57 (c. 1925) ¶
Dora Pejačevic Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 43, “Slavonic Sonata” (1917) §
Silvestre Revueltas El afilador (1924) & Tierra p’a las macetas (1924) §
Grazyna Bacewicz Oberek No. 1 (1949) §
Gao Ping Questioning the Mountains (2008) §
Gareth Farr Wakatipu (2009)
Ali Osman Afromood (2010) ¶ *
Erwin Schulhoff Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 (1927) ¶
William Grant STILL Summerland (1935) §

FHR119 | firsthandrecords.com

Conceived during the pandemic, Itamar Zorman’s debut recital disc on First Hand Records represents a virtual voyage around the world – from New Zealand to the United States by way of Sudan, China, Russia, Poland, Croatia, Czech Republic, Israel and Mexico. With fellow-BBT artist pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute, as well as fellow-pianist Kwan Yi and guest tambourine player Julia Thompson (on Osman’s Afromood), Zorman offers a unique 20th- and 21st-century snapshot of works for violin and piano.