For the Record, Op. 233: Kirill Troussov, Rachel Podger, Nils Mönkemeyer, Evergreen

April 7, 2023, 6:19 PM · Welcome to "For the Record," Violinist.com's weekly roundup of new releases of recordings by violinists, violists, cellists and other classical musicians. We hope it helps you keep track of your favorite artists, as well as find some new ones to add to your listening!

Violinist Kirill Troussov.

Bruch Scottish Fantasy
Kirill Troussov, violin
Lübeck Philharmonic Orchestra, Christian Mandeal conducting

Kirill Troussov continues his Live series exploring the great violin repertoire with Max Bruch’s virtuosic Scottish Fantasy, a work of great beauty despite being overshadowed by the composer’s most famous piece, his violin Concerto in G Minor. BELOW: A preview:

C.P.E Bach Sonatas for Keyboard & Violin
Rachel Podger, violin
Kristian Bezuidenhout, piano

The Baroque dream team of Rachel Podger and Kristian Bezuidenhout interpret the music of C.P.E. Bach’s Violin Sonatas in C minor, B minor, D major and G minor, filled, as Podger says, with "surprises and unpredictable turns." The two early sonatas, from the 1730s, resemble the older style of the composer’s father. The later sonatas, written 30 to 50 years later, reveal an emancipated composer whose developed musical language embodies the "Empfindsamer Stil" – the directly emotional and rhetorical style characteristic of north German music of the time.

Dance for Two
Nils Mönkemeyer, viola
Dorothee Oberlinger, recorder

Given the lack of original literature for flute and viola, violist Nils Mönkemeyer and flutist Dorothee Oberlinger have embarked on an exciting journey through music history from Hildegard von Bingen to John Cage. "We connect the music through the sounds of our instruments - there is no model or tradition for this, and I found that extremely liberating. Ultimately, we are concerned with very elementary things: folk music, roots and traditions. It’s about a music that outlasts time. In other words, a touch of eternity," Nils Mönkemeyer said. The album includes works by Hildegard von Bingen, Nicola Matteis, Johann Sebastian Bach, James Oswald, Béla Bartók, Morton Feldman, John Cage, Konstantia Gourzi and others. BELOW: Fantasia in G Minor, by Nicola Matteis; arr. for Viola by Nils Mönkemeyer:

Delicious Vignettes Of Recent American Kind
Evergreen, arranger, cello

Cellist Evergreen has created a complete, genre-bent readaptation of Antonín Dvorák’s American String Quartet No. 12. Dvorák composed the original quartet in 1893 while living in America and was deeply influenced by singularly American sounds such as American birds, trains, folk songs, First Nations rituals, and especially African American spirituals. Evergreen uses the themes and leitmotifs from each of the four movements of Dvorák’s Quartet to build four pieces in distinctly American musical traditions, including Broadway, jazz, Latin folk, and bluegrass. The album also includes a dreamy folk-pop maximalist original song, "Meteors," and a free jazz cover of Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock." With this album, Evergreen hopes to give new eyes to an old piece and advance a conversation about genre representation in music academia. BELOW: "Overture" - based on Dvorák’s "American" Quartet:

If you have a new recording you would like us to consider for inclusion in our "For the Record" feature, please e-mail Editor Laurie Niles. Be sure to include the name of your album, a link to it and a short description of what it includes.

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For the Record, Op. 233: Kirill Troussov, Rachel Podger, Nils Mönkemeyer, Evergreen

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