Rode: Violin Concertos Nos. 1, 5 & 9 Friedemann Eichhorn & Alexander Hülshoff

• Pierre Rode (1774-1830): Violin Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 3
• 1I. Maestoso16:10
• 2II. Adagio06:41
• 3III. Polonaise09:14
• Violin Concerto No. 5 in D major, Op. 7
• 4I. Adagio - Allegro giusto11:27
• 5II. Siciliano05:29
• 6III. Rondo a la russe05:48
• Violin Concerto No. 9 in C major, Op. 17
• 7I. Moderato09:12
• 8II. Cavatina: Un poco adagio05:37
• 9III. Allegretto06:13
• Total Runtime01:15:51

Info for Rode: Violin Concertos Nos. 1, 5 & 9

Pierre Rode’s concertos represent the full flowering of the French violin school, the origins of which can be traced back to his teacher Viotti’s arrival in Paris in 1782.

Bold and youthful, the First Violin Concerto contrasts with the more pastoral and introspective moods of the Fifth Violin Concerto, while the Ninth was written during the composer’s stay in Russia. All three works share Rode’s signature finales which ‘sparkle with gracefulness, piquancy and impishness’. Performed using painstakingly prepared new editions, this is the third of four volumes containing all thirteen of Rode’s Violin Concertos.

This is the third in a set of four volumes of Pierre Rode’s complete Violin Concertos. It joins a first volume (8570469) the “virtuoso fireworks” of which were admired by Fanfare: “There’s enough double-stopping, rapid runs, and bowing tricks to satisfy even the most insatiable appetites for hire-wire circus acts. But there is also a depth and breadth to Rode’s muse, and a sophisticated air to his melodic invention that elicits a strong emotional response and strikes a genuine responsive chord.” Volume 2 (8570767) was a MusicWeb International ‘Recording of the Month’, “hugely entertaining and satisfying for the listener.” Including première recordings and inventively reconstructed cadenzas and features of interpretation, all of these releases fill a crucial gap and represent a significant contribution to the violin concerto repertoire.

Friedemann Eichhorn, violin
Jenaer Philharmonie
Nicolás Pasquet, conductor

Friedemann Eichhorn
Born 1971 in Münster, Germany, Friedemann Eichhorn studied violin with Valery Gradow at the Mannheim University of Music. He continued his studies on the recommendation of Yehudi Menuhin with Alberto Lysy at the International Menuhin Music Academy in Switzerland and graduated from the Juilliard School New York where he worked with Margaret Pardee (violin), Earl Carlyss and Samuel Sanders (chamber music) and Miguel Harth-Bedoya (conducting). He was awarded scholarships from the National German Exchange Program, the Menuhin Academy and the Juilliard School among others. Friedemann also studied musicology and law at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz where he earned a Ph.D.

He regularly concertizes with orchestras such as the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and Symphony, the Symphonies of Munich, Hamburg or the Radio orchestra of the SWR. Friedemann played under the baton of the late Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Howard Griffiths, Jac van Steen, Vladimir Altschuler, Alan Buribayev, David Stahl to name but a few and performed with Yuri Bashmet, Gidon Kremer, Boris Pergamenschikow, Saschko Gawriloff and Igor Oistrach. He enjoys camber music collaborations with Julius Berger, Alexander Huelshoff, José Gallardo and Thomas Müller-Pering. Friedemann Eichhorn appeared at numerous festivals such as “Chamber Music connects the World”, Kronberg, Schleswig Holstein or Menuhin Festival Gstaad as well as in music centers such as the Gewandhaus Leipzig, Gasteig Munich or the Schauspielhaus Berlin. A frequent guest of the St. Petersburg Philharmonia Friedemann will have his 5th visit in the 2007/08 season. As a conductor Friedemann Eichhorn led some 50 concerts with the Mannheim Chamber Orchestra among others. In 2008 he will conduct members of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra in Mozarts opera Bastien & Bastienne.

Friedemann Eichhorn recorded several CDs and was featured in many radio broadcasts. In 2007 Friedemann Eichhorn started a collaboration with Naxos recording for the first time the concertos no. 7, 10 and 13 of the french virtuoso Pierre Rode, Nicolas Pasquet conducting the SWR Radio Orchestra Kaiserslautern.

Friedemann Eichhorn is professor for violin and director of strings at the Liszt School of Music in Weimar, Germany. He gives masterclasses at the International Summer Academy of the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the Gustav Mahler Academy in Bozen. As a guest he gave masterclasses at the University of Music in Vienna, the Guildhall School of Music London and at the Pre College Division of the Juilliard School New York. Friedemann Eichhorn serves as Artistic Director of the International Louis-Spohr-Competition for young violinists in Weimar. Much of his time he devotes to musicology and research. He wrote numerous articles for the german standard encyclopedia “Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart” and started to co-edit sheet music for the Schott music company.

In 2005 he was awarded the George Enescu Medal from the Roumanien Cultural Institute. Friedemann Eichhorn plays on a Nicola Gagliano violin from 1758.

Alexander Hülshoff
has established himself in recent years as one of the leading cellists. His interpretations are distinguished for their expressiveness coupled with an unmistakeable, warm and lyrical tone, which are much appreciated by audiences and musical partners alike and are his outstanding qualities on the world's concert platforms. He is guest soloist with major international orchestras such as the German Radio Philharmonic, the German State Philharmonic, the Czech Philharmonic of Brno, the New Philharmonic of Westphalia, Rom Symphony Orchestra, the Enescu Philharmonic, the Tel Aviv Soloist Ensemble, the Limburg Symphony Orchestra of Maastricht, the Armenian Philharmonic and many others.

Chamber music plays a significant role and has an important place in Alexander Hülshoff's work. His cello performances include appearances with the Bamberg Trio and fellow musicians such as Pinchas Zukerman, Hagai Shaham, Vadim Gluzman, Fine Arts Quartett, Gil Sharon, Rainer Honeck, Boris Garlitsky in renowned concert halls such as the Berliner Philharmonic, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Rotterdam's De Doelen and the Wigmore Hall in London. He has been guest instrumentalist at the Schleswig Holstein Festival, the Enescu Festival, Kfar Blum in Israel and the Amadéo Festival. He is artistic director of the Kloster Kamp Chamber Music Festival. Numerous CD's testify to the breadth of his musical scope, which includes works by, amongst others, Brahms, Beethoven, Schubert, Shostakovitch, Bloch and Servais. His recordings are released under the Novalis, Naxos, Musicaphon,Paladino, Brillant and Hänssler Classic His concert tours regularly take him to other European countries, the Near, Middle and Far East as well as to Asia and North and South America.

In 1997 Alexander Hülshoff, whose most important teacher was Lynn Harrell, was appointed Professor of Cello at the Folkwang University of the Arts. At the moment he is Artistic Director of the Orchesterzentrum in Dortmund ( www.orchesterzentrum.de) the institute for professional orchestral training of four universities of music ( Cologne, Essen, Düsseldorf, Detmold) Since 2011 he is also the artistic director of the Villa Musica.

Booklet for Rode: Violin Concertos Nos. 1, 5 & 9