Schubert: Fantasie C-Dur / Rondo h-Moll / Sonate A-Dur Carolin Widmann & Alexander Lonquich

• 1Fantasie C-Dur Op.posth. 195 / D 934: Andante Molto03:35
• 2Fantasie C-Dur Op.posth. 195 / D 934: Allegretto05:33
• 3Fantasie C-Dur Op.posth. 195 / D 934: Andantino10:20
• 4Fantasie C-Dur Op.posth. 195 / D 934: Tempo I01:14
• 5Fantasie C-Dur Op.posth. 195 / D 934: Allegro vivace - Allegretto - Presto04:29
• 6Rondo H-Moll Op. 70 / D 895 : Andante03:27
• 7Rondo H-Moll Op. 70 / D 896: Allegro11:41
• 8Sonate A-Dur Op.posth. 162 / D 574: Allegro moderato09:20
• 9Sonate A-Dur Op.posth. 162 / D 574: Scherzo03:56
• 10Sonate A-Dur Op.posth. 162 / D 574: Andantino03:46
• 11Sonate A-Dur Op.posth. 162 / D 574: Allegro vivace04:57
• Total Runtime01:02:18

Info for Schubert: Fantasie C-Dur / Rondo h-Moll / Sonate A-Dur

Carolin Widmann, who received praise and awards both for her accounts of Schumann’s violin sonatas and for the recital disc “Phantasy of Spring” (with music of Feldman, Zimmermann, Schoenberg and Xenakis) now applies her acute interpretive sensibilities to Franz Schubert. Widmann and Alexander Lonquich (whose own New Series disc with music of Schumann and Holliger was also a critical success) play the C-Major Fantasy of 1827 and the Violin Sonata in A-Major of 1817, as well as the B-minor Rondo of 1826 (the only one of these works published in Schubert’s lifetime). This is duo playing at a very high level, as Hans-Klaus Jungheinrich emphasizes in the liner notes: “Not once does Carolin Widmann and Alexander Lonquich’s intelligent and empathetic reading devolve into the trivial state of music for a domineering violin with piano accompaniment. Instead we are treated to a magically iridescent poem of changing colours, melodies and counterpoints.”

“The album is worth hearing just for the way in which Widmann colours that opening [of the C minor Fantasie] alone, reducing her tone to the slenderest thread, minimising her vibrato and gradually breathing life into the work. It's extraordinary playing, full of imagination and profound intelligence, and just as powerfully effective in the smaller-scale works.” (The Guardian)

Carolin Widmann, violin
Alexander Lonquich, piano

Both Carolin Widmann and Alexander Lonquich have previously recorded acclaimed discs for ECM. Widmann’s previous albums for the label include Schumann’s violin sonatas (with Dénes Várjon) and the recital disc “Phantasy of Spring” (with Simon Lepper, and music of Feldman, Zimmermann, Schoenberg and Xenakis). She is also a soloist on Erkki-Sven Tüür’s “Noësis”, on the “Strata” album. Alexander Lonquich’s solo piano discs for ECM New Series include music of Robert Schumann/Heinz Holliger and Olivier Messiaen/Maurice Ravel/Gabriel Fauré, and he appears furthermore on Gideon Lewensohn’s “Odradek” recording.

The present album is issued in time for Widmann and Lonquich’s participation in the première of “Gefaltet”, a collaboration between choreographer Sasha Waltz and the composer Mark André, at the Mozartwoche 2012 in Salzburg.

Born in Munich, Carolin Widmann studied with Igor Ozim in Cologne, Michèle Auclair in Boston and David Takeno in London. She has performed as a soloist with the Gewandhaus-Orchester Leipzig, Orchestre National de France (Paris), the Orchestra di Santa Cecilia (Rome), the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, RSO Vienna, the BBC Symphony Orchestra London, London Philharmonic Orchestra and the China Philharmonic in Beijing, collaborating with conductors Riccardo Chailly, Sir Roger Norrington, Silvain Cambreling, Vladimir Jurowski, Emanuel Krivine, Peter Eötvös and Heinz Holliger. In the 2011/2012 season Carolin Widmann will be playing the world première of the violin concerto "Still" by Rebecca Saunders with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sylvain Cambreling.

Born in Trier, Alexander Lonquich launched his international career by winning the First Prize at the International Piano Competition “Antonio Casagrande“ in Terni, Italy at the age of sixteen. Today his concerts as soloist and conductor are hailed by the international media and audiences. He regularly appears with the Camerata Salzburg, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra da Camera di Mantova, Münchener Kammerorchester, the Basel Chamber Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the HR Symphony Orchestra Frankfurt and others. He has also appeared most successfully as soloist of the Vienna Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zürich, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, the Düsseldorf Symphonic Orchestra and others.

Booklet for Schubert: Fantasie C-Dur / Rondo h-Moll / Sonate A-Dur