Stravinsky: Diversions: Music for Violin and Piano

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It's not just Ray Chen's superb technique, but his sense of pacing in the music that's so striking: there's always time for the music to unfold, even at speed...Both he and Timothy Young are... — BBC Music Magazine, April 2011, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 7th Feb 2011
Catalogue No: MR301128
Label: Melba Recordings
Length: 72 minutes

Stravinsky: Suite After Themes, Fragments and Pieces by Giambattista Pergolesi

Work length18:01

$5.00

$7.00

Ray Chen, Timothy Young

I. Introductione. Allegro moderato

Track length2:13

$1.00

$1.40

II. Serenata. Larghetto

Track length4:23

$1.00

$1.40

III. Tarantella. Vivace

Track length2:20

$1.00

$1.40

IV. Gavotta con due Variaziono. Allegro moderato - Allegretto Allegro più tosto moderato

Track length4:23

$1.00

$1.40

V. Minuetto e Finale. Moderato - Molto vivace

Track length4:42

$1.00

$1.40

Stravinsky: Divertimento (symphonic suite from Le Baiser de la Fée)

Work length30:58

$7.00

$9.80

Ray Chen, Timothy Young

I. Sinfonia. Andante

Track length11:50

$2.00

$2.80

II. Danses suisses. Temp giusto

Track length3:26

$1.00

$1.40

III. Scherzo. Allegretto grazioso

Track length6:40

$1.00

$1.40

IV. Pas de deux. Adagio

Track length3:30

$1.00

$1.40

IV. Pas de deux, Variation. Allegretto grazioso

Track length2:21

$1.00

$1.40

IV. Pas de deux, Coda. Presto

Track length3:11

$1.00

$1.40

Stravinsky: Duo concertant

Work length17:02

$5.00

$7.00

Ray Chen, Timothy Young

I. Cantilène

Track length4:36

$1.00

$1.40

II. Églogue I

Track length3:06

$1.00

$1.40

III. Églogue II

Track length3:31

$1.00

$1.40

IV. Gigue

Track length2:36

$1.00

$1.40

V. Dithyrambe

Track length3:13

$1.00

$1.40

Stravinsky: Chanson Russe

Work length3:36

$1.00

$1.40

Ray Chen, Timothy Young

Stravinsky: Danse russe. Allegretto giusto

Work length2:40

$1.00

$1.40

Ray Chen, Timothy Young

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About

Rising star of the violin Ray Chen, winner of the Queen Elizabeth International Music Competition, makes his recording debut with Melba, accompanied by another fast-emerging Australian talent, pianist Timothy Young. Diversions is a disc of scintillating chamber music that presents Igor Stravinsky at his most entertaining, his spirit brimming with optimism and bravura.

The pieces – Suite after themes, fragments and pieces by Giambattista Pergolesi, Duo concertante, Divertimento, ‘Russian Maiden’s Song’ from the opera Mavra and the ‘Danse russe’ from Petrushka – are perfect vehicles to showcase Chen’s violinistic bel canto, his luminous tone and his off-the-scale technique, all to be expected given his competition pedigree. But Stravinsky’s music also provides Chen with the perfect vehicle to demonstrate his genius for vivid musical story-telling. This recording marks Chen as an exciting musical personality as well as a remarkable virtuoso.

Ray Chen was born in Taiwan in 1989 and raised in Brisbane, Australia where he began playing violin within the Suzuki school. He was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music at the age of 15, where he continues to work on expanding his repertoire with Aaron Rosand (himself a student of the great Efrem Zimbalist who was in turn a student of Leopold Auer.) Chen is the winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium (2009) and the Yehudi Menuhin Competition in Cardiff (2008). He has recently signed an exclusive recording contract with Sony.

Reviews

April 2011

It's not just Ray Chen's superb technique, but his sense of pacing in the music that's so striking: there's always time for the music to unfold, even at speed...Both he and Timothy Young are right inside the music...in [the Wieniawski pieces] his musical and technical assurance find full expression. These are hugely exciting debut albums.

July 2011

Throughout this highly stimulating programme, Ray Chen (with just the right characterful timbre) and Timothy Young, whose glittering pianistic upper range catches the ear again and again, make a superb partnership, suggesting to the listener what Stravinsky and Dushkin must have sounded like nearly seven decades ago...An excellent, truthful recording balance, good notes and handsome packaging make this disc irresistable.

May 2011

Chen and Young are capable instrumentalists and, in parts of [the Duo concertante], each displays an astute feeling for the angularity and rhythmic disjunction of Stravinsky's thematic material; it would be heard to imagine the Gigue (track 15) sounding more fleet of foot than here.

Stravinsky: Diversions

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