H. Vieuxtemps: Capriccio op. 55 Hommage à Paganini
Wenting Kang, vla.
Recorded at Sony Auditorium, Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia, Madrid, November 2018
The Belgian composer and violinist Henri Vieuxtemps (1820 - 1881) occupies an important place in the history of the violin as a prominent exponent of the Franco-Belgian violin school during the mid-19th century.
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C. Debussy: Premiére Rhapsodie, originally for Clarinet and Piano.
Transcribed by Wenting Kang
Wenting Kang, vla.
Pianist: Juan Barahona
Recorded at Sony Auditorium, Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofia, Madrid, November 2018
Debussy’s Premiére Rhapsodie is one of only two concertante works completed, premiered and published during his lifetime. He was commissioned to write it in 1909 for the final examination at the Paris Conservatoire in 1910.
This is a new, enchanting version for viola and piano made by Ms. Wenting Kang.
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H. I. F. Biber: Passacaglia from the “Rosary Sonatas”
transcribed by Wenting Kang.
Wenting Kang, vla.
Recorded at Phoenix Hall, Osaka. January 2016
The Rosary Sonatas are a collection of 15 short sonatas for violin and continuo, with a final Passacaglia for solo violin. Each has a title related to the Christian Rosary devotion practice and possibly to the Feast of the Guardian Angels.
It is presumed that the Mystery Sonatas were completed around 1676, but they were unknown until their publication in 1905. Once rediscovered, the Mystery Sonatas became Biber's most widely known composition.
Enjoy the beautiful viola version made by Ms. Wenting Kang.
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E. Elgar: Concerto for Viola and Orchestra, Op. 85, originally for Cello and orchestra
Transcribed by Lionel Tertis
Wenting Kang, vla.
Orchestra: TOHO Gakuen Orchestra - Conductor: Koichiro Harada
Recorded at Ishibashi Memorial Hall, Tokyo. May 2014
The Cello Concerto of 1919 was the last full-scale orchestral work Elgar was destined to complete. The fact that the Concerto was completed after World War I’s armistice, which proved to be the last nail in the Edwardian era’s coffin, almost certainly accounts for a reticence and sobriety that before had not been nearly so pervasive in Elgar’s works. The composer had been deeply troubled by the war. Further, he was financially insecure and in ill health. “I am more alone and the prey of circumstances than ever before,” he said. “Everything good and nice and clean and fresh and sweet is far away, never to return.” This pathetic lament is reflected in the Cello Concerto as possibly in no other of his pieces.
This work has now received the recognition it deserved, and it will undoubtedly remain one of the best-loved concertos of all time. The cello part has been arranged for viola by Lionel Tertis.
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J.S. Bach: Ciaccona in D minor, from the Partita no. 2 BWV 1004
transcribed for Viola by Wenting Kang
Wenting Kang, vla.
Recorded in May 2020, Living room, Madrid.
Bach composed the Chaconne sometime between 1718 and 1720. Historians speculate that Bach composed it after returning from a trip and found his wife (and the mother of seven of his children) Maria Barbara had died. Fellow composer Johannes Brahms, in a letter to Clara Schumann described the piece like this: “On one stave, for a small instrument, the man writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and most powerful feelings. If I imagined that I could have created, even conceived the piece, I am quite certain that the excess of excitement and earth-shattering experience would have driven me out of my mind. If one doesn’t have the greatest violinist around, then it is well the most beautiful pleasure to simply listen to its sound in one’s mind.”
Listening to the Chaconne is as rich and layered an experience as the story behind the music. Whatever meaning you ascribe to the chaconne - personal, civic, divine, or none at all - it’s certain to leave its mark.
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Chaconne has been arranged for nearly every instrument. Let’s listen to the brilliant viola transcription made by Ms. Wenting Kang.