Sibelius: Violin Concerto, Walton: Violin Concerto, Chausson: Poème (CD/SACD Hybrid) [Pre-order item - Shipping expected after December 14th]12월18일
Akiko Suwanai
■Release Date: December 12, 2026
■Catalog Number: ESSD-90333
■Specifications: CD/SACD Hybrid
■JAN: 4907034226436
■Label: DECCA
■Sound Source Provided by: Universal Music LLC
■Genre: Concertos/Instrumental Music
■DSD Mastering
■Super Audio CD Layer: 2-channel Stereo [No Multi-channel]
■Beautiful Deluxe Paper Digipak Packaging
*This product cannot be sold overseas. If the shipping address is an overseas seller or forwarding service, or if we determine that the order is for overseas forwarding or resale purposes, we reserve the right to cancel the order without notice. Thank you for your understanding.
This work marks Akiko Suwanai's first recording with the Stradivarius "Dolphin," a masterpiece left behind by Heifetz, which she began using in 2000. It is a collaboration with Oramo, a promising and sincere conductor with ties to Sibelius. And here, Walton's Concerto, a masterpiece of the 20th century with deep ties to Heifetz, is played.
■World-renowned violinist Akiko Suwanai makes her Esoteric debut with a masterpiece instrument!
This is the first Esoteric release from Akiko Suwanai, a violinist who continues to be active on the world stage. For this recording, she used the 1714 Stradivarius "Dolphin," which she has cherished since 2000. This is a masterpiece that was used by Jascha Heifetz, one of the leading masters of the 20th century, and we would like you to pay attention to how she has completely made it "her own" and to the unique tone she produces. The conductor is Sakari Oramo from Finland, and the orchestra is the prestigious City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from England. It is because of this connection that concertos by Sibelius and Walton, the English composer whose 100th birthday is being celebrated, have been selected for the lineup. This collection of violin concertos is a meticulously crafted disc that is meaningful both musically and in terms of its background.
■Suwanai as a musician: the breadth of her repertoire and her ambition
Since moving her base to Paris around 1998, Akiko Suwanai has been active internationally with a wide repertoire ranging from J.S. Bach to contemporary music, steadily recording and further enhancing her reputation, making a strong impression with her fulfilling activities and steady growth. Furthermore, since around 2000, she has been active in world-class festivals such as the Lucerne and Lockenhaus Festivals and the Berlin Arts Week, and has continued her brilliant performance career by accompanying not only the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, with whom she performed on this album, but also the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, and other orchestras around the world on tours. Another noteworthy aspect of Suwanai's activities, which are on such a large scale and that she is one of the leading violinists of our time, is her enthusiastic efforts to premiere contemporary works, and she is an artist whose broad and significant activities we should keep an eye on in the future.
■Speaking about the Stradivarius "Dolphin"
The violin used in this album is a Stradivarius. Moreover, it is the beloved instrument "Dolphin" of the virtuoso Jascha Heifetz, which Suwanai acquired in the summer of 2000. In 2002, she spoke about it.
"It's been almost two years since I started playing the Dolphin, which Heifetz used to love, and the more I use it, the better it gets, and I'm able to produce a variety of tones with it. Since Heifetz, it hasn't been played by many people, so I often feel like it's becoming more and more my own instrument."
■Suwanai's thoughts on conductor Oramo, the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and the work
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, with whom Suwanai will be performing, is a long-established British orchestra founded in 1920. In 1980, Simon Rattle, then 25 years old, became its principal conductor. As music director, Rattle took an active stance on recording activities, further developing the orchestra, which had been a regional presence in England, and raising it into a world-class ensemble. After Rattle's retirement, Sakari Oramo (1965-) was invited to succeed him. He became principal conductor in 1998 and, like Rattle, is involved in a wide range of activities.
In the early 1990s, he served as concertmaster of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra as a violinist, and in 1993, he also served as conductor of the same orchestra as a substitute. In England, he performed many concerts with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and his talent was recognized. He is particularly skilled in Nordic music, and this repertoire is expected to be well-received. We will hear Suwanai's own explanation on this matter.
"For this recording with Sakari, since the orchestra is a prestigious British orchestra, we chose Walton's Violin Concerto, a British composer whose 100th birthday is being commemorated this year (2002). In the background to this choice was the fact that this concerto was written for Heifetz. Walton wrote the work in consultation with Heifetz, and I think that the third movement, which has many cadenzas, strongly reflects the intention to dedicate it to Heifetz. It may not be performed often, but it is a masterpiece born in the 20th century. I feel the flow of history in being able to perform such a masterpiece on Heifetz's instrument. Also, Sibelius's concerto The conductor, Mr. Sakari, is also a violinist... He's an intimately familiar performer of the work, having even recorded this concerto as a soloist 17 years ago. Above all, he's a Finnish musician, the birthplace of Sibelius, and he has many unique interpretations, which made it a fascinating experience to learn from him. In the second movement, there's a part where the emotions gradually build up to a climax, and I learned a lot from him in terms of structure, such as how to hold back the emotions and save energy to carry it to the end. Usually, the soloist stays on stage alone to record the cadenza, but Mr. Sakari stayed and listened until the very end.
■This work, a digital masterpiece from a prestigious label, has been meticulously handcrafted with Esoteric's mastering
, and the sound offers the exquisite quality you expect from a prestigious label, full of rich and deep emotion.
All three pieces are masterpieces from the mature era of digital recording. They have been newly remastered from the masters for Super Audio CD. As with previous works, we carried out an uncompromising process from selecting the master to use to the final DSD mastering stage. In particular, for DSD mastering, we used "Esoteric Mastering." We employed ESOTERIC's top-of-the-line equipment, the Master Sound Discrete DAC and Master Sound Discrete Clock, which were meticulously tuned. Furthermore, by generously using MEXCEL cables, we were able to transfer the information contained in the original master to the disc with a rich and expansive sound.
Tracklist
Jean Sibelius
Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47
01 Movement 1: Allegro moderato
02 Movement 2: Adagio di molto
03 Movement 3: Allegro, ma non tanto
Sir William Walton
Violin Concerto in B minor
04 Movement 1: Andante tranquillo
05 Movement 2: Presto colouro alla napolitana
06 Movement 3: Vivace
Ernest Chausson
07 No. 1: Par les rues et par les chemins
[Performed by]
Akiko Suwanai (Violin)
01-06
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Sakari Oramo Conducted by Sakari Oramo
07
Philharmonia Orchestra
Conducted by Charles Dutoit
[Recording]
Birmingham, Symphony Hall
[Sibelius] June 26, 2002
[Walton] March 6, 2002
Watford, The Coliseum
[Chausson] February 2–4, 2004
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