Eugène Ysaÿe, a violin virtuoso admired by all his contemporaries, was an inheritor of what has justly been considered as the Belgian school of violin, whose ascendancy can be traced back to the beginning of the 19th century. His work as a composer, however, is much less well known today and it is this facet of his extraordinarily active life that we will explore here. He composed many different types of works; here we present his works for solo violin and orchestra, including two movements of violin concertos which are now available on record for the first time, and his chamber music. A great champion of the music of his time, Ysaÿe gave the first performances of a great number of works, many of which were dedicated to him as well as having been commissioned by him; the most well-known of these pieces are also included here. This fascinating boxed set from the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel is a fine example of the work of this important musical institution: it features the Chapel’s masters* and the young soloists* who trained there alongside two Belgian orchestras of international renown. © Fuga Libera
* Violin : Yossif Ivanov - Nikita Boriso-Glebsky - Tedi Papavrami - Maria Milstein - Lorenzo Gatto - Renaud Capuçon - Júlia Pusker - Augustin Dumay - Elina Buksha - Hyeon Jin Jane Cho - Kerson Leong
Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège - Jean-Jacques Kantorow, François-Xavier Roth, Christian Arming, conductors
Brussels Philharmonic - Stéphane Denève, conductor
Quatuor Hermès
Viola : Hélène Desaint - Miguel da Silva
Cello : Gary Hoffman - Astrig Siranossian - Henri Demarquette - Danilo Squitieri
Piano : Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden - Julien Libeer - Jonathan Fournel