1. Allegro (Antonio Vivaldi, `La Primavera` - Spring (Concerto In E Major, Op. 8, No. 1)
2. Largo (Antonio Vivaldi, `La Primavera` - Spring (Concerto In E Major, Op. 8, No. 1)
3. Allegro (Antonio Vivaldi, `La Primavera` - Spring (Concerto In E Major, Op. 8, No. 1)
4. Summer In Buenos Aires (Astor Piazzolla, `Verano Porteno` )
5. Allegro Non Molto (Antonio Vivaldi, `L’’Estate`- Summer ( In G Minor, Op. 8 No. 2)
6. Adagio (Antonio Vivaldi, `L’’Estate` - Summer (Concerto In G Minor, Op. 8 No. 2)
7. Presto (Antonio Vivaldi, `L’’Estate` - Summer (Concerto In G Minor, Op. 8 No. 2)
8. Autumn In Buenos Aires (Astor Piazzolla, `Otono Porteno` )
9. Allegro (Antonio Vivaldi, `L’’Autumno` - Autumn (Concerto In F Major, Op. 8 No.)
10. Adagio Molto (Antonio Vivaldi, `L’’Autumno`- Autumn ( In F Major, Op. 8 No.3)
11. Allegro (Antonio Vivaldi, `L’’Autumno`-Autumn (Concerto In F Major, Op. 8 No. 3)
12. Winter In Buenos Aires (Astor Piazzolla, `Invierno Porteno` )
13. Allegro Non Molto (Antonio Vivaldi,`L’’Inverno`-Winter ( In F Minor, Op. 8 No. 4)	play
14. Largo (Antonio Vivaldi, `L’’Inverno` - Winter (Concerto In F Minor, Op. 8 No. 4)
15. Allegro (Antonio Vivaldi, `L’’Inverno` - Winter (Concerto In F Minor, Op. 8 No. 4)
16. Spring In Buenos Aires (Astor Piazzolla, `Primavera Portena`)		play

Kremerata Baltica
Gidon Kremer – violin, conductor

Despite global warming, Vivaldi's The Four Seasons is more popular than ever. But it still seems strange that Gidon Kremer and his Kremerata Baltica ensemble--a group that continues to stun us with riveting performances of lesser-heard works--would tackle the tried-and-true baroque masterpiece. Luckily, Kremer inventively separates each Vivaldi season with a corresponding composition from Astor Piazzolla's Four Seasons Suite, making for fascinating comparisons. Kremer's performances of the Vivaldi are remarkable, sounding solid and fresh. And like an infectious Broadway musical, Piazzolla's seasons always seem on the verge of a giddy dance number. Kremer really gets to show off on these tango-inspired pieces, but he's charming throughout. The programming probably won't make this your reference Four Seasons, but for those who love their Vivaldi in small doses or fans of Kremer's Tango Ballet disc, this is a must-have. ---Jason Verlinde

The only thing I need less than a new Piazzolla recording is another recording of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons." And yet, here are the "Four Seasons" of both composers, juxtaposed by that tireless champion of the obscure, Gidon Kremer. Just why Kremer is tackling such standard fare becomes clear early on in this program. Although the music industry -- and, let's face it, anybody who wants to systematically file their recordings -- favors single-artist discs, Kremer argues quite effectively for the insights that result from such thoughtful musical contrasts. Actually, Vivaldi's and Piazzolla's music complement each other surprisingly well. Both composers drew on their respective dance and folk traditions, elevating these influences to a new level. Kremer's hand-picked ensemble of Balkan string players apply taut Vivaldi-like rigor to Piazzolla's pieces, while evoking a Piazzolla-like pictorial quality in Vivaldi's music. This may not be my first-choice pick for either set of "Seasons," but it puts both works in a new -- and illuminating -- light. ---Ken Smith, Barnes & Noble

Over the course of more than 30 years of a distinguished career, violinist Gidon Kremer, born in Riga in 1947, has established a worldwide reputation as one of the most original and compelling artists of his generation, praised for his high degree of individualism, his rejection of the well-trodden paths of interpretation, and his search for new possibilities. Gidon Kremer has made more than 100 recordings for a number of record labels. Kremer’s recordings, which have earned him a series of major international awards, have set new standards of interpretation.

His repertoire is unusually extensive, encompassing all of the standard classical and Romantic violin works, as well as music by 20th-century masters. He has also championed the works of living Russian and Eastern European composers and has performed many important new compositions, of which several are dedicated to him. It is owing to his never-ending activities that we are able to appreciate composers such as Alfred Schnittke, Arvo Pärt, Sofia Gubaidulina, Valentin Silvestrov, Luigi Nono, Aribert Reimann, John Adams, and Astor Piazzolla, while being able to experience classical music in a new way, one that bears tradition and at the same time remains contemporary. Deeply committed to chamber music, his music festival in the small Austrian village of Lockenhaus, founded in 1981, is the realization of his belief that music can overcome all barriers of language and culture.

Since 1992 the Lockenhaus musicians have been performing all over the world under the Kremerata Musica logo. On the occasion of Franz Schubert’s 200th birthday celebrations in 1997, they undertook a comprehensive concert cycle throughout Europe, including appearances at the Salzburg Festival. In November 1996, Gidon Kremer founded the Kremerata Baltica, a chamber orchestra to foster outstanding young musicians from the three Baltic States. The Kremerata Baltica, which began undertaking regular concert tours with Kremer in 1997, signed an exclusive, six-record deal with Nonesuch Records, of which Eight Seasons (2000) was the inaugural release, followed by Silencio (2000), After Mozart (2001), and 2003's The Russian Seasons and Happy Birthday, and now, 2009's complete Mozart violin sonatas. In 1997, Gidon Kremer also took over leadership of the Musiksommer Gstaad (Switzerland), succeding Lord Yehudi Menuhin. Kremer began studying the violin at the age of four with his father and grandfather, and in 1965 he became a student of David Oistrach’s master class at the Moscow Conservatory.

He has since been awarded the most prestigious violinist prizes, including the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, and the Paganini Competition in Genoa, among others. He has also received many music awards such as the Frankfurt Music Award, the Ernst von Siemens Music Award, the first prize at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana and the Federal Service Cross of Germany. Kremer has appeared on virtually every major concert stage with the most celebrated orchestras of Europe and America, and has recorded with today’s foremost conductors including Leonard Bernstein, Christoph Eschenbach, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Herbert von Karajan, and Riccardo Muti. Gidon Kremer plays a Nicolo Amati violin,dating from 1641.

Kariera Gidona Kremera miała chyba najbardziej niekonwencjonalny przebieg, jeżeli wziąć pod uwagę najwybitniejszych skrzypków na świecie. Urodził się w Rydze, gdzie w wieku czterech lat rozpoczął naukę pod kierunkiem znakomitych instrumentalistów – ojca i dziadka. Mając siedem lat zaczął uczęszczać do szkoły muzycznej w Rydze. W wieku 16 lat otrzymał pierwszą Nagrodę Republiki Łotewskiej, dwa lata później rozpoczął studia u Dawida Ojstracha w konserwatorium w Moskwie. Niedługo potem zdobył prestiżowe nagrody na Konkursie im. Królowej Elżbiety (1967) i pierwsze nagrody na Międzynarodowych Konkursach im. Paganiniego i Czajkowskiego.

Te sukcesy zapoczątkowały wspaniałą karierę Gidona Kremera, podczas której zdobył na świecie reputację jednego z najbardziej oryginalnych i intrygujących artystów swojego pokolenia. Wystąpił praktycznie we wszystkich najważniejszych salach koncertowych u boku najbardziej znanych orkiestr w Europie i Ameryce. Współpracował z najznamienitszymi dyrygentami naszych czasów, takimi jak: Leonard Bernstein, Herbert von Karajan, Christoph Eschenbach, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta, James Levine, Valery Gergiev, Claudio Abbado i Sir Neville Marriner.

Niezwykle szeroki repertuar Gidona Kremera obejmuje wszystkie należące do kanonu skrzypcowego dzieła klasyczne i romantyczne, jak również utwory kompozytorów XX w. (Henze, Berg, Stockhausen). Popularyzuje też dzieła żyjących kompozytorów rosyjskich i wschodnioeuropejskich, wykonując wiele nowych kompozycji, z których kilka właśnie jemu zadedykowano. Jest kojarzony z tak różnymi kompozytorami jak: Alfred Schnittke, Arvo Pärt, Giya Kancheli, Sofia Gubaidulina, Valentin Silvestrov, Luigi Nono, Aribert Reimann, Peteris Vasks, John Adams i Astor Piazzolla, przedstawiając ich muzykę w sposób szanujący tradycję, a jednocześnie nowoczesny. Można uczciwie stwierdzić, że żaden inny, porównywalnej sławy solista, nie zrobił tak wiele dla współczesnych kompozytorów w ciągu ostatnich 30 lat.

Gidon Kremer dokonał niezliczonej ilości nagrań płytowych. Spośród ponad 100 albumów, wiele przyniosło mu prestiżowe międzynarodowe nagrody w uznaniu niezwykłego talentu interpretacyjnego: Grand Prix du Disque, Deutscher Schallplattenpreis, Ernst-von-Siemens Musikpreis, Bundesverdienstkreuz, Premio dell’ Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Triumph Prize 2000 (Moskwa) i UNESCO Prize (2001). W 2002 roku otrzymał, wraz z orkiestrą Kremerata Baltica, nagrodę Grammy za wydane przez wytwórnię Nonesuch nagranie After Mozart w kategorii „Najlepsze wykonanie małego zespołu”. To samo nagranie zdobyło niemiecką nagrodę ECHO 2002.

W 1981 roku Gidon Kremer założył niewielki letni festiwal muzyki kameralnej Lockenhaus, odbywający się corocznie w Austrii. Na dwa lata (1997-98) Kremer przejął funkcję dyrektora artystycznego Festiwalu w Gstaad od jego założyciela, Sir Yehudi Menuhina. Gidon Kremer gra na zbudowanych w 1740 roku przez Guarneri del Gesù skrzypcach „ex-David”. Jest także autorem trzech opublikowanych w Niemczech książek dotyczących jego pracy artystycznej.

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1.Stevan Kovacs Tickmayer 	Eight Hymns In Memoriam Andrei Tarkovsky	(11:47)
1.1 	– 	Calmo 	
1.2 	– 	Tranquillo 	
1.3 	– 	Pesante 	
1.4 	– 	Sereno 	
1.5 	– 	Molto Tranquillo 	
1.6 	– 	Pregando 	
1.7 	– 	Dolce 	
1.8 	– 	Molto Semplice 	

Khatia Buniatishvili - piano
Andrei Pushkarev - vibraphone
Kremerata Baltica
Roman Kofman - conductor

César Franck 	Piano Quintet In f Minor	(36:20)
2 	– 	Molto Moderato Quasi Lento. Allegro 	15:55
3 	– 	Lento, Con Molto Sentimento 	10:45
4 	– 	Allegro Non Troppo, Ma Con Fuoco 	8:40

Khatia Buniatishvili - piano
Gidon Kremer - violin
Marija Nemanytė - violin
Maxim Rysanov - viola
Giedrė Dirvanauskaitė - cello

5.Giya Kancheli - Silent Prayer
Andrei Pushkarev - vibraphone
Giedrė Dirvanauskaitė - cello
Sofia Altunashvili - voice on tape
Kremerata Baltica

With Hymns and Prayers, Gidon Kremer and his ensemble Kremerata Baltica have produced another contemplative album that's largely flavored by Eastern European mysticism. Hungarian composer Stevan Kovacs Tickmayer's Eight Hymns in Memoriam Andrei Tarkovsky is an exquisitely delicate work scored for violin, strings, vibraphone, and piano, and its movement titles provide an apt description of its emotional tone: Calmo, Tranquillo, Sereno, Molto Semplice, and so on. An air of quiet melancholy tinged with a slightly foreboding sense of mystery emanates from the entire piece. It sounds like a logical extension of the work of the "holy minimalists," but Tickmayer uses more dissonance and an unmoored tonality as potent expressive elements. Giya Kancheli, generally considered one of the original "holy minimalists" is represented by his 2007 Silent Prayer for violin, cello, chamber ensemble, and tape, and it's intriguing to compare the works of these two composers who share an aesthetic but who were born nearly 30 years apart, Kancheli in 1935 and Tickmayer in 1963. Kancheli's piece relies largely on diatonic harmonies and often quite conventional harmonic progressions. The composer tweaks both to avoid falling into cliché, and while he usually succeeds, there are moments, particularly the loud interjections, one of which uses a common rock beat and progression, that come across as embarrassingly trite and inexplicable, destroying the understated serenity that characterizes most of the piece. The central work on the album is Franck's Piano Quintet in F minor that Kremer includes because the second movement, Lento, con molto sentimento, is so close to the gentle, reflective tone of the other two works. It's a provocative but effective pairing of pieces. The inescapably lush harmonic language of the Franck immediately sets it apart from the austerity of the pieces that bookend it, and while the performance is certainly not restrained or lacking in sensuality, it has a leanness that's in keeping with the general mood of the album. Kremer and his ensemble play with great focus and precision while bringing out the emotional intensity of each of the pieces, even when they are required to play very, very quietly. ECM's sound, as is typical, beautifully captures the performances with absolute clarity and a vivid sense of presence. ---Stephen Eddins, AllMusic Review

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Richard Strauss 
Sonata for violin & piano in E flat major, Op. 18 (TrV 151)
1 Allegro ma non troppo	10:46 	
2 Improvisation, andante cantabile	8:19 	
3 Finale: andante - allegro	8:56 	

Max Reger
Sonata for violin & piano No. 7 in C major, Op. 139
4 Con passione	9:31 	
5 Largo	5:58 	
6 Vivace	4:37 	
7 Andantino con variazioni	11:32 	

Gidon Kremer - Violin
Oleg Maisenberg - Piano 

Chamber works were not of particular interest to Richard Strauss once he had passed the gates to musical maturity. The Sonata for violin and piano in E flat major, Op. 18, of 1887 is really the last original chamber piece to come from Strauss' pen. After the Sonata there are only a handful of arrangements of music from the operas, a few lost or unfinished works, and two unassuming pieces that date from many decades later: the Allegretto for violin and piano and the Hochzeitspräludium for, believe it or not, two harmoniums. The Sonata is a nice treat -- the vast majority of late nineteenth century chamber sonatas were produced by the Brahms/Dvorák side of the great musical divide; only occasionally does one get to sample how a composer from the other "camp," in this case Strauss, felt about the genre.

The Sonata is roughly contemporaneous with the famous symphonic fantasy Aus Italien and the famous tone poem Don Juan, and the proximity is everywhere apparent in the music. Velvety melody and a certain refined manner of self-indulgence fill the pages of each of the work's three movements. However, in the finale the velvet is ruffled a bit, and that self-indulgence is in part replaced by self-willed urgency. The piano announces the beginning of the Allegro ma non troppo first movement with a gently heroic idea -- like an echo of some triumph long past -- whose basic contours will ultimately generate a fair portion of the movement's stock. A beautiful, flowing melody emerges some 20 bars later, but this is just a subsidiary to that opening idea. Another beautiful, flowing melody, this one in B flat major and marked espressivo e appassionato, serves as the proper second theme.

The second movement is called Improvisation and marked Andante cantabile. Improvised it is not: this is a very carefully crafted instrumental song. The finale begins with nine bars of sepulchral Andante introduction for the piano alone; Allegro is the tempo of the movement proper, whose initial, symphonic thrust is so compelling that it prompts the violin to explode with a frenzy of sixteenth notes. When everything has been said, the two instruments agree on blatant heroism for the close of the Sonata. ---Blair Johnston, allmusic.com

Apart from the opera and the symphony, Max Reger made significan contributions to practically every musical genre. Here chamber music certainly occupies the first rank, and within this category works for violin and piano constitute the largest complex. This tonal and formal combination fascinated Reger over the course of a quarter of a century. ---chandos.net

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1. Stravinsky - Pastorale For Violin And Wind Quartet    play
2. Schnittke - Violin Concerto No. 4: Andante
3. Violin Concerto No. 4: Vivo (Cadenza Visuale)
4. Violin Concerto No. 4: Adagio
5. Violin Concerto No. 4: Lento (Cadenze Visuale)
6. Lourie -  The Blackamoor Of Peter The Great - Symphonic Prose –
 Orchestral Suite Based On Original Instrumental And Vocal Passages Adapted From The    Opera: Introduzione: Lento
7. The Blackamoor Of Peter The Great - Allegro
8. The Blackamoor Of Peter The Great - Lento
9. The Blackamoor Of Peter The Great - The Dance Of The Night And The Wind
10. The Blackamoor Of Peter The Great - The Appearance Of The Silver Egg
11. The Blackamoor Of Peter The Great - Hymn To Eros     play
12. The Blackamoor Of Peter The Great - Amor's Aria
13. The Blackamoor Of Peter The Great - Toccatina
14. The Blackamoor Of Peter The Great - Dance Of The Skomorochs (Harlequins)
15. The Blackamoor Of Peter The Great - Les Adieux: Prelude De Concert
16. The Blackamoor Of Peter The Great - Coda
17.  Tchaikovsky-Stravinsky - The Sleeping Beauty: Variation De Le Fee De Lilas:
 Allegro Con Moto
18. The Sleeping Beauty: Entr'Acte: Andante Sostenuto
19. Lourie - Funeral Games In Honor Of Chronos

Gidon Kremer – violin
Philharmonia Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach - conductor

This somewhat esoteric Russian program begins with the charming little Stravinsky "Pastorale" for violin and wind quartet. An arrangement of the composer's "Vocalese" from 1907, this droll piece makes a perfect opening for this unusual program, and is beautifully done by members of the Philharmonia. But listeners should brace themselves for what follows, the disturbing, violent (and totally terrific) Schnittke Violin Concerto No. 4 (1984). In four movements, it lurches from genial passages to those that are positively scorching. Gidon Kremer (the work's dedicatee) will be hard to top in his frightening intensity, including some eerie vocal work, and Christoph Eschenbach and the Philharmonia are right up there with him in virtuosity. It is easily one of the most brilliant Schnittke performances I've ever heard.

An orchestral suite from Arthur Vincent Lourie's opera, "The Blackamoor of Peter the Great" (1961) comes next and is a fascinating oddity, and also notable for Schnittke's hand in orchestrating one of the middle movements, the "Ballet No. 3: Hymn to Eros." Throughout, the language is not too distant from Schnittke himself, perhaps with Shostakovich hovering nearby. The Philharmonia woodwind work is particularly notable and satisfying, but the entire ensemble presents the score with great power and commitment (as with everything here).

Stravinsky appears again in a charming instrumentation of two short excerpts from Tchaikovsky's "Sleeping Beauty" which make a lovely break after the intensity of the Schnittke and Lourie works. Stravinsky's effort here transforms the sound into something resembling his own "Baiser de la fee" ("The Fairy's Kiss") and is completely winning, including a star turn for solo violin that Kremer executes beautifully.

The ten-minute Lourie that follows, "Funeral Games in Honor of Chronos" (1964) is scored for three flutes, piano (Eschenbach, who contributes some gorgeous playing) and cymbals, and makes a beautiful, somber ending to the program. I really admire the slightly offbeat programming of this recording, which combines massive orchestral works with lighter chamber pieces in between, and shows Eschenbach at his most imaginative.

Once again Kremer shows himself to be one of the current scene's great champions of this repertoire, and the Schnittke in particular, is one of the finest examples of this composer's output on disc. (It has been re-issued on a Teldec set of all four violin concertos, all conducted by Eschenbach.) The sound quality is excellent throughout, with a keen "you are there" presence.

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