Myths and Melodies - Music between the Wars Stefan Hempel & Daniel Seroussi

• Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953): Five Melodies, Op. 35b:
• 1 Prokofiev: Five Melodies, Op. 35b: I. Andante 02:08
• 2 Prokofiev: Five Melodies, Op. 35b: II. Lento, ma non Troppo 02:30
• 3 Prokofiev: Five Melodies, Op. 35b: III. Animato, ma non Allegro 03:27
• 4 Prokofiev: Five Melodies, Op. 35b: IV. Allegretto leggero e Scherzando 01:30
• 5 Prokofiev: Five Melodies, Op. 35b: V. Andante non Troppo 03:08
• Karol Szymanowski (1882 - 1937): Mythes, Op. 30:
• 6 Szymanowski: Mythes, Op. 30: I. La fontaine D'Arethuse 05:42
• 7 Szymanowski: Mythes, Op. 30: II. Narcisse 06:49
• 8 Szymanowski: Mythes, Op. 30: III. Dryades et Pan 07:58
• Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937): Pavane pour une infante défunte (Arr. For Violin and Piano by Paul Kochanski):
• 9 Ravel: Pavane pour une infante défunte (Arr. For Violin and Piano by Paul Kochanski) 04:57
• Olivier Messiaen (1908 - 1992): Fantaisie:
• 10 Messiaen: Fantaisie 08:26
• Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897 - 1957): Four Pieces from the Incidental Music to Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing", Op. 11:
• 11 Korngold: Four Pieces from the Incidental Music to Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing", Op. 11: I. The Maiden in the Bridal Chamber 03:26
• 12 Korngold: Four Pieces from the Incidental Music to Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing", Op. 11: II. Dogberry and Verges. March of the Watch 03:06
• 13 Korngold: Four Pieces from the Incidental Music to Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing", Op. 11: III. Scene in the Garden 05:17
• 14 Korngold: Four Pieces from the Incidental Music to Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing", Op. 11: IV. Masquerade. Hornpipe 02:24
• Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924): Morceau de Concours:
• 15 Fauré: Morceau de Concours 01:30
• Total Runtime 01:02:18

Info for Myths and Melodies - Music between the Wars

​The musically and technically highly demanding programme, with which Stefan Hempel and Daniel Seroussi make their audite debut, offers an impressive panorama of the development of literature for violin accompanied by piano from the first third of the twentieth century. While the great works of the nineteenth century from Beethoven and Mendelssohn to Brahms and Tchaikovsky focused on melodic power and virtuoso brilliance, the compositions performed here by Korngold, Szymanowski, Prokofiev and Messiaen, written between 1915 and 1933, open up new expressive spheres for the instrument. The intensity of Hempel's and Seroussi's interpretations illustrate that the violin, no less than the piano, is a universal instrument which effortlessly does justice to the diversity of the idioms of musical modernism. The programme is complemented by the transcription of Ravel's famous piano piece Pavane pour une infante défunte by the Polish violinist Paul Kochanski and - as a bonus track available for download - Gabriel Fauré's melancholy Morceau de concours of 1903.

Stefan Hempel, violin
Daniel Seroussi, piano

Stefan Hempel
Born in Leipzig, Stefan Hempel is one of the most versatile violinists of his generation. As a soloist he has won numerous prizes at international competitions such as the "Max Rostal Violin Competition", the "Michael Hill International Violin Competition" New Zealand and, together with the Israeli pianist Daniel Seroussi, at the Competition “Schubert and Modern Music” in Graz.

Since 2009, Stefan Hempel has been the violinist in the Morgenstern Trio, one of the leading piano trios of his generation, and has given concerts on the most important European stages as well as regularly in the most famous American concert halls. In 2017, the trio, who also received the prestigious Kalichstein Laredo Robinson Award, performed in South Korea and Taiwan for the first time. Numerous radio recordings, portraits and CD productions by DLF, Deutschlandradio Kultur, WDR 3 and Bayerischer Rundfunk document the exceptional position of the ensemble. In 2015, the Morgenstern Trio was awarded the prize of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

From 2001-2009 he played as the leader of the Chagall Quartet and won prizes with it at the German University Competition in Frankfurt/Main and the International "Joseph Joachim Chamber Music Competition". The quartet is also the recipient of the 2005 Boris Pergamenshikov Prize for chamber music.

He enjoyed his artistic training i.a. with Stephan Picard (violin) and Eberhard Feltz (chamber music) at the Academy of Music “Hanns Eisler” Berlin.

After teaching assignments (assistant to Stephan Picard 2007-2009) and a substitute professor at the Stuttgart Music Academy (substitute for Kolja Lessing 2009), Stefan Hempel was appointed to the Rostock University of Music and Theater in 2010 as one of the youngest professors in Germany.

Stefan Hempel is also a sought-after guest concertmaster with a number of chamber orchestras (Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn, Chamber Academy Neuss, New Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra Leipzig, Ensemble Ruhr) and often conducts them (without a conductor) from the concertmaster's desk. He gives master classes in various countries, e.g. B. France, Italy, USA, Japan and China and is now also in demand as a juror at international music competitions.

Stefan Hempel plays a violin made by Nicola Gagliano, Naples, around 1760

Daniel Seroussi
"A discovery at the piano" was the title of the Argentinian daily newspaper "Clarin" in its review of Daniel Seroussi's South American debut in May 2009, as a soloist in Grieg's Piano Concerto, accompanied by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego.

This was followed by concert tours to North and Central America, China, Israel, performances in major European concert halls and participation in several music festivals, including the Bodensee Festival, Santander Festival, Spain and the Singapore Violin Festival, Singapore.

The Israeli pianist, who lives in Berlin, enjoys presenting discoveries and rediscoveries of all musical epochs to the public in addition to the standard repertoire. Due to his passion for contemporary music, Daniel maintains a close musical exchange with the most exciting composers of his generation and has dedicated several piano recitals to the music of the 20th and 21st centuries.

He made his debut as a soloist at the age of twenty, accompanied by the Israeli Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Mandy Rodan, and has performed with the Folkwang Orchestra Aachen, the Echo Ensemble Berlin and with the student orchestra of the Summer Academy in San José, Costa Rica concerts.

Daniel has won prizes at several piano competitions, including the Prix Amadéo Aachen piano competition in 2010, the Katz piano competition in Tel-Aviv in 2006, and the 2009 duo competition “Franz Schubert and the Modern Age” together with violinist Stefan Hempel. In May 2008, Daniel won a special prize from the DAAD for the outstanding performance of a foreign student at the Hanns Eisler Music Academy in Berlin.

Born into a musical family in Tel Aviv, Israel, Daniel received his first piano lessons from Mrs. Neta Yahel. He later studied with Emanuel Krasovsky in Tel-Aviv and in Berlin with Michael Endres, Georg Sava and Henri Sigfridsson. He received further formative impulses from Dimitri Bashkirov, Paul Badura-Skoda, Martino Tirimo and Eberhard Feltz.

In addition to his concert activities, Daniel enjoys contact with young, aspiring musicians as a lecturer for string accompaniment at the Academy of Music "Hanns Eisler" in Berlin and at the Academy of Music and Theater in Rostock.

His recording of his father, composer Ruben Seroussi's piano piece "Through the Keyboard" was released on the NEOS label in 2017. The debut CD "Myths and Melodies" by the duo Stefan Hempel (violin) and Daniel Seroussi will be released in February 2023 on the Audite label.

Booklet for Myths and Melodies - Music between the Wars