Bartók: Concerto pour orchestre - Concerto pour alto Amihai Grosz, Orchestre National de Lille & Alexandre Bloch

• Béla Bartók (1881 - 1945): Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 116:
• 1 Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 116: I. Introduzione. Andante non troppo 10:24
• 2 Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 116: II. Presentando le coppie. Allegro scherzando 06:24
• 3 Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 116: III. Elegia. Andante non troppo 07:14
• 4 Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 116: IV. Intermezzo Interrotto. Allegretto 04:27
• 5 Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 116: V. Finale. Pesante-Presto 09:43
• Viola Concerto, Sz. 120:
• 6 Bartók: Viola Concerto, Sz. 120: I. Moderato 14:04
• 7 Bartók: Viola Concerto, Sz. 120: II. Adagio religioso 04:42
• 8 Bartók: Viola Concerto, Sz. 120: III. Allegro vivace 04:28
• Total Runtime 01:01:26

Info for Bartók: Concerto pour orchestre - Concerto pour alto

Exiled in the United States since October 1940, Bela Bartok was short of money and worn out by leukaemia. Nevertheless, a few weeks' respite from the disease in August 1943 enabled him to fulfil a commission from the conductor Serge Koussevitzky. For a fee of a thousand dollars, he quickly wrote the Concerto for Orchestra, which was to be premiered at Boston's Symphony Hall on 1 December 1944. Koussevitzky was very enthusiastic about the Concerto, even describing it as 'the best orchestra piece of the last 25 years'. It was the success of this score that prompted the violist William Primrose to ask the Hungarian composer to write a work for him. Bartok had little experience of the instrument and was only convinced when he heard the soloist perform the Walton Concerto on the radio. The score was initially planned in four movements, but the composer's death reduced it to three. Amihai Grosz (a founder member of the Jerusalem Quartet, now principal viola of the Berliner Philharmoniker) joins the Orchestre National de Lille and Alexandre Bloch for this recording.

Amihai Grosz, viola
Orchestre National de Lille
Alexandre Bloch, conductor

Amihai Grosz
looks back on a very unusual career path: At first a quartet player (founding member of the Jerusalem Quartet), then and until today Principal Violist with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, and also a renowned soloist.

Initially, Amihai Grosz learned to play the violin, before switching to the viola at age 11. In Jerusalem, he was taught by David Chen, later by Tabea Zimmermann in Frankfurt and Berlin as well as in Tel Aviv by Haim Taub, who had a formative influence on him. At a very early age, he received various grants and prizes and was a member of the “Young Musicians Group” of the Jerusalem Music Center, a program for outstanding young musical talents.

As a soloist Grosz has collaborated with renowned conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Tugan Sokhiev, Ariel Zukermann, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Simon Rattle, Alexander Vedernikov and Gerard Korsten and performs internationally with orchestras such as the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre d'Auvergne and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra.

In the world of chamber music, Amihai Grosz performs with artists such as Yefim Bronfman, Mitsuko Uchida, Daniel Hope & Friends, Eric le Sage, Janine Jansen & Friends, Julian Steckel, Daishin Kashimoto and David Geringas. Internationally, he can be heard regularly at the most prestigious concert halls such as the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Tonhalle Zurich, Wigmore Hall in London and the Philharmonie Luxembourg, as well as at leading festivals including the Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, the Evian, Verbier and Delft Festivals, the BBC Proms and the Utrecht International Chamber Music Festival.

The highlights of the season 20/21 are concerts with the Mannheim Music Academy under the direction of Ingo Metzmacher, the Camerata Salzburg and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra with Janine Jansen, the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Daniel Smith and chamber music projects, among others. with the Belcea Quartet and the Cuarteto Casals.

Amihai Grosz and the pianist Sunwook Kim form a strong chamber music collaboration. In September 2020 their joint album for viola and piano (with works by Schubert, Partós and Shostakovich) will be released by Alpha Classics. The album will be performed in the same season in the Philharmonie Warsaw and in the Salle del Castillo in Vevey.

In the season of 20/21 Amihai Grosz, together with Janine Jansen, has been appointed as Artistic Director of the International Chamber Music Festival Utrecht.

Amihai Grosz plays a Gaspar-da-Salò viola from the year 1570, which is a lifelong loan made available to him by a private collection.

This album contains no booklet.