Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg - Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns, Massenet

Felix Mendelssohn (Artist), Camille Saint-Saëns (Artist), Jules Massenet (Artist), Gerard Schwarz (Artist), Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg (Artist), New York Chamber Symphony (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B000002RQ0
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #160,949 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

1 Violin Concerto In E Minor, Op. 64: Allegro Molto Appassionato 2 Violin Concerto In E Minor, Op. 64: Andante 3 Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64: Allegro non troppo 4 Havanaise, for violin & piano (or orchestra) in E major, Op. 83 5 Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, for violin & orchestra in A minor, Op. 28 6 Méditation, for violin & orchestra (or other arrangement) (from opera 'Thaïs')

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best violinist in the world!, November 13, 2000

By 

Darren Burton "virtualbloodhound" (Ogden, Utah United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg - Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns, Massenet (Audio CD)

This CD is one of the first classical music CDs I ever bought and still one of my favorites. It was the first CD of Nadja Salerno-Sonnenburg I ever bought after seeing her profiled on 60 minutes many years ago.

I have several CDs of Itzhak Perman, and Anne-Sophie Mutter, but no violinist matches Nadja's incredible gift of making each piece her own - you know that she truely feels the music - it flows through her -it isn't just a dry technical playing of the piece.

Listen to Track #5 - Saint-Saens: Introduction and Rondo capriccioso, Op.28 - It starts out so hauntingly beautiful and gradually builds in intensity. If this music doesn't get to you -you have no soul and will never enjoy any type of classical music.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorite CD's, January 26, 2001

By 

rodboomboom (Dearborn, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg - Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns, Massenet (Audio CD)

This music soars! Always lifted up with the selections and energy that this fine violinst provides. Also, enjoying Mendelssohn helps make this one of my prized cds.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nadja's Themes, May 17, 2005

By 

Erik North (San Gabriel, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg - Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns, Massenet (Audio CD)

Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg is one of the finest classical violinists that America has ever produced, female or otherwise. Her style of playing has the same intense lyricism and virtuosity that distinguishes all the great violinists and inspires others to strive for that same kind of excellence.

A perfect example of Salerno-Sonnenberg's virtuosity can be found on this 1988 EMI recording that she made with conductor Gerard Schwarz and the New York Chamber Symphony. Her ability to navigate through the tricky world that is Mendelssohn's celebrated E Minor Violin Concerto, particularly in its vivacious finale, is definitely something to behold. Like the violin concertos of Beethoven, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky, the Mendelssohn is a work that all concert violinists know they must utilize at some point, and Salerno-Sonnenberg does not hold anything back here. Neither do Schwarz and his NYCS players.

But the violin and orchestral virtuosity doesn't stop there, as Salerno-Sonnenberg, Schwarz, and the NYCS take up two shorter works by Saint-Saens--the Havanaise, and the Introduction And Rondo Capriccioso--and the much-loved "Meditation" from Jules Massenet's 1894 opera "Thais." This last work gives Salerno-Sonnenberg to display a quiet but obvious passion in her playing.

Helped out by the combination of a fine orchestra and a great conductor, Salerno-Sonnenberg proves herself here to be one of the great violinists of our time. This is a recording that cannot be recommended highly enough.