ADÈS, T.: Violin Concerto, "Concentric Paths" / 3 Studies from Couperin (Herresthal, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Manze)

Composed in 2005, Thomas Adès’s violin concerto ‘Concentric Paths’ has rapidly become a favourite with both audiences and performers. Displaying a constant growth of melodic ideas and compelling sense of pace and energy, the score has received over a thousand performances to date (including its setting to ballet), earning it a firm place in the repertoire. One of the eminent violinists to champion the work is Peter Herresthal, who has given its Austrian, Norwegian, Spanish and Australian premières, the latter conducted by Thomas Adès himself, at the 2010 Melbourne Festival. (Since their encounter, the collaboration between between Herresthal and Adès has continued, and has borne fruit in a new cadenza by Adès for György Ligeti’s violin concerto, which Herresthal will give the première of during the 2014 Bergen Festival.) 

 

On the present recording, made in April 2013, Herresthal is supported by his compatriots in the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, conducted by Andrew Manze, himself an acclaimed violinist as well as conductor. Their performance is being released as a digital album coupled with Three Studies from Couperin, played by the same orchestra and conductor. Premièred in 2006, the year after the concerto, the Couperin Studies is a reworking for chamber orchestra of three harpsichord pieces by Adès’s favourite baroque composer: ‘My ideal day’, he has said, ‘would be staying home and playing the harpsichord works of Couperin.’ 

 

The Norwegian violinist Peter Herresthal has previously released three discs for BIS, most recently violin concertos by Per Nørgård on an album which in 2013 was shortlisted for a Gramophone Award.