Zimmermann/Bamberger/Hrusa - Bohuslav Martin?: Violin Concerto No.1, H.?226, Violin Concerto No.2, H.?293, B�la Bart�k: Sonata for Solo Violin, Sz.?1

On the present disc, Frank Peter Zimmermann, one of today�s most highly regarded violinists, performs works by two Central European composers that also exemplify various currents in classical music during the period 1920-1950. Although it only received its first performance in 1973, Bohuslav Martin?�s Violin Concerto No. 1 had been composed 40 years earlier in the neo-classical idiom championed by Stravinsky. In contrast, the composer�s Second Violin Concerto (1943) is written in a more lyrical vein, partly to suit the playing style of Mischa Elman, the violinist who commissioned it. In both works Zimmermann is partnered by Bamberger Symphoniker under the orchestra�s chief conductor Jakub Hr?�a, one of the leading Martin? conductors of today. The disc closes with a central work in the twentiethcentury literature for solo violin, B�la Bart�k�s Sonata for Solo Violin. Composed in 1944, only a year before Bart�k�s death, it is a deeply personal statement which fuses the overall layout of Bach�s solo violin sonatas with Hungarian folk tradition with results that are as fascinating to the listener as they are challenging to the performer.