press pack - Jacob Shaw

PRESS PACK
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Currently flourishing in the early stages of his career with
performances around the world in venues such as Carnegie
Hall, Berlin Konzerthaus and Guangzhou Opera House, Shaw has
established himself within the new generation as the “cellist to
follow” (ResMusica).
His unique style and a fresh approach to classical music is very much
on show here which includes traditional works such as the sonatas
of Johannes Brahms (with José Gallardo, piano) and a solo suite of
Benjamin Britten as well as folk and world music with traditional
Chinese ensemble.
With exclusive photos from fame photographer Nikolaj Lund, the
double CD album DEBUT: JACOB SHAW is both visually and audibly
stunning and is guaranteed to appeal not only to classical listeners
but to anyone that appreciates simple beauty.
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Roven Records, owned by four-time Emmy winning composer
concentrates on Classical Music, Children’s Music, Broadway
Music and the Spoken Word.
They routinely place CDs on top ten lists and have recorded with
Joyce DiDonato, Isabel Leonard, Leon Fleisher, Dick Hyman,
Catherine Zeta-Jones, Patti LuPone, to name only a few.
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From Roven Records President and CEO Glen Roven:
I was invited to a recital at Carnegie Hall and was blown away by Jacob’s performance.
(and his red socks!) I saw him surrounded by fans at the party afterwards and quietly
slipped him my card and said I run a CD label and we’d love to talk to him, assuming
we’d never be able to snare a talent like Shaw’s for our label. Six months later, voila!
And we at Roven Records are thrilled and looking forward to many more CDs.
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CD 1
Johannes Brahms: Sonata No. 1 in E Minor for piano and cello, Op. 38
............... 15:27
e I. Allegro non troppo
2 II. Allegretto quasi menuetto............ 05:21
................... 06:27
g III. Allegro
Johannes Brahms: Sonata No. 2 in F Major for piano and cello, Op. 99
................. 08:28
i I. Allegro vivace
5 II. Adagio affettuoso............... 07:14
6 III. Allegro passionato............... 06:53
l IV. Allegro molt0................ 04:32
TOTAL TIME: 54:22
CD 2
Benjamin Britten: Cello Suite No. 3, Op. 87
e Introduzione: Lento............... 02:28
................. 01:48
2 Marcia: Allegro
................. 01:26
3 Canto: Con Moto
................ 01 :54
4 Barcarolla: Lento
5 Dialogo: Allegretto............... 02:06
6 Fuga: Andante espressivo ............. 02:53
............... 01:20
7 Recitativo: Fantastico
8 Moto perpetuo: Presto.............. 00:56
............. 1 1 :31
n Passacaglia: Lento solenne
o Traditional/Shaw: A Brit in Denmark......... 02:41
r Ernst Bloch/Shaw: ‫( תפילה‬Prayer)........... 04:21
(Persian Samâ’)...... 06:43
s Théophile De Wallensbourg:
t Traditional/Shaw-Casals: El Cant dels Ocells (Song of the Birds) 03:22
u Wang Liping/Henderson: 葬花吟 (Song of the Burial of Flowers) 07:16
TOTAL TIME: 50:45
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CD 1 Recording and mixing: Bernhard Hanke
CD 2 Recording engineer Tracks e-9: Andrej Kocan
CD 2 Recording engineer Tracks o-u: Marc Casanovas
CD 2 ARTISTIC ASSISTANTS TRACKS e-9: JAN FLESSEL AND ESTERA RAJNICKA
CD 2 Mixing engineer: Marc Casanovas / NorCat Lyd
Music production: Jacob Shaw, Marc Casanovas / NorCat Lyd
Executive Producers: Glen Roven, Ira Yuspeh, Mitch Yuspeh
Mastered by: Ira Yuspeh for M & I Recording
Photos: Nikolaj Lund
Photo of José Gallardo: Nikolas Hagele
Design: KILMULIS design
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Jacob Shaw (cello), José Gallardo (piano),
张萌 Zhang Meng (guqin), 崔颖 Cui Ying (pipa), 杨新月 Yang Xinyue
(guzheng), 王莎媚 Wang Shamei (yangqin), 闫妍 Yan Yan (erhu)
Piano: Steinway model D (Hermes&Weger Augsburg//Helmut Tröndle)
Celli: Paolo Antonio Testore on loan from the Royal Danish Academy of
Music and a cello made for Jacob in 2007 by Patrick Robin
Bows: Albert Nürnberger on kind loan from Morten Zeuthen and a bow
made for Jacob in 2003 by Stéphane Tomachot
Recorded between 2009 - 2015 in Augsburg and Copenhagen.
RR90015 © RR Roven Records 2015.
www.rovenrecords.com
All rights reserved.
Made in the UK.
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This debut project has taken almost 6
years, from the first note recorded in
June 2009 until the last, in March 2015.
The different pieces were recorded at
2 year intervals. Between recordings I
was influenced by other different artists,
places, and personal experiences. This had
a huge effect on my musical development
and listening back, I can literally map
these changes through the variances both
in my playing and choices of repertoire.
In 2009 I won the competition held by
the foundation of the Banque Populaire
in France. The prize and their support
enabled me to record the Brahms sonatas.
The date of the recordings coincided with
my master­-studies at the Leopold Mozart
Zentrum (Augsburg University); therefore
the Augsburg University concert hall with
such a wonderful natural acoustic and
Steinway concert grand was selected for
the recording.
Via my former professor and mentor,
Julius Berger, I met the wonderful pianist
José Gallardo in the mid 2000s and I knew
as soon as I heard him that there was no one else I would dream of recording the
Brahms sonatas with. He brings magic to the piano, his colours and sensitivity are
unique. There are so many things I could write about the Brahms sonatas : The first
sonata and its homage to Bach ­Die Kunst der Fuge, the second written for friend and
cellist Robert Hausmann (cellist of the Joachim quartet), and so on and so forth.
Most of these things (if not all) have been written down and explained over and over.
So instead I will answer a question:­Why have I chosen to record perhaps some of
the most well known repertoire for cello in my first ever commercial recording? The
answer is simple. I love his music. Passion, drama, love, fragility, beauty. I hear and
feel in his music all aspects of life.
The Third Suite for Solo Cello by Benjamin Britten (CD 2, e-n) is based on three
Russian songs from Tchaikovsky’s volumes of arrangements along with “Kontakion”
(Hymn for the Departed). This suite is Britten’s final work for the cello. As with
his other works for cello, it was written for the great Russian cellist Mstislav
Rostropovich in 1971. It is often said that when a person nears death their life plays
out backwards, flashing in front of their eyes for just a split second. Similarly, the
form of this piece appears backwards, with nine movements containing variations
on themes that appear only in the coda at the end of the suite. Furthermore, I cannot
help but draw parallels between the form of this piece and the personal struggle
undertaken by Rostropovich in the USSR during the early 1970s. His friendship and
sheltering of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn coupled with his support for dissidents led
to official disgrace and eventual exile. Britten quotes the G major prelude of Bach
(CD 2, i) and throughout the suite intertwines variations on Russian songs, before
ending almost 30 minutes of heart wrenching passion and beauty with “Hymn for
the Departed” (CD 2, n). I believe this demonstrates a strong show of support for
Rostropovich during such a delicate political and humanistic struggle.
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“A Brit in Denmark” (CD 2, o) is a combination of two traditional melodies: the first,
from the Danish island of Ærø and the second, a Scottish fiddle tune. Following my
relocation to Denmark in 2012 I have become interested in Scandinavian folk music,
which has captured my imagination. It felt only natural to merge the wonderful fiddle
culture I experienced during trips to Scotland with a beautiful Danish melody and
form this piece.
Aged 17 I moved to Paris, to study. It was here that I met my great friend Theophile
de Wallensbourg who introduced me to a new world of art, culture, music and Parisian
(Persian Samâ’) (CD 2, s)
life. I have since performed several of his works.
is dedicated to me and inspired by Persian music and the Kamancheh (4 stringed
instrument).
One of the great classical Chinese novels “A Dream in Red Mansions” was written by
Xueqin Cao in 1784. In the 1980s this book was adapted for Chinese television and
became one of China’s most celebrated television dramas. “Song of the Burial of
Flowers” (CD 2, u), written by Chinese composer Liping Wang, is the theme tune to
this drama and is sung by the beautiful, young heroine Daiyu Lin. In 2013 I premiered
the cello concerto “On the Beach with Alice” in Bejing, written by British composer
Philip Henderson. In 2015, Philip kindly agreed to arrange “Song of the Burial of
Flowers” for me to play together with a group of traditional Chinese musicians visiting
Copenhagen. It gives me great pleasure to include “Song of the Burial of Flowers” as
the last track of my release.
The most important thing I have learnt in the 6 years, between my first ever recording
(the passion of Brahms op.99) and my last (the simple beauty of the Catalonian
folk tune, El cant dels ocells), is the irreplaceable significance of music to my
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life. As Nietzsche so eloquently wrote­
“Ohne Musik wäre das Leben ein Irrtum.”
(“Without music, life would be a mistake”).
I hope that you get as much pleasure
listening to this recording as I have had
creating, constructing and realising each
element of it.
With my warmest wishes,
Jacob Shaw
Award winning British cellist
was born in London in
1988. After studies at the Yehudi Menuhin School, he moved to Paris where at 19
years old he became the youngest ever cellist to graduate with highest honours
from the École Normale de Musique in Paris.
With a vast repertoire and fresh approach to classical concerts, Jacob established
“Radical Classic” as an alternative movement to build a diverse and new generation
of classical music lovers. His passion for collaborating with different cultures and
musical genres has led to projects with indie, jazz, folk, traditional and electronic
musicians.
In 2008, together with his family, Jacob founded the Festival International de
Musique de Chambre en Charente in France (www.chalaismusique.com).
A dedicated teacher, his students have won national and international competitions
and he frequently holds classes and workshops in music schools and universities.
In 2013 Jacob was appointed International Music Ambassador for Dulwich College
International (Asia).
Jacob Shaw is based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Further information available at
www.jacobshaw.de
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José Gallardo
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
began at the age
of five with piano lessons, first in Buenos Aires at the Conservatory. Later he continued
his studies with Prof. Poldi Mildner at the Department of Music, University of Mainz
and received his diploma. During this time he discovered his passion for chamber music.
He was musically inspired by artists as Menahem Pressler, Alfonso Montecino, KarlHeinz Kammerling, Sergiu Celibidache, Rosalyn Tureck and Bernard Greenhouse.
Jose Gallardo has won numerous national and international awards. Invitations
to numerous tours and festivals followed, including the Chamber Music Festival
Lockenhaus, Verbier Festival, Lucerne Festival, Chopin and his Europe Warsaw,
Ludwigsburg Castle Festival, Schwetzingen Festival, Schleswig Holstein, the Kronberg
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Cello Festival, Cork Music Festival, Musiktage Hitzacker, Kaposfest Hungary and the
Rheingau Music Festival.
A busy concert and chamber music Cooperation in Europe, Asia, Israel, Oceania and
South America connects him among others with Gidon Kremer, Barnabás Kelemen, Linus
Roth, Benjamin Schmid, Carolin Widmann, Alina Ibragimova, Dmitry Sitkovetski, Nils
Mönkemeyer, Andreas Ottensammer, Nicolas Altstaedt, Miklós Perényi, Maximilian
Hornung.
Recordings for EMI, Hänssler, Challenge Records Int., Oehms Classics, Neon, Genuin,
Warner and Naxos as well as television and radio productions in BR, SWR, MDR, BBC,
RAI, etc.
From 1998 to 2008 he was a lecturer at the Department of Music, University of Mainz,
since the fall of 2008 he taught at Leopold Mozart Centre, University of Augsburg.
Since 2013 he became, together with Andreas Ottensamer, artistic director of the
chamber music festival “Bürgenstock Festival” in Lucerne.
The Music Confucius Institute (MCI) was
established in 2012 between the Central Conservatory of Music (CCOM) in Beijing
and The Royal Danish Academy of Music (RDAM) in Copenhagen.
The purpose of the MCI is to facilitate musical and cultural exchange between China
and Denmark. MCI aims to actively contribute towards the future global development
of music by creating synergies between classical Western and Chinese musical
traditions.
Through the power of creativity and inspiration, MCI believes we can harness the
beautiful diversity of sound. MCI is open to anyone who is interested in Chinese
musical tradition and culture.
The traditional Chinese instruments on this recording are played by the teachers of
the MCI.
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Roven Records is a boutique record label devoted to the craft of recording and
production of great performing artists, composers, and ideals. Specializing in
classical music, children’s music, broadway and the spoken word our staff has over
30 years of experience in the performing arts and music industry. We believe great
music deserves to be heard.
Roven Records is distributed by Naxos of America in North America and by Launch
Music International in the rest of the world.
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With kind support from:
www.rovenrecords.com
www.jacobshaw.de