Dmitry Smirnov / Kammerorchester Basel, Heinz Holliger – Invitation au Voyage – Lalo: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 4 CD

The new album of the Basel Chamber Orchestra brings an interesting compilation and shows references between French and Russian music in the late 19th century. Violinist Dmitry Smirnov interprets the 1st and 4th violin concertos by Édouard Lalo. The latter work is called the “Concerto russe” because Lalo used songs from Rimsky-Korsakov’s collection of folk songs Opus 24. The soloist took up these songs used here and arranged them himself for chamber orchestra, or for violin and chamber orchestra. Presented in this way in the context of Lalo’s “Concert russe”, these new creations add an extremely interesting new note to the musical bridge between East and West. A note that immediately met with the interest of Heinz Holliger, who is always open to new and unusual things and who could be won over as conductor and “spiritus rector” for this unusual project.