Fiddler On The Roof: Violin transcriptions from operas

* * * * * Five Stars Classic CD (Nov 97)

"A cracking recital of virtuoso showstoppers - should win Shaham several more fans."
(Penguin Stereo)

This recording is bound to bring a smile to just about everyone! This collection of 'opera's greatest hits', or 'The Naked Gun of Opera' as Gil calls it, contains many of the melodies familiar to even the non-classical listener, all arranged with great panache by great violin names such as Heifetz, Kreisler, Sarasate and Hubay.

Rarely recorded pieces including some of the most technically demanding virtuoso transcriptions for the violin. These are not just 'fun' pieces but also real tests of the abilities of the violinist. Needless to say, Gil's enormous technical and musical mastery shines throughout the disc.

Akira Eguchi was born in 1963 in Tokyo, where he studied piano and composition before moving to New York to attend the Juilliard School. There his teachers included Felix Galimir, Samuel Sanders, Herbert Stessin and Itoshi Toyama. Among his numerous awards are Juilliard's William Schuman Prize and the Aleida Schweitzer Prize for Best Accompanist at the Wieniawski Competition in Poland. In 1987 he became assistant to the renowned violin teacher Dorothy DeLay at Juilliard and at the Aspen Festival. Eguchi has made concert tours throughout the US and has also appeared in Canada and Mexico, Eastern and Western Europe and the Far East.