Eldbjørg Hemsing Plays Dvořák and Suk

The Norwegian violinist follows up on her acclaimed CD début with an all-Czech disc.

Highly acclaimed, Eldbjørg Hemsing's recent recording début was an unexpected juxtaposition of a concerto by her nearly-forgotten compatriot Hjalmar Borgström and Shostakovich's celebrated Violin Concerto No. 1 (BIS2366). The disc that she follows this up with combines two works that make more natural bedfellows, however: the two Czech composers Antonin Dvořák and Josef Suk were particularly closely linked, in that Suk wasn't only Dvořák's favourite student, but also his son-in-law. Both had also studied the violin, which makes it somewhat surprising that Dvořák's Concerto and Suk's Fantasy are their only large-scale concertante works for the instrument.

Commenting on her choice of repertoire, Eldbjørg Hemsing remembers how her brother used to play the Dvořák concerto over and over again in her childhood. This awakened a curiosity about the work and its composer which later led to her discovery of Suk's music. She became fascinated by the eloquence of the Czech idiom that the two composers share, despite their many differences in expression and style. The disc closes with an arrangement for violin and orchestra of what is possibly Suk's best-known piece, Liebeslied (Love Song) for piano solo. Composed in 1893, around the time that the 19-year-old composer met his future wife, Otilie Dvořák, it is an unashamedly romantic piece which has been arranged numerous times. In these warmly scored works, Eldbjørg Hemsing is supported by the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra (formerly known as the Royal Flemish Philharmonic) under Alan Buribayev.