Britten and Shostakovich now available for download!
May 14, 2013 | News
Before the CDs hit the streets, you can download the album from either iTunes or the Onyx Classics website. Official release dates have also been announced: May 28th in Canada, June 3rd in the UK, and June 11th in the US!
Recital with Baritone Russell Braun and pianist Carolyn Maule at Koerner Hall in Toronto
May 4, 2013 | Reviews
“Ehnes…stunned the audience – there’s no other word for it – with the yin and yang of solo violin playing: the profound Bach Chaconne from his Second Partita, and some of Paganini’s glittering Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 24. The Bach Chaconne is one of those pieces that makes me sad for all my friends who aren’t into classical music, who don’t get to experience this form of art. A physical as well as emotional challenge for its performer, it was given an assured, balanced, deep performance by Ehnes, perfectly in tune with the music, as though his whole body was the instrument from which this sound was forthcoming. …The involuntary “Wow!” that escaped the mouth of one of the members of the audience in the middle of Ehnes’s Caprices was better than a thousand words I could write as a review of his amazing performance. James Ehnes and Russell Braun left us in little doubt on Thursday afternoon about the source of their fame. They are both musicians of the first rank.” (Globe and Mail, 3 May 2013)
“what we witnessed was the work of two greats. Ehnes display[ed] technique and control over his instrument that, quite frankly, didn’t seem entirely human. But he also made beautiful music. The Chaconne was a breathtaking show in how much Ehnes could do with a minimum of bowing, conjuring double and triple stops (hitting two or three strings at a time) out of thin air, and balancing two, three and even four lines of music on the tip of his golden-sounding instrument.” (Musical Toronto, 2 May 2013)
“As a soloist the violinist gave us Bach’s Chaconne, which sounded not an iota less than the masterpiece it is. In the second half Ehnes played three Paganini Caprices. The dazzling runs of No. 16 in G Minor elicited an audible “Wow!” from an awestruck patron in the parterre. Sympathetic chuckles ensued. Again the quiet touches impressed as much as the big, blazing fortes. Has the lilt of No. 9 ever been more gracefully captured? The famous variations of No. 24 traversed a seemingly infinite array of light and shade. It is customary to praise a pianist for invoking an orchestra. For a solo violinist to do this is rather less common. This was Ehnes at the top of his game.” (National Post, 3 May 2013)
Tchaikovsky disc earns James his 7th JUNO Award!
Apr. 22, 2013 | News
At the JUNO Awards Gala on Saturday night, James was awarded his 7th JUNO for his all-Tchaikovsky disc in collaboration with the Sydney Symphony and the wonderful Vladimir Ashkenazy for the Onyx Classics label. Look out for James's next Onyx disc to be released at the end of May. He teams up with Kirill Karabits and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in the Britten concerto and the first of the Shostakovich concertos.
Leonard Bernstein's "Serenade" with the Oregon Symphony and Carlos Kalmar
Apr. 21, 2013 | Reviews
"The other major piece on the program was Leonard Bernstein's 'Serenade,' the quasi-concerto for violin inspired by Plato's 'Symposium.' It, too, was a triumph, thanks especially to the soloist, the captivating violinist James Ehnes. Appropriately for the piece's roots in philosophic dialogue, his engagement with the orchestra was intense and thoughtful...He surmounted the piece's abundant technical and musical challenges with the kind of virtuosity that calls no attention to itself. With a big, lustrous tone, rock-solid intonation and impeccable phrasing, his outstanding playing was as direct as speech, appealing at once to the mind and to the spirit." (Oregonian, 21 April 2013)
From the Land of Hockey, Beer, and Back Bacon
Apr. 18, 2013 | News
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