WILLIAM
BOLCOM
WORKS FOR VIOLIN
AND PIANO
RENATA ARTMAN
KNIFIC violin
LORI
SIMS piano
$14.95 ~ MS1197
"...the
Graceful Ghost Rag is rendered with charm to spare and an apt light touch. The
ardent and musicianly playing of Renata Knific and Lori Sims receives gracious
praise from the composer and indeed, these inspired, straightforward
performances allow Bolcom's eclectic style to register without special
pleading...Knific and Sims are always committed - often more than that - and the
two women make a compelling case for these works"
Gramophone ~ February 2008
"the
present beautifully engineered performances are persuasive in almost every
respect, and have deservedly earned the enthusiastic imprimatur of the composer.
Knific and Sims bring a tremendous range of characterisation to these highly
accessible works..."
Performance: 5 Stars / Sound: 5 Stars
BBC
Music Magazine ~ February 2008
"[The
Sonatas] are very well served here by Renata Knific and Lori Sims...[they] play
without emotional and technical restraints; and the mood of each movement is
found with precision. Bolcom himself [praises] the performers' 'rare fervor and
drama'. I agree."
American
Record Guide ~ January / February 2008
"Renata
Knific and Lori Sims ...collaboration in three of William Bolcom's violin sonatas
bears the imprimatur of Bolcom himself, who wrote the notes. Knific and Sims play
[the First Sonata] with crackling, edgy energy in the more extroverted passages,
and they bring an uneasy calm to the more meditative ones. Knific's tone
remains confidently strong in the upper registers, upon which Bolcom
frequently calls... Their rhythmic zest in the finale brings the Sonata to a
more traditional-sounding conclusion than the earlier
musical materials might have led a listener to expect...The duo's rhythmic incisiveness
[in the Second Sonata] help defines the
character of each of these disparate movements...Knific and Sims play [Graceful
Ghost] more impudently and more slyly [than Shaham]
so that the frequently recurring theme doesn't quickly wear out its welcome in the middle. The engineers have captured the performers close up, with
especially strong effect at the end of the Fourth Sonata. Recommended
principally to those who admire the music of Bolcom, but everybody
should enjoy at least the rag."
Fanfare ~ January/February 2008
"William
Bolcom may have made his name as America's foremost living composer
of ragtime music...But there's something dark and complex at the heart of this
music, and it's both fascinating and at times startling to hear. Then the
program ends with a lovely arrangement of the 'Graceful Ghost.'
Brilliant."
CD HotList for Libraries ~ October 2007
"For
anyone unfamiliar with the violin sonatas of William Bolcom, or who has heard
them but do not own this particular recording, stop what you're doing and buy
it. Violinist Renata Artman Knific and pianist Lori Sims...offer an
astonishingly commanding and engaging performance of the "Second,"
"Third," and "Fourth" sonatas. MSR's recorded sound on this
CD is especially clear, allowing every note to be heard in even the densest,
most aggressive passages. Intonation is all but flawless, and Knific's sound
varies easily between the savage and the sweet. Her palate of tone colors is
seemingly endless, which infuses each movement with a character all its own.
Sims' piano playing is equally vibrating and varied. The cleanliness of her
playing is remarkable considering the demands Bolcom makes of the pianist.
Together, Knific and Sims perform as if they were a single instrument. They
match each other's temperaments, articulations, phrasing, and character in a way
usually associated with duos that have been playing together for decades. This
CD is absolutely a necessary addition to virtually any collection and is
recommended without reservation." All
Music Guide ~ October 2007
"The
vibrant team of Renata Knific and Lori Sims play these works with rare fervor
and drama... I thank them profoundly for this recording." -
William Bolcom
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* *
Renata
Artman Knific’s international
career began in London when she joined the English Chamber Orchestra at the age
of 21. Tours of Europe, North and South America and Asia followed, with artists
such as Herman Bauman, Barry Tuckwell, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Maurice Andre,
Pinchas Zuckerman, Itzhak Perlman, Isaac Stern, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Murray
Perahia. She has worked closely with conductors Daniel Barenboim, Simon Rattle,
Edo De Waart and Christoph Eschenbach, and has made dozens of recordings for the
EMI, Decca and CBS labels.
As
violinist of the Merling Trio, Knific performs 20 to 40 concerts annually
throughout the world, including appearances at Merkin Hall, Carnegie Hall, St.
John’s in London, and the Banff Center for the Arts. She has released three
discs with the trio and premiered many works written for the group, which were
finalists for the Naumburg Foundation Chamber Music Award in 1994. Knific has
also appeared in chamber music festivals and as a soloist throughout Europe, the
United States and Canada.
Ms.
Knific is a founding member of the contemporary ensemble, Opus 21, and has
premiered dozens of works by many leading composers in recent years. In 2003,
she released "West of Everywhere", a crossover recording featuring her
with a variety jazz greats including Gene Bertoncini, Sir Roland Hanna, John
Abercrombie, Jamey Haddad and Billy Hart. Her premiere recording of Marga
Richter’s concerto for piano, violin, cello and orchestra entitled
"Variations and Interludes on Themes from Monteverdi and Bach" was
released by Leonarda Records in 2004 to critical acclaim.
Ms.
Knific is Professor of Music and Chair of the String Department at Western
Michigan University, and has taught at the Encore School for Strings, Cleveland
Institute of Music, Interlochen Arts Academy, and Lancut Festival in Poland. Her
former students perform in the Cavani, Pro Arte and Cypress quartets and in
orchestras throughout the world including the Cleveland, Houston, Honolulu and
Sao Paulo Symphonies.
*
* *
Lori
Sims received the Gold Medal at
the 1998 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, where she also won the
prize for the best performance of a work by Brahms. Ms. Sims’s other awards
include first prize co-winner of the 1994 Felix Bartholdy-Mendelssohn
Competition in Berlin, winner of the 1993 American Pianists’ Association
Competition with outstanding distinction from the jury, and the silver medal
winner in the 1987 Kosciuszcko Foundation Chopin Competition. While a student,
Ms. Sims was the recipient of numerous awards, including a Dean’s Prize at the
Yale School of Music, and a Deutsche Akedemische Austauschdienst fellowship from
the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2004, Ms. Sims was named the John T.
Bernhard Professor of Music at Western Michigan University.
She
has performed throughout North America, Europe and China, including engagements
with the NordDeutscheRadio Orchester in Hannover, Israel Philharmonic,
Indianapolis Symphony, Utah Symphony, Spokane Chamber Orchestra, Denver Chamber
Orchestra, Memphis Symphony Chamber Orchestra, Rockford Symphony and Kalamazoo
Symphony. Her 2000 Alice Tully Hall recital debut in New York received
critical acclaim from Bernard Holland in The New York Times. In 2006, she
made her fourth appearance at the prestigious Gilmore International Keyboard
Festival, where she has been featured as solo-recitalist, master class artist
and chamber musician.
