Momentum 2 Liya Petrova, Alexandre Kantorow, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra & Duncan Ward

• Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897 - 1957): Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35:
• 1 Korngold: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35: I. Moderato nobile 09:50
• 2 Korngold: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35: II. Romance 09:07
• 3 Korngold: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35: III. Allegro assai vivace 07:32
• Richard Strauss (1864 - 1949): Violin Sonata in E-Flat Major, Op. 18, TrV 151:
• 4 Strauss: Violin Sonata in E-Flat Major, Op. 18, TrV 151: I. Allegro, ma non troppo 11:37
• 5 Strauss: Violin Sonata in E-Flat Major, Op. 18, TrV 151: II. Andante cantabile 08:28
• 6 Strauss: Violin Sonata in E-Flat Major, Op. 18, TrV 151: III. Finale. Andante 09:12
• Total Runtime 55:46

Info for Momentum 2

Paris-based violinist Liya Petrova was trained by Antje Weithaas at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin. With her new album Momentum 2, she continues her musical exploration between orchestral and chamber music: she juxtaposes Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Violin Concerto, Op. 35, with Richard Strauss' Violin Sonata, Op. 18 - a fascinating encounter between the golden age of Hollywood and German Jugendstil. Once again she will be accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Duncan Ward. This time, Alexandre Kantorow, winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition, will be playing the piano.

Korngold uses elements of his film music in his concerto, which began in 1945. He draws on Another Dawn, Anthony Adverse and The Prince and the Pauper. The critic Wilhelm Altmann called the violin sonata by Richard Strauss ‘a sparklingly witty piece’ whose virtuosity and colourfulness transcend all boundaries. ‘To accompany the Korngold concerto,’ says Liya Petrova, “I immediately thought of Strauss” sonata. Strauss played a major role in Korngold's life: both shared the experience of a musical and ambitious father. Strauss was successively an inspiration and musical influence for the Viennese child prodigy, one of his first supporters and friends in the musical community.’

The first part of Momentum was released in 2023, in which Liya Petrova dedicated herself to two works from the first half of the 20th century: the Violin Concerto, Op. 30 by William Walton and the Violin Sonata, P. 110 by Ottorino Respighi with pianist Adam Laloum. The violin virtuoso gained international attention in 2016 at the latest when she won first prize at the International Carl Nielsen Violin Competition. She has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras such as the Orchestre de Paris and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. She has worked with conductors such as Philippe Herreweghe, Krzysztof Penderecki, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Elim Chan and Michael Sanderling.

Liya Petrova, violin
Alexandre Kantorow, piano
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Duncan Ward, conductor

Liya Petrova
was revealed to the international scene in 2016 when she took First Prize at the Carl Nielsen competition in Denmark, chaired by Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider. Two years later, she recorded the Nielsen and Prokofiev’s first concertos with the Odense Philharmonic and Estonian conductor Kristiina Poska for Orchid Classics. This first album earned her international acclaim from the press : London’s Sunday Times admired her « gorgeous sound - ripe and silvery, phrasing with majestic breadth » while Gramophone praised her « exceptional tonal variety » in « a marvelous disc ». The Strad was impressed by her « natural virtuosity » while Classical Music magazine finds her interpretation of the Nielsen concerto « staggeringly good » and « intensely lyrical ». As a soloist, Petrova is the guest of orchestras such as the Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de RadioFrance, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Antwerp Symphony, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen, Staatskapelle Weimar, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Brussels Philharmonic,

Norddeutsche Philharmonie, Kansai Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre National de Bordeaux, Orchestre National des Pays de Loire, Sinfonia Varsovia, Odense Symphony Orchestra, with such leading conductors as Elim Chan, Stanislas Kochanovsky, Duncan Ward, Philippe Herreweghe, Krzysztof Penderecki, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Marzena Diakun, Alexander Liebreich, Mihhail Gerts, Kristiina Poska, Yan Tortelier, Xian Zhang, Ariane Matiakh, Roberto Minasi, Christopher Warren-Green, Michel Tabachnik or Jesús López Cobos.

She plays chamber music regularly with French Tchaikovsky competition 1st prize winner Alexandre Kantorow and performs with many wonderful musicians like Beatrice Rana, Emmanuel Pahud, Pablo Ferrandez, Martha Argerich, Yuri Bashmet, Mischa Maisky, Renaud Capuçon, Augustin Dumay, James Ehnes, Nicholas Angelich, Frank Braley, Yuja Wang, Antoine Tamestit, Bruno Philippe, Aurélien Pascal and Gautier Capuçon. Petrova is a regular guest of chamber music festivals like the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festspiele, Rheingau Festival, Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, Aix-en-Provence Easter Festival, La Folle Journée, La Roque d’Anthéron International Festival and the Rencontres Musicales d’Evian. In January 2020, Liya released the first album of a new collaboration with the Mirare label, a Beethoven-Barber-Britten recital album with pianist Boris Kusnezow. A second disc featuring the Beethoven violin concerto and Mozart’s rarely performed K 271 concerto, known as n° 7, with Jean-Jacques Kantorow and the Sinfonia Varsovia was released in 2021.

Before, Liya had released a Nielsen and Prokofiev album on Orchid Classics with the Odense Symphony Orchestra and Kristiina Poska. All of her albums received unanimous praises from critics worldwide. Liya Petrova was born in Bulgaria into a family of musicians and studied with Augustin Dumay at Brussels’ Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth, Antje Weithaas at the Hochschule für Musik Hans Eisler Berlin and Renaud Capuçon at the Haute Ecole de Musique in Lausanne.

Liya is based in Paris, and plays the Rovelli, made in 1742 by Guarneri Del Gesù, on generous loan by private sponsors, and the Consolo, made in 1733 by Guarneri del Gesù, on generous loan by the Bulgaria State.

Booklet for Momentum 2