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Beethoven & Brahms Violin Concertos

image: Canary Classics

Beethoven & Brahms Violin Concertos—Gil Shaham; The Knights (Canary Classics 20)

Laurie Niles at violinist.com writes, “When Gil Shaham decided to record the Beethoven and Brahms violin concertos with the Brooklyn-based orchestra called The Knights, he wasn't too surprised that the first rehearsal was more of a chamber music party in the conductor's living room. Shaham sat in a circle with conductor Eric Jacobsen and the orchestra's section leaders, and they read through the concertos together. That's just how The Knights do things. ‘They are musicians of such mastery, of such caliber,’ Shaham said. ‘When it comes to go-time they like to have fun, and they go out of the box.’” Niles reports that the ensemble’s history goes back to Jacobsen's days at The Juilliard School in New York. When the time came to do his pre-college senior recital, Jacobsen asked about 20 friends to accompany him for his performance of a Haydn Cello Concerto. When Juilliard asked about the name of the group, Jacobsen—who was reading something Arthurian at the time—replied ‘the Knights of the Many-Sided Table.’ Over the years, those friends and others coalesced into a group that was officially incorporated in 2007. You’ll hear evidence of their chamber music beginnings in these splendid recordings with Gil Shaham of two pillars of the violin-and-orchestra repertoire. (Link sends you to the Canary Classics website.)