By all accounts, Pablo de Sarasate must have been quite spectacular. One of the post-Paganini European virtuosi of the late 1800s, he dazzled audiences, critics and contemporaries alike, and not just with his playing. Like several of his fellow violinists - Vieuxtemps and Wieniawski in particular - Sarasate produced many outstanding compositions, and their warmth and brilliance is testimony to his playing ability.Gil Shaham took the opportunity afforded by the centenary of Sarasate's death in 2008 to present several concert performances of his works, culminating in the Sarasateada festival in Valladolid, Spain, last November. This latest CD on Shaham's own Canary Classics label was recorded at the festival, and also features Shaham's wife, the Australian violinist Adele Anthony.Ysaÿe noted that it was Sarasate "who taught us how to play exactly", and precision is certainly the first requirement if these pieces are going to be performed successfully. No worries here on that score. Shaham is brilliant in the four live orchestral performances with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Castilla y Leon under Alejandro Posada: the Carmen Fantasy; Zigeunerweisen; a somewhat bland Leo Blech orchestration of Zortica; and - with Anthony - the scintillating duet Navarra.Anthony plays three of the eight outstanding tracks with pianist Akira Eguchi - Song of the Nightingale; Airs Ecossais; and Introduction and Tarantella - and certainly isn't `second fiddle' here in any respect. Shaham's solo tracks are Habanera, Zapateado, Romanza Andaluza, Capricho Vasco, and Gavota de Mignon, and his playing standard never waivers.Both players use a Stradivarius violin - Shaham the 1699 "Countess Polignac" and Anthony a 1728 instrument - and their richness in the lower register and brightness in the upper, while possibly more contrasted in Shaham's playing, are very similar.The booklet notes are by the always-reliable Eric Wen and nicely complement this delightful disc. --Whole Note, Terry Robbins, November 26, 2009Gil Shaham and his wife, Adele Anthony, played last month at the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra's season-opening gala. He gave a knockout performance of Sarasate's "Carmen" Fantasy, and as an encore, they gave a performance of Sarasate's "Navarra" for Two Violins that was lightning-quick and electrifying. Their personalities, like their Stradivarius violins, seem widely different. Anthony has a quiet humor. And Shaham radiates a crazy, manic humor, which seems to have taken him over just in the past few years. (I love that. It's rare that you get to see a musician evolving before your very eyes.) The contrasts add excitement to this CD, issued on the couple's independent label. Anthony solos for three numbers, Shaham takes seven, and they finally join for that "Navarra." Highlights include Anthony's whistly take on the "Song of the Nightingale"--uncannily birdlike--and Shaham's sizzling trips through hot Spanish dances like the "Habanera" and the "Zapateado." Lots of fun and fire. --The Buffalo News, Mary Kunz Goldman, October 18, 2009Gil Shaham's performances of Sarasate's music (televised in PBS's "At the Penthouse" series--Shaham's performance from November 2008) and his appearances at the ¡Sarasateada! in Valladolid 2008 should perhaps have led listeners to expect this program of Sarasate on Shaham's label, Canary. The Carmen Fantasy, Zortzico, Zigeunerweisen, and Navarra, with orchestra, all come from live performances at the 2008 festival, and he also recorded the other pieces, with piano, at Valladolid.In the Carmen Fantasy, Shaham offers a hot-blooded brand of Sarasateana, with headlong, impassioned virtuosity (and only occasionally grinding in the double-stops and chords) that may not recall the Sarasate either of the descriptions of his playing or of the recordings from 1904 (he'd recorded Zigeunerweisen on a cylinder in 1898), which, in any case, would be hard to imitate. Shaham includes in the mix a few compositions that may be less familiar to general listeners, such as the Song of the Nightingale, which, though as Eric Wen remarks may not be fraught with virtuosic hurdles, still sounds characteristic of the composer's violinistic style, with pervasive harmonics. In this case, as in Hubay's Zephyr, they frequently provide highlights to the tops of passages, although they carry the thematic material itself on occasion; Shaham plays them with easy grace. Ruggiero Ricci, Dynamic 94, didn't impart to them the same silvery purity, though his trills approach birdsong closer than do Shaham's. He returns to familiar territory in the Habanera, which he sets on fire with the glowing G string of this 1699 Polignac Stradivari and by means of frequent, heady changes of tempo. He makes use of rhetorical pauses, as he did in his televised performance of Zapateado, which he plays in Canary's program with enough gusto to prevent changing tempos from sounding fussy, and to render the sections in harmonics and pizzicato particularly infectious.The Zortzico, "Adios montañas mias," appears with orchestral accompaniment. Oistrakh's performance with Yampolsky from 1951 reveals the underlying similarity of this piece to Fritz Kreisler's Viennese pastries, but the general heaviness of the arrangement and of Shaham's performance of it nearly obliterates this similarity. This hot-blooded approach shows Zigeunerweisen (also with orchestra) to much greater advantage; Shaham's ardor in the improvisatory first section suggests Gypsy campfires with its rhapsodic freedom, its striking alternation of registers, and even its occasional swooping portamento. While not so bright and sprightly as Sarasate's own performance of the finale (on Opal 9851, for example), Shaham's exudes irresistible energy.Airs écossais, another of the three relatively unfamiliar works on the program, also appeared in Rachel Barton Pine's Scottish collection (Çedille 83, 29:1). While it may not offer such barn-burning entertainment as Zigeunerweisen, it combines at least the spirit of Scottish fiddling in its lively sections with Sarasate-like embellishments of the melodic lines. In these, Shaham struts with aplomb. In the Romanza andaluza, however, he takes so many liberties with tempos and such a deliberate tempo overall that the work's élan seems diminished (compare Milstein's incomparable dash). Similarly, Shaham's first section of Capricho vasco seems to lack forward momentum, though he acquits himself in the second with stylish elegance and brings the piece to a close with breathtaking, sparkling virtuosity that recalls Sarasate's own. Gavota de Mignon, the third of the less frequently played of the composer's works, sets the familiar number from Thomas's opera in an ingratiating violinistic setting, replete with all the virtuosic razzle-dazzle that characterizes the most stunning of Sarasate's showpieces; Shaham proves himself more than equal to the task of making something significant of this lightweight though appealing miniature.Milstein chose the Introduction and Tarantella for his last recital, and Shaham brings a comparable tonal warmth and exuberant energy to this brilliant, almost archetypal, example of the composer's aeuvre. David and Igor Oistrakh recorded the Navarra several times (once with orchestra), Aaron Rosand played it with himself, and Campoli chose Belinda Bunt as his partner, but none of them brought so much exotic color to the score as do Shaham and his wife Adele Anthony (she also plays a Stradivari--a relatively late one from 1728).The recordings with piano represent Shaham and his sympathetic accompanist, Akira Eguchi, close up in clear recorded sound, a sound ideal that the engineers in the live performances with orchestra could hardly duplicate. For those who admire Sarasate perhaps as much as did Sherlock Holmes, and for those who admire Shaham, this collections should be downright self-recommending, but such energy and polish, combined with ruddy warmth, do the performers bring to this music that it might serve as an introduction to the composer for almost any listener. Urgently recommended across the board. --Fanfare, Robert Maxham, Jan-Feb 2010It's unfortunate that Pamplona, Spain, is best known for a controversial blood sport called The Running of the Bulls. More significantly, it's also the birthplace of the gifted violinist-composer Pablo de Sarasate. Gil Shaham--a multiple Grammy winner who will appear at Walt Disney Concert Hall April 14--performed much of the maesro's work on tour in 2008, the centenary of his passing, and recently produced the album "Sarasate: Virtuoso Violin Works."   Shaham's passion for Sarasate is unmistakable on this CD, especially on "Zigeunerweisen" and "Carmen Fantasy," a pastiche of themes from the Bizet opera; he imbues his violin with the personality of a quirky, playful, seductive woman of whom you simply can't get enough. Adele Anthony is heard on four of the 16 tracks, the last of which, "Navarra for 2 Violins," is evidence that she and Shaham (her husband), make beautiful music together onstage and off. (Available from Canary Classics). --Examiner, Jordan Young, January 4, 2010Pablo de Sarasate (18441908) was a phenomenon. The Spanish gypsy astonished his contemporaries with his artistry. His violin "sang like a thrush," according to American violinist Albert Spalding, while the British conductor George Henschel praised his "crystalline cleanness of execution, refinement and grace [that] never has been, or ever will be, surpassed." Fortunately, Sarasate lived just long enough into the 20th century to make records of his playing, evidence that such praise was no idle exaggeration. He also published some 54 works of his own music during his lifetime, music that testifies to the virtuosity required to perform it.   On the present CD offering on his own canary label, American violinist Gil Shaham, who is something of a modern day Sarasate himself in the elegance and refinement of his playing, pays homage to his great predecessor in a generous 76 minute program of studio recordings plus actual live performances made at the 2008 Sarasateada in Valladolid, Spain in honor of the 100th anniversary of his death. The choice program includes sparkling performances of Sarasate's bestknown works, his Carmen Fantasy (after Bizet) and his Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs), accompanied by the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León under Alejandro Posada, and with the artistry of Shaham's Stradivarius clearly in the spotlight as it ranges from earthy passion to airily spun lightness.   Other works on the program include a moody Habanera, an energetic Zapateado (a dance originally done in wooden shoes), an Andalusian Romance, a Basque Caprice, a deeply nostalgic Zortico subtitled "Farewell, My Mountains" (Adiós Montañas Mías) and a charming Gavotte after Ambroise Thomas' opera Mignon, all accompanied by Akira Eguchi, piano. A special treat has Shaham's wife, violinist Adele Anthony, who is something of a virtuosa herself, performing four pieces, including the exquisitely beautiful Song of the Nightingale, a lively Airs Écossais (Scottish Airs) with its zestful sprung rhythms, and, with her husband, a Navarra for 2 Violins that soars to stratospheric heights at the end. --Audio Video Club of Atlanta, Phil Muse, January 2010Playwright and music critic George Bernard Shaw wrote of Pablo de Sarasate that he "left criticism miles behind him," and by all contemporary accounts the Spanish violin virtuoso was unique. In this week's featured recording violinists Gil Shaham and Adele Anthony pay homage to the great Sarasate with a collection of his most outstanding works.Sarasate contributed no less than 54 published scores. He took particular interest in the field of opera, arranging melodies from works by Gounod, Weber and Mozart, among many others. Opening this recording is a magnificent performance of Sarasate's Carmen Fantasy, folding together the themes of Bizet's beloved tale of love and betrayal. --Indiana Public Media, David Wood, November 2, 2009Recorded in Valladolid, Spain in 2008 at ¡Sarasateada!, a festival celebrating the centenary of the great violinist Pablo de Sarasate (1844-1908), Shaham and Anthony perform works we know and love such as "Zigeunerweisen," "Introduction and Tarantella," "Zapateado," "Habanera" and "Carmen Fantasy," and they also give us some lesser-known Sarasate gems like 'Song of the Nightingale.' --Violinist.com, Laurie Niles, December 6, 2009Spectacular playing is not always at the service of music: sometimes it overwhelms what the composer is trying to communicate. In other cases, though, it is the virtuosity itself that is a big part of what the composer wants to put across, and this is the case with the works of Pablo de Sarasate, one of the great violinists of the 19th and early 20th century. Like many other virtuosi, Sarasate wrote pieces for himself to play, designing them to show off his tremendous technical skills as well as, to a lesser extent, his qualities of expressiveness. Sarasate's works are mostly surface-level showpieces; they remain as effective for violinistic display today as they were when he wrote them. Gil Shaham and his wife, Adele Anthony, play a dozen of these pieces with tremendous flair on the latest CD from Shaham's own label, Canary Classics. Self-indulgent? Yes, but that goes with the territory of being a virtuoso. And the CD really is splendid to hear, from a technical viewpoint. The four works with orchestra - Carmen Fantasy, Zortzico "Adiós Montaňas Mías," Zigeunerweisen and Navarra for Two Violins - are live recordings, and the audience's palpable enthusiasm after each one ends is entirely understandable. The first three of these pieces are played by Shaham, the last by Shaham and Anthony together. The eight other works are studio recordings with piano. Shaham brings a bold, sweeping style to Habanera, Zapateado, Romanza Andaluza, Capricho Vasco and Gavota de Mignon, while Anthony offers somewhat more delicate but equally virtuosic playing in Song of the Nightingale, Airs Écossais and Introduction and Tarantella. The best-known works here - Carmen Fantasy and Zigeunerweisen - are the most effective, but there are charms aplenty in the others, and a certain amount of parlor-room emotionalism as well. It would be a mistake to read too much into these pieces, which are effectively constructed and filled with the colorations of the areas to which they refer (including the Basque region, Scotland, and of course Spain), but which were never intended as deeply meditative. Shaham and Anthony have here produced what is essentially a CD of encores; and very effective encores they are. --Infodad.com, October 15, 2009The booklet notes for this release on violinist Gil Shaham's label, Canary Classics, provide a basic overview of the Spanish violinist/composer Pablo de Sarasate, as well as information about the performers on the disc. But they don't include information on the "Sarasateada" mentioned in the disc's title. It's a Sarasate festival held in the Spanish city of Valladolid, and some of the album's tracks were recorded live there. Were the other recordings part of the festival, as well? That's unknown, but the performances hold together as a single piece of work nevertheless, and despite the presence of two different violinists, Shaham and his wife, Australian-born and -trained Adele Anthony (pictured in a soft-focus profile on the cover). You can certainly tell them apart, but there is an attractive aspect of dialogue between them, and as the final duo-violin piece Navarra explodes in a shower of pizzicati there's a real sense of ensemble at a virtuoso level. Both capture the elegance of Sarasate, who was the intellectual among the violin stars of the nineteenth century. He was admired by George Bernard Shaw (who wrote that he "left criticism gasping miles behind him") and name-checked by Arthur Conan Doyle in "The Red-Headed League." Shaham is especially clean in the numerous top-of-the-range passages, where Sarasate's music takes on an uncanny quality that must have appealed to the Spiritualist in Doyle. Also well worthy of note are the efforts of producer and engineer Da-Hong Seetoo, who renders Shaham's acrobatics with absolute clarity in the live performances and welds the live and studio recordings together in the mastering. The live aspect of the album is all to the good; the excitement of the audiences is genuine, and the mood carries through to the rest of the tracks. This is a good choice for an initial Sarasate purchase or for anyone following Shaham's growing career. --Allmusic.com, James Manheim, October 2009Violinists Adele Anthony and Gil Shaham unveil their shared passion for the music of Spanish composer and violinist Pablo de Sarasate (1844-1908) with a new recording, available today, on Shaham's own Canary Classics label. Adele, who makes her debut on the label with this recording, and Gil recorded Sarasate: Virtuoso Violin Works after a number of "centenary celebration" performances dedicated to Sarasate's music, including a November concert at New York's Lincoln Center , broadcast live on public television, and in "¡Sarasateada!", a series of Sarasate concerts in Valladolid, Spain. The new recording showcases the enormous appeal of Sarasate's dance- and song-inspired works, as well as the music's sometimes hair-raising technical challenges.   The Zapateado is a Spanish dance, which inspired a short work by Sarasate that is the eighth track on the new album (a full track list follows below), as well as being the music bed for the video. Watch closely for special guest appearances by renowned (and less well-known) luminaries from the classical music world. --Interchanging Idioms, Chip Michael, October 3, 2009