Music to my ears
What the classical world has been listening to this month
Karen Gomyo
Violinist
I’ve been getting back in touch with things I used to listen to, and really connecting to a place of pure joy. I remember falling in love with Plácido Domingo as an artist when I was 11, going to my first opera at The Metropolitan Opera. So I’ve been indulging myself in a recording of Verdi’s Otello, that first opera. I have a DVD of it that I absolutely love, with Domingo and Kiri Te Kanawa, the Royal Opera Orchestra and Georg Solti.
As a young violinist I collected all possible recordings I could get my hands on of 20th-century violinists. There’s one in particular that I really love, called 20 Great Violinists
Play 20 Masterpieces; and if I had to choose one violinist on there, it would be Arthur Grumiaux. There’s a natural, organic purity to his playing, especially in Mozart, that I find timeless and unendingly moving. So I’ve been listening to a lot of Grumiaux and a lot of Mozart.
Italian opera talks about real life issues: friendships, love, death and sorrow
I fell in love with Piazzolla’s music when I was 14, and so in preparing my recent recording I was brought back to all the albums I loved then. La Camorra is a recording that really portrays the serious side of Piazzolla – you can hear the harmonic and emotional complexity. And, of course, as a violinist I love the violin solos by Fernando Suárez Paz; his playing is just stunning. So that has been played a lot in our household recently.
And also…
I’m a violin nerd, so I’ve been enjoying reading the autobiography of Nathan Milstein, another 20th-century violinist that I adore. It’s a book that I’ve not finished yet, but it’s one that has given me so many smiles. I’m really enjoying reading Milstein’s own words about his early experiences, his relationship to the violin, his humour and what life was like as a violinist back then.
Karen Gomyo’s new album ‘A Piazzolla Trilogy’ is out on
BIS Records on 6 August
Andrea Baker Mezzo-soprano When I was doing a podcast, I discovered the music of Godwin Sadoh, a composer, organist, pianist and writer from Nigeria. I did a deep dive into his work, and what I found really extraordinary about it is how, in pieces such as his Nigerian Organ Symphony, he writes in a western classical music tradition but weaves African influences into his sound – he makes the instrument really blossom and fly with African rhythms and chord structures. He does the same in his choral compositions too.
One of the most important mentors in my life has been my uncle, who is an amazing jazz drummer and washboard player. One of his most recent collaborations has been in a trio with the jazz pianist Matthew Shipp. I am firmly of the belief that jazz is African-american classical music, and that is exactly how Shipp plays – his music is intricate, complicated and a feast for the ears. He has his own style, his own sound and his own feelings, and on recent albums like Root of Things and Signature his contributions are just genius.
