Postby Kaori » Tue Apr 17, 2007 9:41 pm
There are basically two ways to go about looking for this type of music. One is to try searching for recordings of specific violin and cello performers. Since I'm not a string player, the only big names I know are Joshua Bell and Hilary Hahn (both well-known violinists) and Yo-Yo Ma.
The other way is to look under composers' names for specific pieces. Do you have any idea what sort of violin or cello music you would like, as in whether you would like sonatas and concertos (a soloist with accompaniment), chamber music (a small number of musicians), or pieces for larger string ensembles? The amount of music written for string instruments is really vast, so I'll just list some pieces and composers that I enjoy.
concertos:
Tchaikovsky violin concerto
Vivaldi Four Seasons (violin)
Elgar cello concerto
pieces by J.S. Bach:
Partita no. 2 in D minor (solo violin)
Concerto BWV 1043 (for two violins)
Bach also wrote three concertos for solo violin; I haven't heard these myself, but pretty much anything by Bach is good.
chamber music:
Mendelssohn octet
Dvorak dumky trio (piano, violin, and cello)
Mendelssohn piano trio (piano, violin, cello)
Biber trio partitas (he wrote seven of these, as well as his Mystery and Rosary sonatas, which are more well known).
large ensemble:
Britten Adagio for Strings
Dvorak serenade for strings (E Major, op. 22)
Tchaikovsky serenade for strings (C Major, op. 48)
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MAL