Deutsche Grammophon today releases David Garrett’s new album ‘Iconic’. Inspired by the legendary violinists Garrett fell in love with as a child, with their beautiful masterpieces and poignant melodies, ‘Iconic’ comprises more than twenty songs and is available in all formats. Music by Bach, Dvořák, Gluck, Kreisler, Mendelssohn and Schumann, among others, are presented in new arrangements for violin, guitar and orchestra by Franck van der Heijden and David Garrett. David Garrett is accompanied by his guitarist Franck van der Heijden, who also conducts the musicians of The Prezent Orchestra, as well as being flanked in the duo arrangements by his former teacher Itzhak Perlman, tenor Andrea Bocelli, flutist Cocomi and trumpeter Till Brönner.
David Garrett’s choice of music evokes the golden age of violin virtuosos, when performers such as Zino Francescatti, Arthur Grumiaux, Jascha Heifetz, Fritz Kreisler and Yehudi Menuhin delighted audiences with popular encores and other miniatures. As a young musician, he looked to these and other musicians of the past, aspired to emulate their art and immersed himself in their historical recordings. “Unfortunately, in recent decades, many violinists have stopped performing some of the short and instantly recognizable works that the greats of the 1920s and 1930s routinely played in their recitals – observes Garrett – That’s why it’s so important to me to have the chance to bring all these beautiful works back to life “.
‘Iconic’ opens with the seductive romanticism of ‘Estrellita’ by Mexican composer Manuel Ponce. His program of unforgettable melodies also includes ‘The Swan’ and ‘Danse macabre’ by Saint-Saëns; Foster’s ‘Jeanie with the light brown hair’; ‘Cavatina’ by Raff; ‘Après un rêve’ by Fauré; and Vivaldi’s’ Largo from the ‘Winter’. Garrett collaborates with Andrea Bocelli in an arrangement of Schubert’s Ave Maria, with Itzhak Perlman in Shostakovich’s Praeludium, with the Japanese flutist Cocomi in Debussy’s La fille aux cheveux de lin and with the German trumpeter Till Brönner in Dinicu’s virtuosic Hora staccato.
“Pieces like these have shaped my musical thinking – recalls the violinist – I have recorded many virtuosic albums and this time it was particularly important for me to focus on the essential, on what really speaks to the heart. The works contained in ‘Iconic’ are not they were chosen only for virtuosity. They have great melodies that bring listeners closer to what really matters in life: harmony! “.
Iconic will be released as a standard CD and double disc LP. It will also be available in a Deluxe version containing three bonus tracks, including Paganini’s splendid Perpetual Motion, and as a digital album with an additional bonus track: Kreisler’s Schön Rosmarin.
David Garrett began playing the violin at the age of four. At the age of ten he made his stage debut and three years later he became the youngest artist to have signed for Deutsche Grammophon. Since his teens he has built a stellar solo career and recorded Paganini’s twenty-four Caprices. He later enrolled in the world famous Juilliard School in New York as one of Itzhak Perlman’s first students. For the past twenty years he has played with many of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors and has reached new audiences internationally with concerts that include rock songs, classical sonatas, solo pieces and film themes. His autobiography, Wenn ihr wüsstet (“If I only knew”), was released earlier this year and reveals the sometimes bumpy path that led him from child prodigy to successful adult artist.
