Six Pieces For Solo Violin Composed by Sophia Jani & Performed by Teresa Allgaier Releasing May 17 via Squama Recordings
Photo credit:Tonda Bardehle. Hi-resolution available here.
Six Pieces For Solo Violin
Composed by Sophia Jani & Performed by Teresa Allgaier
First Single “Arpeggio” Out Now
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Release Date: May 17, 2024
Squama Recordings
Review CDs and downloads available upon request.
www.sophiajani.com | www.teresaallgaier.de | www.squamarecordings.com
German contemporary composer Sophia Jani and violinist Teresa Allgaier announce their new album, Six Pieces for Solo Violin, which will be released on May 17, 2024 on Munich-based label Squama Recordings. Jani composed Six Pieces for Solo Violin between 2020 and 2023, and with it challenges the notion of simplicity as a parameter, weaving a tapestry of gentle consonance that invites contemplation and honors the violin as an instrument. The first single, "Arpeggio," is out now. The enchanting second movement is a testament to Jani and Allgaier's musical approach, seamlessly blending tradition with contemporary ideas.
In his liner notes, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang writes of Six Pieces: “The music here, in all its movements, gives the illusion of simplicity. It employs a mostly consonant language, it unfolds gently and with great delicacy and leisure, and it searches for an honest and direct way of moving forward.”
The uniqueness of Sophia Jani’s composition is immediately apparent with the intriguing choice of recording seven tracks for an album titled Six Pieces For Solo Violin. Here, Jani uses the opening track “Prelude” as a deliberate and separate introduction into a world where rules are bent and expectations challenged. The “Prelude” serves as a guide to unveil the philosophy behind her music. With each unhurried phrase, the solo violin unfolds a new tone quality, introducing double stops, tremolos, and arpeggios that serve as precursors to the diverse movements within the album: “Scordatura,” “Arpeggio,” “Triads,” “Capriccio,” “Grandezza,” and “Ricochet.” What characterizes the music is its calmness and poise; where each individual piece focuses on a particular technical aspect.
Composer Sophia Jani is based in Munich, but from 2023-2025 is composer-in-residence with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Her music has recently been performed across the U.S. by the New Jersey Symphony, Bang on a Can, pianist Eunbi Kim, and the Goldmund Quartet, among others, at venues including Lincoln Center, Baryshnikov Arts Center, MASS MoCa, and New York Public Radio’s The Greene Space. A graduate of the University of Augsburg, the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, and the Yale University School of Music where she studied with Martin Bresnick and David Lang, Jani was also the 2023 musical Artist in Residence at the Arvo Pärt Centre.
The new album was recorded by violinist Teresa Allgaier, who embodies the restrained virtuosity essential to bring this subtle music to life. Her confident and elegant performance adds an extra layer of sophistication, complementing Jani’s vision. Jani and Allgaier are longtime collaborators. Together they are co-founders and artistic directors of Feet Become Ears, a platform that commissions, presents, and celebrates contemporary chamber music.
Of Six Pieces, Jani says, “What I find interesting about the violin is that it has remained the same for a few hundred years and has not really evolved. The great important violin cycles (Bieber, Bach, Paganini, Isaye, Lang) were not so much a reaction to the development of the instrument itself – unlike the piano for example – but about what kind of music could be written on it and what the players should be able to do. So the repertoire developed more based on the tastes of a certain period and who wrote for whom than motivated by technical advancement. Teresa and I asked ourselves what our contribution as two women of the 21st century could be in this context.”
“My work on the Six Pieces reminded me of working on the Bach Sonatas and Partitas,” says Allgaier. “It’s such delicate, noble music – every note, every phrase wants to be explored and understood in order to be able to let go and approach it with a fresh mind and fantasy. For the recording, I wanted to be in that specific state where I am not standing in the way of the music.”
About Sophia Jani: Sophia Jani is a German composer of contemporary classical music who takes a poetically minimalist approach to composition. Her music has recently been performed by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony, the Munich Symphony, Bang on a Can, the Goldmund Quartet, vocal sextet Sjaella and pianist Eunbi Kim among others. Performance venues include the Elbphilharmonie, Lincoln Center, Meyerson Symphony Center, Baryshnikov Arts Center, MASS MoCa, as well as New York Public Radio’s The Greene Space. She has also contributed music to successful film, theatre, dance and album projects.
Jani is the 2023-2025 Composer-in-Residence with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and was the 2023 Musical Artist in Residence of the Arvo Pärt Centre, as well as the recipient of the APC Residency Fellowship. In addition to her work as a composer, Jani is passionate about building a diverse and international community of artists that open-mindedly addresses the challenges notated music faces in the 21st century. To that end, alongside Teresa Allgaier, she is one of the founders and artistic directors of Feet Become Ears, which is a platform that commissions, presents, and celebrates contemporary chamber music.
Jani holds degrees from the University of Augsburg, the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich and the Yale University School of Music where she studied with Martin Bresnick and David Lang, made possible through the generous support of the Fulbright foundation.
About Teresa Allgaier: Violinist Teresa Allgaier shifts her focus between classical contemporary music and experimental pop music, whilst always looking for the spell of a comforting yet stirring tone in her sound and music-making. She works in collaboration with emerging composers and bands, performs with her string ensemble Kontai Ensemble and writes music for her Chamber Pop duo Fallwander.
As a soloist Teresa has performed with various orchestras in the past, interpreting violin concertos by Bach, Bruch, Mendelssohn, Khachaturian, Pärt and Riley. She most recently performed the solo part in a recomposition of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons in a concert addressing climate change with Tonwerkorchester and Fridays For Future at the Herkulessaal Munich. Other concert and theater productions have taken her to venues such as the Barbican Theatre London, Wigmore Hall London, Vienna Musikverein, Kammerspiele Munich, Philharmonie Munich or Volksbühne Berlin. Teresa plays in the live ensembles of Ralph Heidel and Carlos Cipa and in the Ensemble Reflektor. She took part in the International Ensemble Modern Academy at the Klangspuren Festival in Austria and has performed several times at the Fusion Festival, X-Jazz Festival, Reeperbahn Festival, Überjazz Festival and many others.
Teresa studied classical violin at the University of Music and Drama Munich with Prof. Ingolf Turban and Prof. Sonja Korkeala and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama London with Prof. Alexander Janiczek, followed by a year of studies on the ‚International Cooperation Master New Music’ programme in Bern/Dresden/Salzburg. She is currently based in Leipzig and Munich.
Track List:
Six Pieces For Solo Violin
Composed by Sophia Jani and Performed by Teresa Allgaier
1. Prelude [2:42]
2. I. Scordatura [5:57]
3. II. Arpeggio [8:05]
4. III. Triads [6:12]
5. IV. Capriccio [3:56]
6. V. Grandezza [6:33]
7. VI. Ricochet [7:52]
Total Time: [41:20]
Recorded by Noel Riedel at Maria Trost, Nesselwang
Mixed and Mastered by Martin Ruch
Produced by Martin Brugger
Designed by Maximilian Schachtner
Liner Notes by David Lang