Benda, Pisendal & Torelli: Violin Concertos Lara Hall, NZ Barok & Peter Walls

• Franz Benda (1709 - 1786): Violin Concerto in A Major, L. 2.13:
• 1 Violin Concerto in A Major, L. 2.13: I. Allegro 06:30
• 2 Violin Concerto in A Major, L. 2.13: II. Adagio poco andante 03:25
• 3 Violin Concerto in A Major, L. 2.13: III. Presto 04:08
• 4 Violin Concerto in A Major, L. 2.13: IV. Largo (Live) 02:25
• Franz Benda: Violin Concerto in E Major, L. 2.8:
• 5 Violin Concerto in E Major, L. 2.8: I. Andantino 07:45
• 6 Violin Concerto in E Major, L. 2.8: II. Adagio un poco andante 04:51
• 7 Violin Concerto in E Major, L. 2.8: III. Vivace 05:35
• Johann Georg Pisendel (1687 - 1755): Violin Concerto in F Major:
• 8 Violin Concerto in F Major: I. Allegro 04:27
• 9 Violin Concerto in F Major: II. Larghetto 02:16
• 10 Violin Concerto in F Major: III. Allegro assai 04:13
• Johann Georg Pisendel: Violin Concerto in B-Flat Major:
• 11 Violin Concerto in B-Flat Major: I. Allegro 04:30
• 12 Violin Concerto in B-Flat Major: II. Moderato 04:14
• 13 Violin Concerto in B-Flat Major: III. Allegro 04:52
• Johann Georg Pisendel: Violin Concerto in E Minor:
• 14 Violin Concerto in E Minor: I. Adagio 02:40
• 15 Violin Concerto in E Minor: II. Allegro - Adagio 02:56
• 16 Violin Concerto in E Minor: III. Allegro 02:03
• Giuseppe Torelli (1658 - 1709): Violin Concerto in A Major, P.A.2.3.5:
• 17 Violin Concerto in A Major, P.A.2.3.5: I. Vivace 01:50
• 18 Violin Concerto in A Major, P.A.2.3.5: II. Grave 02:12
• 19 Violin Concerto in A Major, P.A.2.3.5: III. Allegro 01:27
• Total Runtime 01:12:19

Info for Benda, Pisendal & Torelli: Violin Concertos

This album is the culmination of a long-held desire to record little-known 18th century concerti. Players' parts were prepared for this project from digital copies of manuscripts in the Schank II Collection (Dresden) including Pisendel's scores of his own concerti and Benda's A major concerto (penned by Pisendel). During the porcess of examining these manuscripts, Lara Hall discovered additional sketches in the Pisendel concerti manuscripts; they had been used as a notepad for virtuosic embellishment options for the solo part, some of which she has incorporated into this performance of E minor Concerto.

Following the concluding fast movement of Benda's A major concerto, there is a beautiful fugue penned in the manuscript. Whether this was written by Benda, the copyist who happened to be John Pisendel, or another composer is not known. In concert, NZ Barok and Lara Hall have performed this as the second movement of the A major concerto, but it is placed on this CD in the order that it appears on the manuscript. Of all the movements presented on this disc, the Largo, more than any other, transcends time and place in musical effect.

The difference between the works of Torelli, Pisendel and Benda show that, despite their close proximity, these three composers were strong individual musical personalities and highlight the speed of stylistic compositional change in the era.

Lara Hall, baroque violin
NZ Barok
Peter Walls, conductor

Dr. Lara Hall
Leading NZ violinist, Dr Lara Hall began performing as soloist around New Zealand at a very early age, having won the New Zealand National Schools Chamber Music Competition at age 15 and 16. Lara has gone on to become recognised nationally and internationally as a vibrant and virtuosic performer - in demand equally as soloist, orchestral concert-master, chamber musician and baroque specialist.

Lara was raised in Auckland and gained her BMus at the University of Auckland, while studying with Mary O’Brien, and then an Advanced Diploma in baroque violin, which she studied with Graham McPhail, thus cementing a love and expertise in both musical genres.

Lara then studied extensively in the USA, starting in the Dorothy Delay studio at the Aspen Summer School. She then gained her Masters and Doctoral degrees at the University of Michigan where she studied with Paul Kantor and Yehonatan Berick. During that time, she taught as a Graduate Student Instructor and was also a faculty member for the pre-University programme Young Strings. She attended numerous master classes, including one given by the eminent violinist Ruggiero Ricci from whom she received high praise.

A passionate teacher, Lara is lecturer at the University of Waikato, teaching violin and viola. Her students have achieved success at a national level.

Lara displays an unusual degree of versatility. As well as her teaching career, she is the only musician to have performed in Chamber Music New Zealand’s main series concerts variously on violin, viola, and baroque violin.

In addition to the recordings with the New Zealand Chamber Soloists, Lara has released two other CDs on the Atoll label, with two future releases imminent.

While her work as chamber musician and baroque period instrumentalist are two very different aspects of her work, one of her CDs (Telemann’s Fantasias for solo violin) deliberately sets out to demonstrate stylistic influence that modern violin performance can take from the period instrument movement. Her CD of instrumental concerti accompanied by the period instrument ensemble NZ Barok is the first of its kind to be recorded in New Zealand.

Concertmaster of the Waikato and Bay of Plenty’s Opus orchestra since 2006, Lara has been leader of numerous other orchestras including the National Youth Orchestra, the Auckland Chamber Orchestra, and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra.

Booklet for Benda, Pisendal & Torelli: Violin Concertos