Guro Kleven Hagen – Bruch 1st and Prokofiev 2nd Violin Concertos (2014)

True pilars in the concerto repertoire for this release, with the Bruch of course as the most well known. It was the first concerto the composer wrote for any instrument, completed in 1868 it was to remain his most famous piece. The soloist enters on a long, open G, the deepest note of the violin – an opening which is perhaps the most iconic in all the violin literature. There is nothing to hide behind: just the bow on the open string – directly to the heart of the performer. Guro grabs hold of the listener with her luminous timbre and she does not let go. It is interesting to note that that Guro is acutally playing the Bergonzi violin that used to belong to Fritz Kreisler; himself infamous for that very first note of this concerto.

More ‘classic’ in layout than his first concerto, the second violin concerto reflecs Prokofiev’s mature style and actually was the last big scale work he wrote before returning to USSR in 1934. Prokofiev himself drew attention to the way thid concerto reflected his ‘nomadic’ existence – the first theme was written in Paris, the slow movement in Voronezh, and the Concerto was completed on 16 August 1935 at Baku, on the Caspian Sea. Guro holds this concerto close to her heart, just listen to how she creates a positively elevated sensation in those long beatutiful lines of the second movement, doing justice to Prokofiev at his most lyrical and direct.

Guro Kleven Hagen (born 1994 in Valdres, Norway) made a highly successful debut playing Tchaikovsky violin concerto with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jukka Pekka Saraste in the 2010/11 season, and was immediately re-engaged to go on tour with the orchestra in the 2011/12 season. She is a prizewinner of numerous international competitions, including EMCY’s Prize for Music in the Menuhin Competition 2010 and 2nd Prize in the Eurovision Young Musician Competition in Vienna 2010. She is also the winner of the Statoil Award (2013), the Norwegian Soloist Award (2010), the Prinz-von-Hessen-Preis in Kronberg, Germany (2009), and was celebrated as Norway’s Young Musician of the year (2008). Guro has been soloist with such conductors as Christian Vasques, Christian Arming, Cornelius Meister, Ari Rasilainen, Perry So, Jaime Martín, and Eivind Aadland. As a chamber musician, she has been working with Leif Ove Andsnes, Maxim Rysanov, Andreas Brantelid, Lise de la Salle, Shlomo Mintz, Itamar Golan, and others. Guro is currently studying with Antje Weithaas at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin, after several years studying with Stephan Barratt-Due and Alf Richard Kraggerud at the Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo. Guro plays on a C. Bergonzi, also known as the “Kreisler-Bergonzi” kindly on loan from Dextra Musica.