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VILDE FRANG

Violinist

Critical acclaim "From the day and hour that I first heard Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang, when she looked about 12, though must have been a bit older, I thought there was greatness in her. There was a purity, naturalness. and honesty to her playing, devoid of pretentiousness, that was wholly disarming and which let the light and the truth of the music shine through the ambience of the environment in which she was playing. It was like being bathed in a luminous glow, and nothing stood in the way of it. On Saturday night in Glasgow, Frang, now a mature young woman and acclaimed international artist, though thankfully still honest and pure in her music, did it all over again in a transcendent performance of Britten's Violin Concerto with the RSNO and the endlessly-perceptive conductor Thomas Sondergard, a performance which revealed all the pain, conscience and beauty in this great concerto, which is woefully underplayed. In the closing pages, where, for me, the music reaches a dimension of spirituality, my breathing went on hold, my heart swelled, and I was emotionally devastated and uplifted, both at the same time."

The Herald Scotland, May 2014 NIELSEN / TCHAIKOVSKY: VIOLIN CONCERTOS (2012): “Frang’s first disc for EMI Classics gave us the Sibelius; now she couples the Nielsen with Tchaikovsky’s, a warhorse concerto if ever there was one, ridden here with such a beguilingly fresh, personal and poetic touch that we seem to be hearing the work for the first time … I especially love her playful accelerado as she pulls the music back up to speed for the final stretch: a Grand National winner couldn’t have done it better.”

The Times (UK), June 2012 “…The result is a recording that shows off her virtuosity in a very warm, unintimidating way – she describes the Nielsen concerto, which was partly composed in Norway, as close to her heart, and it certainly sounds and feels buoyed by real passion and personal investment … from the first seconds of the Praeludium: Largo, Frang’s tone is almost unbearably longing, to the point where the listener almost feels left wanting – nostalgic, evening – when the work becomes jollier. Versatile and mature, Frang is a captivating talent.”

Muso, June 2012

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VIOLIN SONATAS – BARTOK / GRIEG/ STRAUSS (2011): “EMI's brilliant new violinist Vilde Frang and her highly insightful collaborator Michail Lifits dig in hard to project that, supplying an ideal blend of spontaneity within clear plot-lines and technical execution, leaving nothing wanting. Fresh discovery blankets every phrase here, for which nothing more can be asked in these early works… Frang's taut rhythmic control and range of colour most impress here. She's quite the player and clearly a star on the rise”

Winnipeg Free Press, May 2011 “Vilde Frang delivers new excellence for EMI ... For the duo sonatas she's teamed with a pianist who shares her perceptive musicianship - an ability to find the right shape for every phrase - as well as her polished technique ... In the Bartok I was immediately struck by Frang's fine rhythmic sense and varied tonal palette. Her playing has the necessary physicality for Bartok, without ever appearing forced ... overall it's a top class performance and, indeed, the whole programme is clearly a winner"

Gramophone, May 2011 "Vilde Frang’s micro-sensitive responses to dynamic, articulation and phrasing … prove a revelation in the heady opulence of the Strauss, which has never sounded so urgently seductive or expressively supple on disc … Finest of all is Bartók’s fiendishly demanding Solo Sonata, a virtuoso minefield of technical and musical ingenuity which Frang negotiates with an unflinching sense of musical direction. Bartók’s scorching amalgam of ethnic folksong, Baroque formal procedures and precipitous musical interfaces inspires Frang to astonishing levels of majestic virtuosity … Another outstanding disc from Frang, who makes even the most well-worn phrases sound as though they have just arrived freshly minted from the composer’s creative workshop.”

Classic FM Magazine, April 2011 (“Editor’s Choice”) "The charm begins immediately. The originality of tone (something so precious nowadays), a heightened virtuosity and a deep sensitivity amaze us in the first Grieg sonata ... On the piano Michail Lifits is no less stunning: energetic, inspired and impish. Their dialogue in the only sonata by Richard Strauss is effervescent ... one follows the two partners with passion throughout the recording. [In the Sonata for Solo Violin by Bartok] the search of timbres and the exploration of contrasting sound worlds demands admiration, the audacity of her playing rivals the most prestigious recordings by Menuhin and Gitlis ... Exceptional!"

Diapason Magazine “Diapason D’Or” (France), April 2011

SIBELIUS CONCERTO / PROKOFIEV CONCERTO NO. 1 (2010): “The revelation of the evening, though, was 24 year old violinist Vilde Frang, whose performance of the Sibelius Violin Concerto was nothing short of sensational. Frang is clearly a new star in the violin firmament. Naturally poised and quite without affectation, she began with such hushed, gossamer tones as to give no inkling of the fierce untamed power of the playing that emerged.”

Guardian, December 2010

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"Vilde Frang plays as though the inner soul of Sibelius's music is being revealed for the very first time ... What makes this recording so special is not so much Frang's seductive, sinewy yet voluptuous tone, nor her effortless technical mastery; it is her startling emotional sincerity and inspired musical imagination that rivet the attention ... A luminously engineered disc that is surely bound for classic status"

The Strad, March 2010 “In an illuminating booklet note, David Gutman draws salient parallels between shared contemporary contacts of both composers that in turn link to Szymanowski’s First Violin Concerto. Listening to Frang cast her spell with such rapture in the opening theme of the Prokofiev, you can hear why. This concerto seems to evoke aspects of the supernatural, an enchantment that engagingly mixes white and black magic. When ethereal textures returns for the codas of both the outer movements, Frang’s chemistry is disarmingly exquisite, especially with such ear-tingling and beautifully balanced tracery from the accompanying flute, harp and upper strings. Nor is she averse to playing vicious with Prokofiev’s sardonic style in the contrasting faster music, where she spits out pips like a lemon-eating tigress.”

International Record Review, March 2010 “Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang's first CD is a cracker. Not yet 22, she has the full measure of Sibelius's Concerto and the couplings she has chosen, Prokofiev's First Violin Concerto and three of Sibelius's Humoresques, may well appeal to even the jaded fiddle fans ... More please!"

The Daily Mail, March 2010 “The Norwegian violinist launches this impressive debut recording with a commanding interpretation of the Sibelius concerto. The slow movement’s sweetly emotional, and she marries the finale’s mix of sinew and twinkle with unusual conviction – it must be her Scandinavian blood. Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 1 is also a winner. Frang’s subtle artistry and secure technique receives world-class support from the conductor Thomas Sondergard and the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra.”

The Times, February 2010 "Ushering in the Sibelius with a sweetly tremulous whisper, Frang heralds one of the freshest and most vital accounts of this familiar and frequently recorded work in recent years ... The Prokofiev is no less vividly realised, Frang capturing its big-boned, muscular lyricism, animated whimsy and romantic abandon with deceptive ease and a maturity that makes one eager to hear more from this fine player"

BBC Music Magazine, February 2010

VILDE FRANG The Herald Scotland • May 5, 2014

A great Britten made me hold my breath BY MICHAEL TUMELTY

From the day and hour that I first heard Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang, when she looked about 12, though must have been a bit older, I thought there was greatness in her. There was a purity, naturalness. and honesty to her playing, devoid of pretentiousness, that was wholly disarming and which let the light and the truth of the music shine through the ambience of the environment in which she was playing. It was like being bathed in a luminous glow, and nothing stood in the way of it. On Saturday night in Glasgow, Frang, now a mature young woman and acclaimed international artist, though thankfully still honest and pure in her music, did it all over again in a transcendent performance of Britten's Violin Concerto with the RSNO and the endlessly-perceptive conductor Thomas Sondergard, a performance which revealed all the pain, conscience and beauty in this great concerto, which is woefully underplayed. In the closing pages, where, for me, the music reaches a dimension of spirituality, my breathing went on hold, my heart swelled, and I was emotionally devastated and uplifted, both at the same time. Having spun this wondrous web of stillness and depth, Frang then did something shocking and mindless: she played an encore, totally puncturing and belittling both what she had achieved and the state of rapture she had conjured. She announced it. I had no idea what it was and I didn't catch it. But you don't play an encore after Britten's Violin Concerto: it's unfollowable. Do not pander to the demand for thrills. That's just trite. Frang's Britten and the beautiful New World Symphony from the RSNO and Sondergard get the stars.

VILDE FRANG The Herald Scotland • April 30, 2014

Violinist who knows her mind as well as her music Vilde Frang tends to attract adjectives like feisty, quirky, organic, irreverent BY KATE MOLLESON

"There is nothing polished or calculated about her playing," wrote one German critic; "Vilde Frang is only herself," wrote another. In an industry that churns out palatably photogenic young female violinists at a rate of knots, this 27-year-old Norwegian has managed to retain an image that is less manufactured and more interesting than most. Her publicity photos are modest, almost folksy, and in interviews she is open and unassuming. More to the point, her full-blooded playing is never for show. Her interpretive choices will throw up plenty of surprises, and probably some uncomfortable challenges, but they'll always be her own. Frang shrugs when I ask how she does it. "I guess it comes down to what you want," she says. She has a way of answering questions as simply as possible, without any need to talk herself up. "It comes down to whether you want a career or whether you want to play music. They are completely different things. They are north and south." Frang is the greatest classical talent to come out of Norway since Leif Ove Andsnes. She grew up in Oslo in a family of double bassists and as a child assumed that she too would take up the instrument until her father pointed out that there was no more room in the family car. So violin it was: Suzuki method at four, public debut at 10, soloist with Mariss Jansons and the Oslo Philharmonic at 13, duet tours with the German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter in her teens. Now Frang's schedule is a cherry-pick of solos dates with Europe's classiest orchestras and chamber music with a who's who of international musicians - the likes of Martha Argerich, Renaud Capucon and Leif Ove Andsnes. Next week she plays Britten's Violin Concerto with Thomas Sondergard and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. When we speak she's in London to give a solo recital at the Wigmore Hall and record Mozart concertos with the period instrument ensemble Arcangelo. She seems unfazed by it all, but also gracious. "Smooth and easy my career has definitely not been. Sure, there has been an element of being in the right place at the right time, but I have also worked very hard." She takes care to qualify her assertion that music and career are polar opposites, acknowledging that industry success is handy when it comes to opening certain doors. "Career is important in as far as it is a tool for getting to do what I want musically," she says. "Directing chamber orchestras, playing concertos with great conductors, that kind of thing. But it's not a means to an end. I've had to swallow some pills that didn't taste very good to achieve the space to do what I want." By unsavoury pills she means marketing: the kind of glossy full-body shots that record labels consider important in promoting young artists, particularly young female artists. With her long, nut-brown hair and icy Nordic gaze, Frang could easily pull off the classical diva look if she wanted to. But flipping through the obligatory gallery section of her website you'll find minimal make-up, outdoorsy backdrops and photos in which her violin (a 1709 Stradivari, no less)

is usually the star. I ask how she keeps it all so natural. "There are always suggestions from the record companies," she says, "but I'm very stubborn. I consider it a responsibility over myself." The same goes for the music. When she made her career-break debut with Jansons back in 1999, it was with the Carmen Fantasia by Sarasate: not a standard concerto by Mozart, Mendelssohn or Tchaikovsky. She says she's grateful to Jansons for letting her make that choice. "I've always been very aware of what I want to do and why I want to do it, and I've been quite privileged that the people who have mattered have let me decide my own path. Usually there is pressure to only record music that will sell, but I've always felt that if you're really convinced about something then it is bound to work." She points to the example of her second album, which includes violin sonatas by Bartok, Grieg and Richard Strauss. "Not exactly what you'd put under the Christmas tree," she laughs. "But I believe that as long as I keep my identity, as long as my DNA is in the music, well that's what everything is built on. It has to come from inside. It's an instinct. It's something so obvious, something you can't resist." I ask Frang about Norway; whether a sense of home and homeland is important to her, whether she thinks she'll ever move back (she is currently based in Berlin). "I do visit Norway for holidays," she says, "and I find it cosy, safe and clean. It's difficult to breath and be creative there. There's no challenge. The mentality is that you shouldn't have to work hard or exhaust yourself." She adds: "I was labelled a kind of wunderkind and to be honest it's a bit stifling." She says that Berlin is the perfect place to live "if you don't know where to live," and jokes that the city's wealth of other talented musicians keep her on her toes." "I need some challenges, some struggle. Otherwise where would I find my expression?" Vilde Frang plays Britten's Violin Concerto with Thomas Sondergard and the RSNO at the Caird Hall, Dundee, tomorrow; the Usher Hall, Edinburgh, on Friday; Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on Saturday

VILDE FRANG

The Independent (UK) March 26, 2013

Vilde Frang, Michail Lifits (*****)

Wigmore Hall, London

BY MICHAEL CHURCH

The case for modern instruments was brilliantly made by the young virtuosi who took the stage the next day.

The 24-year-old Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang – who looks as if she’s stepped out of a Pre-Raphaelite

painting – has a line as clean and pure as Mullova’s. And in tandem with the Uzbek pianist Michail Lifits she

gave an account of Mendelssohn’s ‘Sonata in F’ which was both full-blooded and finely nuanced, with Lifits

delivering the whirlwind figurations of the finale at a speed which took the breath away. Lutoslawski’s

‘Partita for Violin and Piano’ calls several times for both players to improvise before simultaneously arriving

at the same end-point, and they met this challenge effortlessly, before zapping us with three richly-coloured

Hungarian Dances by Brahms.

Excerpted from:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/viktoria-mullova-paolo-giacometti--vilde-

frang-michail-lifits-8549362.html

VILDE FRANG

Strings March 13, 2013

On Stage: Vilde Frang - a Master of Moods

Young Norwegian violinist wins the hearts of a San Francisco audience

BY GREG CAHILL

Lively, lyrical, and blessed with spot-on intonation and textbook technique, 26-year-old Norwegian violinist

Vilde Frang dazzled an audience March 15 at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s recital hall. The

lights may have been out at nearby Davies Symphony Hall, where San Francisco Symphony musicians are on

strike and a performance of Mahler’s Ninth had been cancelled, but at the conservatory, Frang was all

business.

Dressed in a floor-length copper-colored evening gown with ribbon straps and wearing low high heels, her

long brunette hair pulled back in a bun, the willowy Frang swayed to and fro as she and pianist Michael Lifits

worked their way through 350 years of sonata repertoire.

The program opened with Mozart’s groundbreaking Sonata No. 24 in F major for violin and piano, K.376,

the 1781 work that established the violin as an equal chamber partner to the piano. It was a vibrant

performance, but one that also was reverential. Frang, a protégé of Anne-Sophie Mutter (Frang was a

recipient of an Ann-Sophie Mutter Foundation scholarship and plays a Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume violin lent by

the Mutter), doesn’t bring a highly personalized interpretative approach to the music.

She is no Patricia Kopatchinskaja. No risk taker, no rogue.

What she does possess is a sweet tone, flawless technique, tightly focused intonation that borders on the

supernatural (each trill is precisely rendered), and a deliciously lyrical sensibility.

That lyricism served her well throughout the night as she also performed Faure’s Violin Sonata in A major,

Op. 13; three of Brahms’ Hungarian Dances; and Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 2 in D major for violin and piano,

Op. 94.

That latter piece acted as a showcase for Frang’s many strengths. She is, first and foremost, a master of

moods, as she had shown in her commanding performance of Faure’s frenetic sonata, with its fast shifts from

anger to effervescence. During the Prokofiev, she deftly handled the dizzying bursts of shifting rhythms and

rapid time changes.

She could dig into the strings to telegraph the urgency of a particular passage one second and employ her

silky smooth tone to issue a soothing voice the next.

Her lyricism, liveliness, and precision may be her forte, but she also imbued these war horses with a wide

range of deep emotion and never faltered, never gave the impression that she isn’t completely, utterly in

charge.

VILDE FRANG

ArtsATL February 2, 2013

ASO review: Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang brings angelic touch

to Mozart's "Turkish" Concerto BY MARK GRESHAM

On Thursday the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra performed a concert of music by Edvard Grieg, Wolfgang Mozart and

Robert Schumann, with guest conductor Gilbert Varga and solo violinist Vilde Frang.

The concert opened with Grieg’s “Elegiac Melodies,” string orchestra transcriptions made from two of his songs for

voice and piano: “Hjertesår” (or “Heart Wounds,” a slight change from the song’s original title, “Den sårede,” simply

“The Wounded”) and “Våren” (“Spring”).

Varga used reduced forces of 26 string players on these almost ephemerally melodic works, which the orchestra played

with great delicacy. Varga gave careful attention to details of phrasing and balance. In the first song, a melodic line

given to the cello section especially hangs in the ear’s memory.

Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang, in her first performance with the ASO, was originally scheduled to play the Violin

Concerto of Erich Korngold, but due to a “temporary medical condition,” the nature of which was not disclosed, the

orchestra announced Monday that the 27-year-old soloist would instead perform Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 (a.k.a.

“Turkish”).

Interestingly, that Mozart work has been performed by the ASO three times in subscription concerts within two years:

by concertmaster David Coucheron in February 2011, with Robert Spano conducting; in November by Karen Gomyo

with Matthias Pintscher at the helm; and now this week’s performances. While I was not present at the Coucheron-

Spano rendering, the contrast between the Gomyo-Pintscher performance and that of Frang-Varga was like night and

day. It was a demonstration of what an enormous difference both soloist and conductor can make upon the same music

played by the same orchestra.

While Frang’s tone was not large in this concert, it was exceptionally pure and angelic. Her performance was

completely at ease, her phrasing open, lucid and natural, a breath of fresh air. The cadenzas were familiar ones but were

played in a delightfully personal manner.

Had the violinist’s mysterious “temporary medical condition” not been made public, no one would have known about it

based on her performance. Now that we’ve heard her play Mozart, she should be invited to perform again with the ASO

— perhaps not the ill-fated Korngold, but maybe the violin concerto by Carl Nielsen, which she recorded for EMI on a

CD released last year. It’s a piece that Music Director Spano might want to sink his teeth into himself as conductor.

Varga’s attention to detail of phrasing heard in the Grieg boded well for the Mozart. He used the same number of

strings as in the Grieg, plus of course the pairs of oboes and horns called for in the score. In the concluding Rondo, in

the brief pause before the final return of the A theme, the eye-to-eye contact between soloist and conductor had an

anticipatory effect, like a moment of hesitation before a youthful kiss, that was a delightfully effective musical moment.

After intermission, the size of the orchestra increased considerably for Schumann’s Symphony No. 3 (the “Rhenish”).

From the start of this larger, bolder Romantic work, Varga and the orchestra brought to the fore the flow of its larger

architectural development. In the final movement, Varga literally danced at times as he conducted, bending his knees

Vilde Frang

ArtsATL February 2, 2013

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and twisting his torso for emphasis, when drawing from the orchestra the particular rhythmic character he wanted. The

brass, especially the horn section, had a good time of it with this music. They and the principal winds were

acknowledged by Varga in the ovations at the end. It was a satisfying performance of the Schumann symphony, with

forceful impact but without overreaching.

Like last week, this is again a two-concert rather than three-concert week for the ASO. The final performance is this

evening.

VILDE FRANG

Washington Post January 28, 2013

Violinist Vilde Frang shows she can do everything BY ANNE MIDGETTE

There’s a sweet spot for young artists after they’ve started to be recognized but before they’ve gotten really famous.

Actually, the sweet spot is for audiences who get to hear them in intimate venues rather than the big halls they’ll play in

when they make the big time. It’s a spot the Washington Performing Arts Society has been able to hit, time and again,

thanks to the exigencies of programming — lots of young artists start to make their reputations long in advance of their

debuts in a given city. Still, it’s one of the organization’s great strengths that it offers local audiences a chance to hear

the brilliant pianist Daniil Trifonov or the lovely violinist Vilde Frang in the intimacy of the Kennedy Center’s Terrace

Theater, where Trifonov played a couple of weeks ago and Frang played, along with the pianist Michail Lifits, on

Sunday night.

Frang, who was born in 1986, has made several fine recordings, including a fresh, no-nonsense account of the

Tchaikovsky concerto, paired with one by Carl Nielsen, that came out last year and made me want to hear more of her.

Her recital certainly bore out the idea that this is a violinist to watch. The program followed the time-honored “look, I

can do everything” template of the debut recitalist, with a piece from every column: Classicism (Mozart’s F Major

Sonata), the French repertory (Gabriel Faure’s Sonata in A), Viennese Romanticism (three Brahms Hungarian dances),

and the Russian school (Sergei Prokofiev’s bright, ardent Second Sonata), topped off with a Heifetz encore.

And indeed, she could do everything. Pre-Raphaelitic in appearance, graceful in her approach, she turned out, rather

unexpectedly, to embody the stereotype of the young prodigy by excelling at the fireworks. They weren’t typical

fireworks, to be sure; her playing was less flashy than kinetically propulsive from the moment she flew, headlong yet

sure, into the opening movement of the Mozart. Her interaction with Lifits, whose performance crackled with nervous

energy, only fanned the flames. Yet the two made heavier work of the Mozart’s subsequent movements, growing

slightly earnest in the second movement’s many variations. The promise and thrill of the evening’s opening was better

borne out by the Faure, sure and strong and vibrant.

Frang’s playing is at once assured and slightly coltish — an appropriate sign of an artist whose range includes wide

extremes without ever lapsing into excesses. She plays with a big, wide vibrato yet managed to make it sound perfectly

idiomatic in the Faure; she plays with plenty of fire and expression, yet can rein herself in with stylishness, pulling back

to give a repeated phrase a touch of extra polish. Most importantly, she plays with a sense of enjoyment, a hint of

sunniness even in fraught moments. Of course, it was a program shot through and through with sun, from the exuberant

excesses of the Brahms to the Prokofiev sonata, which she punctuated crisply with an almost frightening smack of the

bow on the strings at the end of the second movement but released gently at the end of the fourth. We’ll be hearing

Frang again in larger halls, with major orchestras; it will be a pleasure to watch her grow.

Vilde Frang

Violinist.com August 2, 2012

Violinist.com interview with Vilde Frang: Carl Nielsen Violin Concerto WITH LAURIE NILES

The violin concerto by Danish composer Carl Nielsen might not be the most commonly recorded or performed, but it

has a passionate and highly competent champion in the 26-year-old Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang.

Her new recording of the Tchaikovsky and Carl Nielsen Violin Concertos, with the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, is one of three she's released in rapid succession: in 2010 she recorded the Sibelius Violin Concerto and Humoresques

and Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1; and in 2011 she recorded the Grieg Violin Sonata No. 1; Bartok Sonata for Solo

Violin; and Strauss Violin Sonata, Op. 18.

At the start of the year, Vilde was awarded the 2012 Credit Suisse Young Artist Award. As a part of that, she will make

her debut in September with the Vienna Philharmonic under

Bernard Haitink at the 2012 Lucerne Summer Music Festival.

Her teachers have included Kolja Blacher at

Musikhochschule Hamburg; and Ana Chumachenco at the

Kronberg Academy. She also studied at the The Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo. She plays a Jean-Baptiste

Vuillaume violin lent by the Anne-Sophie Mutter

Freundeskreis Stiftung.

Speaking with me over the phone last month from Frankfurt,

we talked about the Nielsen, about her relationship with

Anne-Sophie Mutter, about her family of bassists and her Suzuki start, and more:

* * *

Laurie: I'm so excited that you've recorded the Nielsen.

Having perhaps never heard this piece, I was struck with how worthy and likable it is. It has moments of great beauty

as well as a kaleidoscope of emotions. While the harmonies

are modern, it certainly sticks to a tonal language. How did you personally discover this piece?

Vilde: Nielsen was actually a very late discovery for me --

he is still quite an undiscovered composer. It's very hard to get Nielsen right; I think it's because his music isn't very

obvious. Structurally, it's so free -- it swims, in a way. There

is a structure, but it's a very exotic, very special, very

personal kind of structure. Some people might struggle with

Mahler -- Mahler has the same kind of exotic way of structuring music.

Also, technically, the Nielsen is incredibly awkward.

Laurie: I wondered about that.

Vilde: It is, actually. When the Tchaikovsky concerto was premiered, it was considered unplayable because of its technical difficulties, and really, Nielsen is no less difficult to play than the Tchaikovsky concerto! Also, it's a lot of

notes!

Laurie: It's a long work, isn't it?

Vilde: It's a very long work, and it's kind of inaccessible, in a way. It's not an easy listen. I enjoy much more playing this concerto than actually listening to it. When I first heard this concerto, I found it very difficult to understand. Then I

had to learn this concerto. I had an orchestra engagement with the Danish Orchestra and Nielsen is sort of the great son

of Denmark -- they wanted me to come and play Nielsen because part of this concerto was written in Norway. It was actually partly composed in Grieg's home. Nielsen went to visit Grieg's widow in their house, and then when he was

staying there he was working in Grieg's working cottage, which is there he composed the first part of this concerto.

Since I am a Norwegian, they thought they might make a point out of that.

Then I discovered this piece has a lot of possibilities. It's a wonderful piece for the violin. I think every violinist should play this concerto, because you get challenged not only technically, but also structure-wise. You have to take a bird's

eye view of this concerto, you need this kind of perspective.

Laurie: It seems like it changes moods very quickly.

Vilde: That's right, and it can be a little confusing. The challenge is to tie everything together. In that way, it's a little bit

like a Danish version of the Elgar concerto actually. The end of the Elgar concerto is very long, and it's kind of the

same challenge, with Nielsen.

Laurie: There aren't too many recordings of it, that I found. How did you go about studying it? Honestly I don't know

if I've ever heard it, ever, before now. Which is crazy!

Vilde: There is a recording of Nikolaj Znaider, who made it when he was a bit younger. In a way, it's nice that there

aren't any prejudices about this violin concerto. It's pretty untouched, and there is no one way to play this concerto, no general opinion. It's still pretty undiscovered.

The thing about this concerto is that you can't just play this concerto 100 percent, you need to be in 140-percent shape.

You need to play this music with a lot of purpose, otherwise it won't work out. If you play the Nielsen at 80 percent effort, or 80 percent technically, that sounds horrible, miserable! You need to play with a lot of energy. It might be a

daunting task for most people just to approach this concerto.

Also, it's very important not to forget that this is a tonal language. The notes are never just virtuoso effects; they always have a musical purpose. In some ways, this is like the Tchaikovsky Concerto. Tchaikovsky, in the first movement, has

all these technical passages, but there are melodies in those passages, even though they are very high and very tricky.

It's the same thing with Nielsen. It sounds weird, but it makes Nielsen-sense.

Laurie: What brought you to the violin? Did you start out with the Suzuki method?

Vilde: I did, yes.

My father is a double bass player, and my sister is also a double bass player -- my mother isn't a musician, actually. But

I watched my sister play in youth orchestra, when I was small, and obviously I thought I was the next one in line, in the double basses family! To me it was a natural thing, but then my father made this argument: our family had a

Volkswagon, which was a very tiny car. He said, 'Can you imagine, when we go on holiday, with three double basses?

There is no chance the whole family will get space in the car!"

So he made me a smaller instrument. It was made of cardboard -- there were no strings on it. So I could put my Little Twin Star stickers on it, and Hello Kitty stickers -- but the fact that it didn't make any sound -- I found this to be very

frustrating! I had to 'play' on it for almost a year until I finally got a violin which was alive, which made sound.

I remember the moment I got the violin that was real, that was really living and alive -- I've never practiced so inspired in all my life, as I did the first couple of days with that violin! I was in seventh heaven, I was so happy.

Laurie: And now you have much better than a cardboard violin, you have a Vuillaume that you play, is that right?

Vilde: That's correct.

Laurie: How did that all come about, with Anne-Sophie Mutter and her foundation?

Vilde: I first played for Anne-Sophie Mutter when I was 11 years old. After that, she asked me to keep her updated, and she followed my development. I kept sending her recordings and tapes of my playing, and letters about how I was

doing. It was obviously a very inspirational thing for me, because I knew that she was always there watching,

somewhere. When I was 15, she invited me to Munich to audition for her again, and then I was taken into her

foundation, her Freundeskreis Stiftung, or Circle of Friends Foundation, and I was also given this Vuillaume instrument.

I've been playing the Vuillaume for eight years now. Over the years, it's opened a lot. It has the most beautiful voice!

It's not perfect; I've had a lot of fights, a lot of quarrels, with this instrument over the years. I still do, because it's got a horrible wolf on every C and B natural, in every octave! But still, I love it so much. It's not perfect, but it's like me: I'm

also not perfect. I think we've improved each other so much over the years.

Ms. Mutter has also been a great, great mentor to me over all these years. I did a tour with her in 2008, and we played

in Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center in Washington. I played the Bach Double with her. Of course, I learned a lot from this experience, not only playing for her, but playing with her.

Laurie: She's a really spontaneous player, it seems to me. What kinds of things did you learn from her?

Vilde: I think the most important was that she encouraged me to always trust my own instincts and follow my own voice. That is her top priority, and that's the message she wanted to give, which I think is a wonderful thing.

But more than any other musician I know, she is extremely focused on exploring the musical score, in order to get as

close as possible to the composer. Many people might consider her to be very free, but actually she has the most authentic and strictest approach that I know of. I think that is why she allows herself to have that amount of freedom.

The more you know the piece and the better you know the score, the more freedom you actually have yourself.

Laurie: When you won the Credit Suisse contest you were playing the wonderful Bartok Op. Posthumous, (she plays

this piece in the background on this video, starting 1:40, then 3:00, etc.) I love that piece; I used to feel like I was the only one who knew about that piece, but obviously I'm not, you're playing it!

Vilde: Isn't it strange? Because so few people know about this concerto, it's too bad.

Laurie: I love that one movement is one thing, and the other is just complete insanity, completely unhinged.

Vilde: Bartok dedicated this concerto to the girl he was so much in love with, Stefi Geyer, and it really portrays "she

and he," I think. The first movement is very dedicated to her; it opens with the "Stefi" theme, which you can also find

throughout the concerto. In the second movement, it's very much the young boy who is proud and he wants to make an impression on her. It shows another side of Bartok. Most people imagine Bartok as very rough composer, and I think

he's actually very lyrical, and extremely pure. For me he's the most pure composer of the 20th century, actually. He's so

close to Bach: he doesn't need to add anything, because it's not necessary. Something about his musical expression is so

honest.

Laurie: You've performed a lot of Bartok -- your second recording also has the Bartok solo Sonata.

Vilde: I did record the Bartok solo Sonata, which is my favorite piece.

Laurie: What makes it your favorite?

Vilde: It is like a monologue, really. The structure is kind of a Baroque structure. It is like a journey, to play that piece.

I've never been as focused as when playing this piece; it requires such an effort from the performer -- and also from the

audience. Frankly, when I was learning this piece, I was a little bit anxious about how the audience would react to it,

because it's not easy listening. I thought, 'Are they going to cough? Are they going to leave? How are they going to react?' In reality, when I'm playing the Bartok Sonata, it feels like the connection is stronger than ever. I think the

audience is very hypnotized by this music. It's such a powerful piece.

Laurie: You grew up in Norway, where do you live now?

Vilde: I'm moving from Munich to Berlin. I've been living in Munich for five years, and I'm moving to Berlin.

Laurie: What's coming up for you?

Vilde: I'm looking forward to making my debut with the Vienna Philharmonic in September at the Lucerne Festival,as

part of the Credit Suisse Young Artist Award, with Bernard Haitink conducting. Also, I will be making my Proms

debut with the BBC Philharmonic, next summer. I'm taking part in quite a lot of festivals, and there quite a lot going on for the time being. This CD was just released in June.

Laurie: You'll be doing the Sibelius with the Vienna, and you've also recorded it. Tell me your thoughts on that

concerto.

Vilde: The Sibelius Concerto is another close relation of mine! It's a piece I feel very attached to, and a piece I'm known for. It was such a milestone. When I was a kid, I remember listening to this piece and imagining that one day I

would be able to play these notes myself. Now that I've sort of ascended that mountain, that only gave me a new

perspective. Now it's a little bit like becoming this mountain, when I'm playing it. My approach to the piece is changing all the time -- I think I'm playing it very differently now from the recording I made just two years ago.

Laurie: That's allowed, isn't it? It's a good sign.

Vilde: I think so. It's like certain words, which change meaning over the years. When you're four years old, "love"

might mean one thing, and then when you're 20 years old it might mean something else. The same thing with age 32, age 58, or 71 -- it's always changing. The power of this word is always getting different, and I think it's the same with

music, no?

Laurie: It's the same with music, and the wonderful thing is that I think when you're 58 it still means what it meant to you when you were four and it still means what it meant to you when you were 20, it just means more.

Vilde: Yes exactly! But also you articulate it in a different way, I think, and you have a different approach to it.

VILDE FRANG

Sunday Times (UK) June 17, 2012

Classical CD of the Week

Tchaikovsky, Nielsen

Violin Concertos

Vilde Frang (violin), Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, conductor Eivind Gullberg Jensen

EMI

After her acclaimed 2009 account of Sibelius's Violin Concerto, the exceptional Norwegian violinist turns even closer

to home, with the Danish composer Nielsen's no less demanding, if idiosyncratic, example of the genre. This great work has risen markedly in esteem since pioneering recordings by the Hungarian-born, naturalized Briton Tibor Varga

and Yehudi Menuhin in the 1950s and 1960s, though its champions in the concert hall and on disc still come largely

from the Nordic lands. Vrang makes a bold impression with the Bachian muliple-stopping of the opening chords,

building up an intensity that is released in the exuberant allegro cavalleresco. She brings an even greater spectrum of tonal colour and expressive shading to this music than her outstanding Danish counterpart Nicolaj Znaider in an earlier

EMI recording, and her virtuosity is second to none. Clearly, in the DRSO and Jensen, she has Nielsen interpreters of

the highest order — and they are no less idiomatic in the oft-recorded Tchaikovsky concerto, here sounding freshly conceived by Frang in an account that deserves to stand behind classic versions by Heifetz, Milstein and Oistrakh.

VILDE FRANG WINS 2012 CREDIT SUISSE YOUNG ARTISTS AWARD

December 1, 2011

Vienna, Austria The brilliant young Norwegian violinist VILDE FRANG was named today as the winner of

the 2012 CREDIT SUISSE YOUNG ARTISTS AWARD. The recipient of this distinguished prize,

established in 2000 and awarded every two years, is chosen by a consortium of the Lucerne Festival, The

Vienna Philharmonic, the Vienna Society of the Friends of Music, and the Jubilee Fund of Crédit Suisse.

Awardees are given a concert performance with the Vienna Philharmonic at the Lucerne Summer Music

Festival, to be conducted in 2012 by Mo. Bernard Haitink, KBE. In addition, the prize carries a cash award

of CHF 75,000. Previous winners include Nicolas Altstaedt, cello (2010), Antoine Tamestit, viola (2008),

and Sol Gabetta, cello (2004).

The Credit Suisse Young Artists Awards crowns an extraordinary year of acclaim and recognition for this

exciting young artist. In the past 2 years, she has garnered

2011 Gramophone Classic Nominee Best Chamber Recording

2011 ECHO Classic Prize Winner Best Newcomer

2011 Classic BRIT Winner Newcomer Award

2011 Edison Klassiek Award Winner Best Newcomer

2010 EMI Classics Winner Young Artist of the Year

2010 Classic FM Magazine Winner Editor’s Choice for her debut recital disc

2010 Diapason d’Or Magazine Winner Editor’s Choice for her debut recital disc

www.vildefrang.com | http://www.opus3artists.com/artists/vilde-frang

VILDE FRANG

WQXR October 19, 2011

WQXR Features Café Concert: Vilde Frang

What a young artist chooses to play to introduce him- or herself to a city immediately sketches his or her persona for an

audience. For a violinist, is it Tchaikovsky? Mozart? Stravinsky? Is she going to be meditative, ebullient, dazzling?

Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang made her US recital debut at Lincoln Center recently in a program of works by Albéniz, Bartok and Strauss, the former composer of which she brought to the WQXR Café. “El Puerto and “Sevilla”

were arranged by Fritz Kreisler and, in their Spanish charm and colorful dance rhythms, ignore the stereotype of the

isolated Scandinavian country that gave us Grieg, Munch and cool, ambient jazz.

“I do feel very at home in playing Grieg,” said the 24-year-old Frang. “In a way, Grieg was a very natural composer for

me to choose for my latest CD. I also feel at least as much as home in Bartok and Strauss. It‟s very much about what

really appeals to you. And if the music has a strong message it just reaches you no matter where you‟re from.”

The Oslo-born musician comes from an artistic family. Her father and elder sister are both double bassists, while her mother is a painter. Her early path was typical of a young prodigy: She made her solo debut with the Norwegian Radio

Orchestra at the age of 10, with the Oslo Philharmonic at 12 and around the same time toured Europe and Asia.

Frang first played with the prominent violinist Anne Sophie Mutter at age 12, after the two met at the Bergen International Festival, and went on to perform Bach's Double Concerto with her on tour in 2008, which included a stop

at Carnegie Hall. She speaks in reverential tones about her mentor, who has provided musical instruction as well as

career guidance. “She‟s been a key person in my life,” said Frang, who moved to Hamburg in 2003 to study with Mutter. “What she has done is not only from a musical point of view – but she‟s supported me financially.” Frang plays

a Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume violin lent by Mutter.

For those who associate Mutter with a serious brand of music-making and controlled glamour, Frang sees a different

side: “When I visited New York with her she brought me to the Guggenheim Museum and Broadway and said „you have to taste the cheesecake‟ and she really did everything she could to show me New York from the best side,” she

said. “I really had some fantastic days here.”

Frang is gradually building a reputation on her own terms. She recently released her second album on EMI, and this season she has a busy calendar that includes tours with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra

and an Asia tour with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.

“Right now it feels completely natural to me,” Frang said of her nonstop pace. “I was always developing myself in this direction. I feel very fortunate and very lucky that I‟m able to perform a lot and to travel with my violin and do what

I‟m able to do.”

VILDE FRANG

Askonas Holt July 1, 2011

The violinist was awarded an Edison Klassiek Award for Best

Newcomer

Congratulations to Vilde Frang who was awarded the Edison Klassiek Award for Best Newcomer in The Hague. The

jury spoke of Vilde as ‘a talent that comes along only once a generation’ and praised her ‘impressive mastery of

dynamics and flawless technique…What a pleasure to hear!’ This award follows Vilde’s success at the Classic Brit

Awards last month where she was also awarded the ‘Best Newcomer’ Award.

VILDE FRANG

Winnipeg Free Press May 28, 2011

VILDE FRANG, MICHAIL LIFITS BY JAMES MANISHEN

VILDE FRANG, MICHAIL LIFITS

Grieg, Bartók, R. Strauss: Violin Sonatas (EMI)

YOUTHFUL, impetuous, yet with a surprising fund of nostalgia, Grieg's Violin Sonata No. 1 and Richard Strauss'

Violin Sonata both date from the composers in their early 20s and are equally charged with optimistic joie. EMI's

brilliant new violinist Vilde Frang and her highly insightful collaborator Michail Lifits dig in hard to project that, supplying an ideal blend of spontaneity within clear plot-lines and technical execution, leaving nothing wanting. Fresh

discovery blankets every phrase here, for which nothing more can be asked in these early works.

Those pieces flank Bartók's Sonata for solo violin in this recital, one of his last works and commissioned by Yehudi

Menuhin. It's a thorny, tremendously resourceful display that absorbs throughout its four movements. Frang's taut rhythmic control and range of colour most impress here. She's quite the player and clearly a star on the rise.

VILDE FRANG

Statoil (Norway) November 19, 2010

Vilde Frang Bjærke receives Statoil’s classical music award PRESS RELEASE

The violinist Vilde Frang Bjærke (24) has been named the classical music talent of the year for 2010, receiving a grant by Statoil worth NOK 1 million.

”It is an honour to receive Statoil’s talent award for 2010. I would particularly like to thank the panel of judges. Statoil can proudly look back at 20 years of fantastic support for Norway’s young classical music talents,” Frang Bjærke says.

Bilde

In spite of her young age Vilde Frang Bjærke has already made her mark internationally as one of our top violinists, excellent reviews coming her way worldwide.

She has played with great names like the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the violinist Anne Sofie Mutter, making her first appearance with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 12.

Sought-after soloist

A sought-after soloist in concert halls in Asia, the US and Europe, Frang Bjærke received Spellemannsprisen in 2009 for her first CD featuring music by Sibelius and Prokofiev.

Former receivers of the classical music award include Ole Edvard Antonsen, Henning Kraggerud, Tine Thing Helseth and the current chair of the judging panel, Leif Ove Andsnes.

The Judging panel’s citation read as follows: “Vide Frang Bjærle was this year unanimously selected for Statoil’s talent award. She is a rare talent, and over the years she has developed into an exceptional stage personality. She is a violinist

with a tone that carries to the farthest reaches of the large halls and interacts with the orchestra, and there is a presence

and listening sensitivity in her violin playing that moves those listening to her perform.”

Heroes of tomorrow

The grant is part of Statoil’s ”Heroes of Tomorrow” talent programme, supporting young performers within sports,

culture and education. Statoil has supported musical talents since back in 1990, granting talent awards to promising performers within both classical and rhythmic music.

In addition to Andsnes, the judging panel consists of Anne Gjevang, casting director and acting head of the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, and violinist Henning Kraggerud ,Øyvind Gimse, leader of the Trondheim Soloists, Rolf-

Cato Raade, director, Nordnorsk Opera og Symfoniorkester AS and Eirik Birkeland, principal of the Norwegian

Academy of Music.

Vilde Frang

Statoil (Norway) November 19, 2010

page 2 of 2

”We wish to support the heroes of tomorrow, boosting their careers internationally. The winners of the talent awards

allow others to enjoy their talents and show the way for other young people who may become the stars of tomorrow,”

says Statoil’s Oddvar Høie.

VILDE FRANG

International Record Review March 2010

This is an unusually potent debut recording from a prodigiously gifted artist. The young Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang has already achieved considerable success in Europe, most notably in the UK with a recital at the Wigmore Hall,

together with appearances with Vladimir Jurowski and the LPO. Her music-making here is distinguished by care,

character and a communicative spirit all at the service of a refreshing search for musical truth rather than self-regarding virtuosity or career-obsessed promotion. This sense of quest registers with an unforced maturity and conviction well

beyond her years in which she is supported by the most generous and sensitive partnership from Thomas Sondergard

and the orchestra.

The opening theme of the Sibelius Violin Concerto is eerie and chilly, with warmth of vibrato only gradually emerging

as its dynamic level increases. Frang’s pianissimo playing throughout is intimate and subtly characterised. Her

expressive ace is to make everything sound as natural and coherent as speech: it’s a rare talent to be so vocal without actually opening one’s mouth. She never overburdens her playing with saturated tone but inclines more towards a lean,

pliant style that lens cogency and clarity of articulation to the busiest passagework, never lapsing into mere decoration.

This is not to suggest any lack of power: just listen to the sizzling impetuosity of the broken arpeggios in the coda of

the first movement. Throughout the performance, she brings a consistently sinewy, purposeful strength to the music and in dialogue with the orchestra achieves genuinely conversational interplay.

The central movement is delicately shaded and shot through with a plangent lyricism that burgeons passionately at the climax. Any hint of a polonaise for lumbering bears is ring fenced by a finale that bounds along at an exhilarating,

puppyish clip. Prompted by the sinister buzz of low stopped horns, the soloist complements them with some sly menace

of her own, bringing real flair to Sibelius’s more outlandish pyrotechnics. Freshness and fibre abound, eliminating any hint of the cloying textures that can beach this work on the wrong side of indulgence.

In an illuminating booklet note, David Gutman draws salient parallels between shared contemporary contacts of both

composers that in turn link to Szymanowski’s First Violin Concerto. Listening to Frang cast her spell with such rapture in the opening theme of the Prokofiev, you can hear why. This concerto seems to evoke aspects of the supernatural, an

enchantment that engagingly mixes white and black magic. When ethereal textures returns for the codas of both the

outer movements, Frang’s chemistry is disarmingly exquisite, especially with such ear-tingling and beautifully balanced tracery from the accompanying flute, harp and upper strings. Nor is she averse to playing vicious with

Prokofiev’s sardonic style in the contrasting faster music, where she spits out pips like a lemon-eating tigress.

To round off with three of Sibelius’s delightful Humoresques is an unexpected delight. She catches their impromptu

moods and epigrammatic concision with comparably bracing confidence and trenchancy so apparent in both concertos,

all of which stokes impatience to hear much, much more.

VILDE FRANG

BBC Music February 16, 2010

Frang heralds one of the freshest accounts of this frequently

recorded work. BY MICHAEL QUINN

Aged just 23, Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang is already a seasoned performer, having made her orchestral debut at the

tender age of 10. She’s clearly an intelligent and innately musical one, too, bucking the fashion for rushing headlong

into the recording studio by delaying her debut on disc- and what a debut it is – until now.

Parings of Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto with Sibelius’ only concerto are curiously few and far between. The most

recent was Ilya Gringgolts’ rather uneven painting in 2004 with Neeme Jarvi conducting the Gothenburg Symphony on Deutsche Grammophon, with the final trio of Sibelius’ six Humoresques as attractive filler. Frang echoes that choice

but opts for No. 1, 2 and 5 instead.

Ushering in the Sibelius with a sweetly tremulous whisper, Frang heralds one of the freshest and most vital accounts of this familiar and frequently recorded work in recent years. On display from the off is a vivid sense of intellectual drive

and emotional sinew in playing that taps into Scandinavian melancholy and suppressed passion to genuinely engaging

effect. Particularly appealing is the hair’s-breadth balance she achieves between hushed introspection and out-and-out drama in a performance characterised by strikingly etched detail and a virtuosic flair that delivers one richly expressive

solution after another to the music’s many technical challenges.

The boldly contrasted dynamic range of the brooding first movement is beautifully reinforced in what follows. It

perfectly inks in and matches the emotional eb and flow, the Adagio is effusively romantic and sublimely tender in

equal measure, the finale driven along with winning gusto.

The Prokofiev – in which soloist and orchestra are virtual equals – is no less vividly realised, Frang capturing its big-

boned, muscular lyricism, animated whimsy and romantic abandon with deceptive ease and a maturity that makes one

eager to hear more from this fine player. As with the Sibelius, the WDR Symphony Orchestra under conductor Thomas Sondergard accompany with consummate, wholly reciprocal incisiveness in what is clearly a meeting of musical

minds.

The Humoresque selections, delightfully knowing encores for impressive performances, are dispatched with a

bewitching lightness of touch, caught in perfectly framed, beautifully balanced sound.