Danjulo Ishizaka & Shai Wosner - Grieg - Janáček - Kodály (2014)

Cellist Danjulo Ishizaka, a former BBC Radio3 New Generation Artist, is now in demand with leading orchestras and conductors worldwide. He made his Vienna Musikverein debut in 2003; his BBC Proms debut in 2006. He has also performed at Carnegie Hall in New York. In 2012 he was awarded the Hideo Saito Memorial Fund Award, one of Japan s most prestigious music awards Danjulo and fellow ONYX artist Shai Wosner have chosen a programme of works with strong roots in folk music which speak their characteristic national language very clearly. Together with Bartók, Kodály was a true pioneer in exploring and collecting melodies from the Hungarian folk tradition. Leo Janácek s 'Pohádka', on the other hand, turns beyond the folk tradition to another aspect that all cultures have in common: the fairy tale. Like his Hungarian counterparts, he too collected many of his country s folk songs, observing and studying his compatriots language with a view to how it functioned in a melodic sense. He had a keen sensibility for the sounds of nature, and incorporated all these elements into his music. Grieg s great Sonata combines folkloric and magical elements in equal measure and paints a sonic picture of Norwegian culture.