EXCLUSIVE: Premiere from Debut Album ‘Portrait’ by Itamar Zorman, Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition Winner

Blogcritics is proud to premiere today a key track from violinist Itamar Zorman‘s debut album Portrait (Profil), out in the U.S. on February 10.

Franz Schubert’s Rondo in B Minor (D 895) is one of the showpieces of this remarkable recording, the first album from the young Israeli violinist who impressed listeners mightily at his Carnegie Hall debut in November 2014.

Zorman’s achievements since winning the Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition in 2011 have included a 2013 Avery Fisher Career Grant and a 2014 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, as well as bookings at prestigious “Richard Goode and Friends” concerts.

An international tour that begins later this month includes appearances with the Israel Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta.

Zorman plays a 1745 Guarneri violin, which he describes as “a very interesting violin, with dark appearance and dark sound…the bigger the hall, the better it projects.”

When I interviewed him in October 2014 he told me, “I believe that different composers and styles require the performer to step on stage with a different energy.” Whether on stage or in the recording studio, Zorman brings the requisite energy to the music of different centuries. Portrait, part of Kronberg Academy’s “Young Soloists” series, illustrates the young musician’s wide-ranging early-career mastery. In addition to the Schubert, it includes Brahms’ Violin Sonata in D minor, op. 108; Hindemith’s Sonata for violin solo, op. 31 no. 1; Messiaen’s “Theme and Variations”; and Chausson’s “Poeme,” op. 25. Pianist Kwan Yi provides more than able accompaniment.

Itamar Zorman also has a CD out with the Lysander Piano Trio.