Track Listing

1. Anna's Theme
2. Cremona: Main Title
3. Cremona: Death of Anna
4. Cremona: Birth of the Red Violin
5. Cremona: The Red Violin
6. Vienna: The Monastery
7. Vienna: Kaspar's Audition/Journey to Vienna
8. Vienna: Etudes/Deat of Kaspar
9. Oxford: The Gypsies/Journey Across Europe
10. Oxford: Pope's Gypsy Cadenza
11. Oxford: Cotius Musicalis/Victoria's Departure
12. Oxford: Pope's Concert
13. Oxford: Pope's Betrayal
14. Shaghai: Journey to China
15. Shanghai: People's Revolution/Death of Chou Yuan
16. Montreal: Morritz Discovers the Red Violin
17. Montreal: Morritz's Theme
18. Montreal: The Theft
19. Montreal: End Titles
20. Red Violin: Chaconne for Violin and Orchestra

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49762 in Music
• Released on: 1999-04-05
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Running time: 66 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Normally we think of a musical instrument as a passive object in the service of a performing artist. But what if that instrument is itself a work of art, containing the secrets of the various owners through whose hands it has passed over the centuries? That's the premise behind this intriguing film by François Girard (director of 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould). It traces the story of a legendary violin (thought to be possessed by an immortal soul) from its birth in 17th-century Italy through Mozart's Vienna, Victorian England, and revolutionary China to its present-day fate on the auction block. The score, in suggesting the violin's unique aura, therefore carries much of the burden of the story, and it brings together some of the most outstanding talents in contemporary classical music. Composer John Corigliano's richly eclectic and poetic score--encompassing classical elegance, gypsy passion, and angst-ridden harmonies--etches vivid portraits of the film's various epochs but also gives an overarching sense of unity to the episodic character of the script. It's essentially a set of remarkably imaginative variations for violin and orchestra on a theme of haunting pathos and is a substantial work of music in its own right. As the soloist, Joshua Bell saturates the eponymous instrument with personality. His combination of virtuoso bravura and soulful phrasing almost seems to lead the violin to the brink of human speech. Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen shapes the exchange between orchestra and violin into tautly dramatic dialogue. The disc also includes a powerful related work on the theme used in the score, the Chaconne for Violin and Orchestra, which confirms Corigliano's status as one of today's leading and most personally communicative American composers. --Thomas May

Customer Reviews

Moving violin music for fans of the "Devil's Instrument"
This is one of the finest CD's of violin music I ever heard. Composer John Corigliano writes magnificently for the instrument, and Joshua Bell plays with irresistible panache. While modern players tend to be over-perfect, Joshua Bell "puts his soul" on this record: expression, search for dramatic effect and a certain kind of eccentricity always prevail under the fire of virtuosity. Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philarmonia Orchestra combine perfectly and contribute significantly to the performance.

The thread begins with "Anna's Theme", a sombre, fateful and somewhat hypnotising melody that works as a "genetic code" from which all variations and compositions unfold (as the Red Violin proceeds its saga across cultures and continents in the film). Sometimes the music hovers in a calm and contemplative beauty ("Journey Across Europe", "Coitus Musicalis/Victoria's Departure"). In other occasions the music becomes nerve cracking or suspense-like ("Death of Anna", "The Theft"). There are also some magnificent violin solos: "Pope's Concert" is a short Caprice which ranks with Paganini's, "Pope's Betrayal" is full of tension and powerful phrasing and "Pope's Gypsy Cadenza" is a fine piece of Gypsy Music.

Truth is the feelings underneath violin music cannot be described with words. This CD and François Girard's film are "must have" for anyone addicted to the "Devil's Instrument".