Carnival Karen Gomyo, Ismo Eskelinen

• Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741): Violin Sonata in A Major, Op. 2 No. 2, RV 31:
• 1Violin Sonata in A Major, Op. 2 No. 2, RV 31: I. Preludio á Capriccio01:33
• 2Violin Sonata in A Major, Op. 2 No. 2, RV 31: II. Corrente02:22
• 3Violin Sonata in A Major, Op. 2 No. 2, RV 31: III. Adagio01:18
• 4Violin Sonata in A Major, Op. 2 No. 2, RV 31: IV. Giga02:35
• Pietro Locatelli (1695 - 1764): Violin Sonata in D Minor, Op. 6 No. 12:
• 5Violin Sonata in D Minor, Op. 6 No. 12: I. Adagio04:55
• 6Violin Sonata in D Minor, Op. 6 No. 12: II. Allegro03:00
• 7Violin Sonata in D Minor, Op. 6 No. 12: III. Andante02:52
• 8Violin Sonata in D Minor, Op. 6 No. 12: IV. Allegro04:03
• Niccolò Paganini (1782 - 1840): Centone di Sonate, Op. 64, MS 112, Sonata No. 1 in A Major:
• 9Centone di Sonate, Op. 64, MS 112, Sonata No. 1 in A Major: I. Introduzione00:54
• 10Centone di Sonate, Op. 64, MS 112, Sonata No. 1 in A Major : II. Allegro maestoso04:30
• 11Centone di Sonate, Op. 64, MS 112, Sonata No. 1 in A Major: III. Rondoncino03:10
• Violin Sonata in A Major, Op. 2 No. 1, MS 26:
• 12Violin Sonata in A Major, Op. 2 No. 1, MS 26: I. Minuetto. Adagio03:53
• 13Violin Sonata in A Major, Op. 2 No. 1, MS 26: II. Polonese. Quasi allegro01:20
• 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, MS 25 (Arr. for Violin & Guitar):
• 1424 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1, MS 25 (Arr. for Violin & Guitar): No. 24 in A Minor05:35
• Arcangelo Corelli (1653 - 1713): Violin Sonata in D Minor "La folia", Op. 5 No. 12:
• 15Violin Sonata in D Minor "La folia", Op. 5 No. 12: Theme00:56
• 16Violin Sonata in D Minor "La folia", Op. 5 No. 12: Var. 100:31
• 17Violin Sonata in D Minor "La folia", Op. 5 No. 12: Var. 200:25
• 18Violin Sonata in D Minor "La folia", Op. 5 No. 12: Var. 600:21
• 19Violin Sonata in D Minor "La folia", Op. 5 No. 12: Var. 800:39
• 20Violin Sonata in D Minor "La folia", Op. 5 No. 12: Var. 900:18
• 21Violin Sonata in D Minor "La folia", Op. 5 No. 12: Var. 1000:14
• 22Violin Sonata in D Minor "La folia", Op. 5 No. 12: Var. 1100:32
• 23Violin Sonata in D Minor "La folia", Op. 5 No. 12: Var. 1200:20
• 24Violin Sonata in D Minor "La folia", Op. 5 No. 12: Var. 1300:20
• 25Violin Sonata in D Minor "La folia", Op. 5 No. 12: Var. 1400:49
• 26Violin Sonata in D Minor "La folia", Op. 5 No. 12: Var. 1500:51
• 27Violin Sonata in D Minor "La folia", Op. 5 No. 12: Var. 1600:23
• 28Violin Sonata in D Minor "La folia", Op. 5 No. 12: Var. 1700:22
• 29Violin Sonata in D Minor "La folia", Op. 5 No. 12: Var. 1800:19
• 30Violin Sonata in D Minor "La folia", Op. 5 No. 12: Var. 1900:29
• 31Violin Sonata in D Minor "La folia", Op. 5 No. 12: Var. 2000:27
• 32Violin Sonata in D Minor "La folia", Op. 5 No. 12: Var. 2100:19
• 33Violin Sonata in D Minor "La folia", Op. 5 No. 12: Var. 2200:30
• Niccolò Paganini: Grand Sonata in A Major, MS 3 (Excerpts):
• 34Grand Sonata in A Major, MS 3 (Excerpts): II. Romance. Più tosto largo, amorosamente03:32
• 35Grand Sonata in A Major, MS 3 (Excerpts): III. Andantino variato. Scherzando04:00
• Il carnevale di Venezia, Op. 10, MS 59 (Excerpts Arr. for Violin & Guitar):
• 36Il carnevale di Venezia, Op. 10, MS 59 (Excerpts Arr. for Violin & Guitar)07:36
• Total Runtime01:06:13

Info for Carnival

For her debut album, Karen Gomyo has joined forces with guitarist Ismo Eskelinen in a programme offering fireworks as well as graceful tenderness. A violin virtuoso as well as an expert guitar player, Niccolo Paganini wrote a number of works for the two instruments together. He thus forms a natural point of departure as Gomyo and Eskelinen embark on a journey some hundred years backwards in history, and offer works by three other famous Italian violinist-composers. Neither the violin sonatas by Vivaldi and Locatelli nor Corellis celebrated La Follia were written specifically with the guitar in mind. They are instead provided with so-called basso continuo accompaniments, to be performed on various chord-playing instruments, such as the harpsichord or the organ. Larger continuo ensembles might also include a lute or a guitar, and it is to this tradition that Ismo Eskelinen harks back as he performs his own realizations of these accompaniments. With one exception, the works by Paganini are on the other hand intended for the combination of violin and guitar or, in the case of the Grand Sonata, per chitarra e violino. The centrepiece of the disc is formed by the famous 24th Caprice, provided by the composer with a guitar accompaniment and renamed Variazioni di bravura. Another favourite closes the disc, as Karen Gomyo and Ismo Eskelinen perform their version for violin and guitar of Il carnevale di Venezia, Paganinis take on a Neapolitan folk song.

Karen Gomyo, violin
Ismo Eskelinen, guitar

Karen Gomyo
Born in Tokyo and beginning her musical career in Montréal and New York, violinist Karen Gomyo has recently made Berlin her home. A musician of the highest calibre, the Chicago Tribune praised her as “…a first-rate artist of real musical command, vitality, brilliance and intensity”.

Karen’s 2019/20 season features European debuts with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin with Cristian Macelaru, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande with Jonathan Nott, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern with Pietari Inkenen, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra with Gergely Madaras and Dresdner Philharmoniker with Roderick Cox, as well as returns to Bamberg Symphoniker and Polish National Radio Symphony, among others. Other recent European appearances include Philharmonia Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Radio France, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Danish National Symphony, and in March 2019 Karen opened the Dubai Proms with the BBC Symphony and Ben Gernon. Further ahead Karen makes her debut at the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra with Semyon Bychkov.

Already well established in North America Karen performs regularly with the orchestras of Detroit, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Toronto, Montréal, Washington D.C. and Philadelphia among others. Further afield her popularity in Australasia continued over the last few seasons as she toured with New Zealand Symphony and also appeared with West Australian Symphony Orchestra in Perth, Tasmanian Symphony and in recital at the Sydney Opera House. This season sees Karen return to the Melbourne and Sydney Symphony orchestras. In Asia she makes her debuts with the Singapore Symphony, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and Malaysia Philharmonic.

A passionate chamber musician, Karen has enjoyed a fruitful collaboration with guitarist Ismo Eskelinen which culminates in the release of a recording of works by Paganini and his contemporaries scheduled for the end of 2019 on BIS Records.

Ismo Eskelinen
is acclaimed as one of the world’s finest classical guitarists. He has been a pioneer in bringing classical guitar for wider audience playing often as an orchestra soloist, chamber musician and in collaboration with some of the most distinguished contemporary composers. His impressive list of recordings include two Bach albums, of which the first won the Finnish Emma prize in the category of the best classical album in 2014. A concerto recording with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hannu Lintu was released in 2018 (BIS). The latest album, ‘Songbook’, a duo recording with Jan Vogler (Sony Classical) was released in June 2019.

Eskelinen has performed at venues such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Royal Festival Hall and the Théâtre de la Monnaie. He is the first guitarist to be invited as a soloist at the new Music Hall in Helsinki with both resident orchestras, The Helsinki Philharmonic and The Finnish Radio Symphony. Recent soloist engagements include the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London, NWD Philharmonie in Germany, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia Lahti and the Chamber Orchestra of Lapland with conductors such as Sakari Oramo, Hannu Lintu, Okko Kamu, John Storgårds, Olli Mustonen, Miguel Harth-Bedoya and Ernest Martínez-Izquierdo.

As an active chamber musician, Eskelinen plays duos with violinists Pekka Kuusisto and Karen Gomyo. He is a regular guest on several festivals such as Naantali and Moritzburg, and has been the first ever guitarist to be invited to many of them, including the Moritzburg, Dresden, Charlottesville, Mainz, Schaubeck and Büsingen Festivals.

Eskelinen’s repertoire spans music from the 16th century to the present day and he has been equally acclaimed for his performances of Bach as for his premieres of works written for him by composers such as Einojuhani Rautavaara, Aulis Sallinen, Jukka Tiensuu, Kalevi Aho, Olli Mustonen and Sebastian Fagerlund.

Eskelinen is the Lecturer-in-charge of Guitar at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and the Artistic Director of the Riihimäki summer concerts and Sonkajärvi Soi festival in Finland. As the Artist in Residence at Verkatehdas, Hämeenlinna he planned a Global Guitar – concert series for seasons 2016–2017.

Booklet for Carnival