Ray Chen - The Golden Age (2018) [FLAC 24-96]

The album opens with a piece for string quartet which has already garnered over 50,000 hits on Chen’s YouTube channel. Titled, “A New Satiesfaction”, it features “Gymnopédie No.1” by Erik Satie with an allusion to Rossini’s “William Tell Overture”. Performed by Chen and his Made in Berlin quartet, the arrangement of “A New Satiesfaction” is done by the group’s cellist, Stephan Koncz. The other violinist in the quartet is Noah Bendix-Balgley while Amihai Grosz plays viola. All of Chen’s collaborators in the group are members of the Berlin Philharmonic and they recorded together in the city last November.

The album also features compositions and arrangements by such legendary violinists as Fritz Kreisler and Jascha Heifetz, which Chen performs with pianist Julien Quentin. Among them are Kreisler’s “Syncopation and Schön Rosmarin” and Cyril Scott’s “Lotus Land”, plus Heifetz’s transcriptions of “Estrellita” by Manuel Ponce and George Gershwin’s “Summertime”. Stephan Koncz has also arranged Debussy’s Clair de lune and the traditional Australian favourite “Waltzing Matilda” (Ray hails from Australia and Taiwan).

Tracklist
1. Satie, Koncz: A New Satiesfaction (Gymnopédie No. 1) 04:31
2. Kreisler: Syncopation 02:03
3. Ponce: Estrellita (Arr. Heifetz) 03:31
4. Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26 : 1. Vorspiel (Allegro moderato) 08:43
5. Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26 : 2. Adagio 09:24
6. Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26 : 3. Finale (Allegro energico) 07:37
7. Suite bergamasque, L. 75 : 3. Clair de lune (Arr. Koncz) 04:32
8. Kreisler: Schön Rosmarin 02:17
9. Porgy and Bess : Summertime (Arr. Heifetz) 01:55
10. Scott, Kreisler: Lotus Land (Arr. Kreisler) 05:09
11. Traditional: Waltzing Matilda (Arr. Koncz) 03:16