The Complete Sonatas for Violin and Piano by Robert Schumann.

The Schumann sonatas take one on an amazing emotional journey from the elegiac first movement of the Sonata no. 1 to the transcendent ending of the Sonata no. 3, which is Schumann's last surviving work. This CD includes the first recording of the third sonata on period instruments.

Ishmael used an 1846 Streicher piano from the Frederick Collection, and Vita used her 1765 Carcassi violin with gut strings. The instruments create innumerable beautiful tone-colors. The Unacorda label is devoted to unedited recordings, so in recording we had to call upon all of our musical and emotional resources, giving this recording an unusual intensity. The CD is beautifully produced, with an essay by the two of us in English, Spanish, French, and German.

The Complete Sonatas for Violin and Piano by Robert Schumann, on period instruments. Unacorda, 2002.
Order from us, by check or through CCnow.

Photographs, a new CD featuring the Orfeo Duo with Beth Anne Hatton, The Brentano Quartet, Tom Sauer and others.

We are very happy this new collection of pieces by our friend Eric Qin (1967-1993) is now available. Those of you who know our recording of his "Music in Indigo" on "So Various, So Beautiful, So New" may be surprised by the poiqnant "Poems from the Japanese", which Vita plays with soprano Beth Anne Hatton on this CD. The recording also includes the track, "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz", played and sung by Ishmael and Beth, in which Eric completely rethought what vocal music could be like.

Available at www.tzadik.com under the Composer Series, #7081 or check with the Orfeo Duo for availability. Released by Tzadik, 2002.

Contents: Sonata Torso, Sonata no. 3 in the popular Romanian style, Impressions d'enfance, Pièce sur le nom de Fauré, Aubade.

Several years after recording this, we still think it is gorgeous. The music is influenced by French Impressionism and saturated with Romanian gypsy music. The recording, which we made at the Banff Centre for the Arts in the Canadian Rockies, evokes the snarly sounds of the cimbalom as well as beauty and warmth.

"The Orfeo Duo delivers magnificent performances of five Enesco scores, several of them never before recorded. Romanticism and modernism, gypsy fiddling and classical techniques converge in moody meanderings, full of voluptuous melodies and harmonic volatility. Violinist Vita Wallace and her brother, pianist Ishmael Wallace, have played together since childhood, and it shows: this kind of rapport is rare indeed." Classics Today 2000.

Impressions: Music by George Enesco. Marquis Classics, Marquis 81239, 1999. Order from us, by check or with a credit card through CCnow.

This CD features "Ancient Legends", written for and played by our Duo. David Loeb was one of Ishmael's composition teachers and is a good friend of ours. He writes: "If I have arrived at an individual style or means of expression, this has not occurred through any passionate search for originality, but rather through intensive study of whatever music seemed most interesting and moving, regardless of its period or country of origin." He has written a great deal for viols and Japanese instruments; this CD includes pieces for these instruments as well as music for guitars.

Yearning for Autumn. Music by David Loeb. Vienna Modern Masters, VMM #2035. http://www.xs4all.nl/~gdv/vmm/91.html

Echoes from Bronze Bells

Echoes from Bronze Bells features "Gli Spiriti Infernali", written for and played by our Duo. David Loeb was one of Ishmael's composition teachers and is a good friend of ours. He writes: "If I have arrived at an individual style or means of expression, this has not occurred through any passionate search for originality, but rather through intensive study of whatever music seemed most interesting and moving, regardless of its period or country of origin." He has written a great deal for viols and Japanese instruments; this CD includes pieces for these instruments as well as music for guitars.

Music by David Loeb. Vienna Modern Masters, VMM #2029.

Order from http://www.xs4all.nl/~gdv/vmm/67.html or from http://www.cdemusic.org

We commisioned several of these pieces by our friends, performed them repeatedly, and distributed this CD for free to interested audience members, thanks to generous contributors. It was quite an experience to be in the middle as Mark and Carl raced to finish their pieces before the final recording session.
" Flitting moments when reality and dreams interact are addressed in Ettinger's Rêve no. 31." NewMusicBox, July 2001.

"Isn't is nice to walk away from a concert of contemporary music with a disc of that new, fresh, exciting music?" Chamber Music, February 2001.

Music by Ishmael Wallace, Mark Ettinger, Alicia Oliva, Eric Qin, and Carl Voss. Orfeo special edition, 2001. Please inquire about availability.

This CD contains the world premiere recording of the Bruno Walter Sonata and the first recording on CD of the Pfitzner. After learning these monumental, generous, and beautifully worked-out pieces, we found ourselves unable to play any German Romantic repertoire for the next three years.

Reviews
"...sister and brother partnership Vita and Ishmael Wallace have seized upon two charming yet rarely heard violin sonatas, both artful pieces of late Romanticism. The sonatas are undoubtedly buoyed up by the excellent performances they receive. Violinist Vita Wallace is adept at contrasting expressive opulence with a bleaker, more wistful tone, while Ishmael Wallace achieves well-crafted and transparent textures, and the eminent sensitivity of both players underlines the subtleties of these enjoyable chamber works." BBC Music Magazine, 1998

"The Orfeo Duo is a young brother and sister duo. They understand this music well, and the violin sound is just beautiful." Record Geijutsu, Japan, 1998

"The enlightening and gracefully written program annotations [by Erik Ryding] point out that some of Bruno Walter's songs have been recorded before. Still most music lovers probably didn't know this great conductor composed at all. I had never heard any of his music until now. It is fascinating. The performance [is] impassioned and deeply involving....This is a strangely moving performance of a strangely captivating piece." American Record Guide, 1998

Sonatas by Bruno Walter and Hans Pfitzner. VAI Audio, VAIA 1155, 1998. www.vaimusic.com (search for Walter) code 1155 Chamber Music, February 2001 or purchase from www.arkivmusic.com.