The Early Years (5 CD)

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From Beethoven, Bach and Mozart to Tchaikovsky and Paganini, this new 5 CD set documents the early classical roots of one of the most popular violinists of today.

Famously, David Garrett remains the youngest signing in Deutsche Grammophon’s history. His recording contract began when he was just 13 years old, and since these early days he has never been far away from the public gaze. “Today, you’re as likely to find him in a sports arena playing music from his Rock Symphonies album to shrieking hordes of fans as to hear him exploring Beethoven’s violin concerto in some stately concert hall.” The Daily Telegraph, UK

The young David Garrett’s first release of Beethoven’s ‘Spring’ Sonata and Bach’s D minor Partita presented an exceptional young talent in a polished musical display. As the booklet note proclaimed, “This young violinist has got to be called a phenomenon.” Wolf-Eberhard von Lewinski

Garrett’s second disc featured Mozart Violin Concertos, conducted by the late Claudio Abbado. The recordings were made following an Italian tour with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in 1994-95. The recording of the Paganini 24 Caprices was an ambitious project for the young artist. The Caprices exerted a powerful magic on the young artist, and few were surprised when he was selected to impersonate the ‘Devil’s Violinist’ in Bernard Rose’s film of the same name.

In October 1997, David Garrett journeyed into the past and explored his Russian roots with a recording of Tchaikovsky’s D major Concerto and the Concerto in E minor by Jules Conus in the main hall of the Moscow Conservatory recording with the Russian National Orchestra conducted by Mikhail Pletnev. As Gramophone hinted in the early review, “This is emotive Tchaikovsky playing, thoughtful but conversational”.

Two decades later, in March 2013, DG issued the CD ‘14’ with a fascinating tale. Recorded in April 1995, this was Garrett’s third chronological recording (made when he was age 14), but it was subsequently lost in DG’s archives. Garrett was thrilled when it came to light once again: “During all those years I never forgot that my unpublished material was slumbering there… It was important for me to release this CD because it’s a part of my story. It’s part of what I am today.”

All five recordings in this memorable collection form a part of the David Garrett story. For his numerous fans, or for those just intrigued by the early blossomings of a phenomenal talent, the set is an extraordinary building block in an extraordinary career.