Takako Nishizaki
Violinist Takako Nishizaki is perhaps the most frequently recorded concert violinist of the digital era. She was also the first violinist to learn by way of the Suzuki method; her father, Shinji Nishizaki, worked with Shinichi Suzuki in developing the method, and Takako Nishizaki took instruction from both teachers. She made her debut at the age of 9, and further studied with Broadus Erle, starting in Japan and later at Yale University. Nishizaki finished her violin studies at Juilliard under Joseph Fuchs and in 1967 won second prize in the Leventritt International competition behind Pinchas Zukerman.
One would surmise that with her talent and beauty that American record companies would be getting in each other's way to obtain Nishizaki's recording contract. But they weren't, and by 1974 Nishizaki settled in Hong Kong, where she established a career as the pre-eminent violin virtuoso on the Chinese concert circuit. This was no small feat, as in China they take the violin seriously and its literature is central to the entire establishment of Chinese classical music. Along the way Nishizaki met and married German businessman Klaus Heymann, founder of HNH International, the corporate parent to the popular classical label Naxos. Heymann sponsored Nishizaki in an extensive series of recordings of Chinese classical music on his Marco Polo label. Some of these recordings sold into the millions of copies in China, providing the nest egg that launched the Naxos label in the late 1980s.
With Naxos, Nishizaki has recorded much of the standard Western violin literature, as well, but has made a special mission of recording key violin literature that is known in concert and in the classroom, but seldom represented on records. The most celebrated example of this tendency is her recordings of the concertos of Chevalier de St-Georges, but it also includes her interpretations of Charles August de Bériot, Louis Spohr, and Joseph Joachim. All of Nishizaki's recordings are notable for her generous, singing tone; flexible rhythmic sensibility; her sense of architectural symmetry in regard to whole movements; her ability to excite; and the sheer beauty of Nishizaki's sound.
© TiVo
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Beethoven: Piano Trios 'Ghost' and 'Archduke'
Takako Nishizaki, Csaba Onczay, Jenő Jandó
Chamber Music - Released by Naxos on 13 May 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rubinstein: Violin Concerto, Op. 46 / Don Quixote, Op. 87
Takako Nishizaki, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Halasz
Concertos - Released by Marco-Polo on 1 Jan 1985
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Violin Sonatas 6.8.
Chamber Music - Released by Naxos on 1 Jan 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
JOACHIM: Violin Concerto No. 3 / Overture 'In Memoriam Heinrich von Kleist'
Takako Nishizaki, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Meir Minsky
Concertos - Released by Marco-Polo on 12 Sep 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Violin Bliss
Chamber Music - Released by Naxos on 1 Jan 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
MOZART: Violin Sonatas, Vol. 6
Takako Nishizaki, Benjamin Loeb
Chamber Music - Released by Naxos on 20 Jun 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Violin Concerto in D m
Takako Nishizaki, Maxim Fedotov, Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, Stephen Gunzenhauser, Dmitry Yablonsky
Classical - Released by Naxos on 1 Jan 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
BEETHOVEN / MOZART: Violin Sonatas / Piano Trio
Takako Nishizaki, Jenő Jandó, Csaba Onczay
Chamber Music - Released by Naxos on 31 Jan 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Romantic Approach, Vol. 3 - Classical Music from Germany
Jen? Jandó, Dénes Varjon, Kalman Berkes, Takako Nishizaki, Maria Kliegel, Jozsef Balogh
Classical - Released by Celestial Harmonies on 1 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Celebrate Beethoven: Romantic Beethoven
Classical - Released by Naxos on 6 Nov 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
MOZART: Violin Sonatas, K. 378, K. 376 and K. 296
Chamber Music - Released by Naxos on 1 Jan 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Violin Sonatas, Vol. 4
Chamber Music - Released by Naxos on 15 Mar 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
BACH, J.S. / VIVALDI: Violin Concertos
Takako Nishizaki, Alexander Jablokov, Bela Banfalvi, Capella Istropolitana, Budapest Strings, Oliver von Dohnanyi
Classical - Released by Naxos on 10 Jul 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Let's Have A New Start - Takako Nishizaki
Takako Nishizaki, Queensland Orchestra, Peter Breiner
Asia - Released by Marco-Polo on 31 Dec 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nishizaki and Gaston: Indra's Paradise
Bruce Gaston, Takako Nishizaki
World - Released by Marco-Polo on 31 Dec 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
An Anthology of Poetry With Music
Literature - Released by Naxos Audiobooks on 11 Apr 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach to the Future: An introduction to Classical Music
Slovak Chamber Orchestra, Takako Nishizaki, Jörg Metzger
Classical - Released by Music Manager on 17 Nov 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wut Man-chung: Princess Ch'ang P'ing Fantasy Overture
Takako Nishizaki, Tsui Tak Ming
World - Released by Sunrise Records on 22 Jun 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo