Jean-Jacques Kantorow
Jean-Jacques Kantorow is a modern exemplar of the great French-Belgian violin school, with a dash of influence coming from his Russian ancestry. He has also become noted across Europe in his second career as a conductor.
Kantorow was born in Cannes, France, on October 13, 1945. He showed talent in childhood and enrolled at the Nice Conservatory and then, at 13, at the Paris Conservatory, where he took home a top prize in 1960. Throughout the '60s, he remained one of Europe's most consistent competition prize-winners, and his performance career became worldwide in scope, focusing on the standard concerto repertory. Among the many figures in the musical world who hailed his playing was Glenn Gould, who called Kantorow a "staggering" talent and the most original violinist he had ever heard. Grove dictionary noted his playing "combines the best features of the French and Russian schools." In 1974, Kantorow made his recording debut on the soundtrack to the film Un coeur en hiver.
Kantorow grew into conducting as an orchestra leader, serving in that capacity with the Orchestre de Paris in 1977 and 1978 and with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra from 1978 until 1984. He became the principal conductor of the Auvergne Chamber Orchestra in 1985. Kantorow also held substantial conducting engagements with various ensembles outside France, including the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, the Tapiola Sinfonietta, and the Helsinki Chamber Orchestra, serving as artistic director of the Helsinki group.
As a violinist, Kantorow has recorded much of the standard concerto repertory, with a special emphasis on virtuoso Russian works. Of his more than 160 recordings, dozens remain available. Many of his violin recordings were released on the Denon label; as a conductor, he has often been associated with BIS in his capacity as conductor of the Tapiola Sinfonietta. In 2019, he released a recording with that group of the Piano Concertos Nos. 3, 4, and 5 of Saint-Saëns, a composer for whose work he has had an affinity as both violinist and conductor. The soloist on that release was his son, pianist Alexandre Kantorow. Kantorow's CV has included major teaching positions at conservatories in Strasbourg and Rotterdam and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. Kantorow remained active during the COVID-19 pandemic, releasing albums devoted to Saint-Saëns as conductor of the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège and the Tapiola Sinfonietta on BIS. He moved to the Avie label in 2024, leading the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra on a recording by violinist Philippe Graffin of recently rediscovered violin-and-orchestra works of Eugène Ysaÿe.
© James Manheim & Uncle Dave Lewis /TiVo
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Canteloube : Chants d'Auvergne
Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Orchestre d'Auvergne
Classical - Released by Denon on May 24, 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Virtuoso Violin Concertos
Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Orchestre d'Auvergne
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Aug 7, 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bacri: Symphony No. 4, "Classique Sturm Und Drang" - Flute Concerto - Concertos, Op. 80
Classical - Released by BIS on Sep 23, 2009
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Saint-Saëns: Symphonies, Vol. 2
Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Thierry Escaich
Classical - Released by BIS on Sep 3, 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Saint-Saens: Music for Violin and Orchestra
Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Tapiola Sinfonietta
Classical - Released by BIS on Jan 31, 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Souvenir De Florence & Serenade in C Major
Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Orchestre d'Auvergne, Pyotr Illitch Tchaïkovski
Classical - Released by Denon on Jan 1, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Flute Concertos Nos. 1 & 2
Alain Marion, Orchestre d'Auvergne, Jean-Jacques Kantorow
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Aug 7, 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Albert Roussel: Complete Chamber Music, Vol. 1
Jet Röling, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Herre-Jan Stegenga
Classical - Released by Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga Musica on Apr 15, 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lalo: Concerto russe - Romance-serenade - Fantaisie-ballet - Piano Concerto
Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Pierre-Alain Volondat, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Kees Bakels
Classical - Released by BIS on Jun 5, 2012
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Saint-Saens, C.: Africa / Symphony No. 2 / Symphony in F major, "Urbs Roma"
Classical - Released by BIS on May 31, 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D Major - Stravinsky: Violin Concerto in D
Jean-Jacques Kantorow, London Philharmonic Orchestra
Classical - Released by Denon on Aug 30, 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cantos del alma - Sinfonía a Granada
Maria Bayo, Jose Luis Estelles, Luis Garcia Montero, Orquesta Ciudad De Granada, Vicente Coves, Jean-Jacques Kantorow
Classical - Released by Naxos on Apr 29, 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich: Chamber Symphonies
Tapiola Sinfonietta, Jean-Jacques Kantorow
Classical - Released by BIS on Jan 1, 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Chamouard: Concertino pour violon et orchestre
Orchestre Symphonique de Douai, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Svetlin Roussev
Classical - Released by Indésens Calliope Records on Jul 21, 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Saint-Saens: Cello Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 / Symphony in A Major
Torleif Thedéen, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Jean-Jacques Kantorow
Classical - Released by BIS on Nov 30, 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: Violin Concertos
Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Christian Benda
Concertos - Released by Cascavelle on Mar 8, 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel: Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Fauré, M. 74
Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Jacques Rouvier
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Oct 16, 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 2 & Rachmaninov: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Dubravka Tomsic, Bernard Thomas Chamber Orchestra, Ljubljana Symphony Orchestra, Bernard Thomas, Anton Nanut
Concertos - Released by Vox on Mar 22, 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sonates parisiennes à l'orée du XXe siècle
Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Haruko Ueda
Classical - Released by Soupir Editions - DN on Mar 20, 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bartok: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta / Divertimento and Other Works
Hanna Juutilainen, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Jean-Jacques Kantorow
Classical - Released by BIS on Oct 31, 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Aho: Chamber Symphonies Nos. 1-3
Stefan Asbury, Jean-Jacques Kantorow
Classical - Released by BIS on Mar 6, 2012
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo