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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Ravel: Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Fauré, M. 74
Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Jacques Rouvier
Classique - Paru chez Warner Classics le 16 oct. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann: The 3 Sonatas
Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Pierre-Alain Volondat
Classique - Paru chez Continuo Classics le 22 déc. 2017
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
Musique concertante - Paru chez Vox le 22 mars 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sonates parisiennes à l'orée du XXe siècle
Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Haruko Ueda
Classique - Paru chez Soupir Editions - DN le 20 mars 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Aho: Chamber Symphonies Nos. 1-3
Stefan Asbury, Jean-Jacques Kantorow
Classique - Paru chez BIS le 6 mars 2012
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Saint-Saens: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 in D Major and 2 in G Minor
Noriko Ogawa, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Jean-Jacques Kantorow
Classique - Paru chez BIS le 1 mai 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Saint-Saens: Cello Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 / Symphony in A Major
Torleif Thedéen, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Jean-Jacques Kantorow
Classique - Paru chez BIS le 30 nov. 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Aperitif - A French Collection
Sharon Bezaly, Harri Maki, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Jean-Jacques Kantorow
Classique - Paru chez BIS le 1 nov. 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rautavaara: Angel of Dusk / Symphony No. 2 / Suomalainen Myytti / Pelimannit
Classique - Paru chez BIS le 1 mars 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Klami: Symphonie Enfantine / Hommage A Handel / Suite for Strings / Suite for Small Orchestra
Timo Koskinen, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Tapiola Sinfonietta
Classique - Paru chez BIS le 30 sept. 1997
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
Classique - Paru chez BIS le 31 oct. 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lalo: Violin Concerto, Fantaisie norvegienne & Symphonie espagnole
Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Orquesta Ciudad De Granada, Kees Bakels
Classique - Paru chez BIS le 26 mai 2009
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schoenberg: Verklarte Nacht - String Quartet No. 2 - Chamber Symphony No. 1
Christina Hogman, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Jean-Jacques Kantorow
Classique - Paru chez BIS le 30 nov. 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Serenades
Tero Latvala, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Jean-Jacques Kantorow
Classique - Paru chez BIS le 31 mars 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo