Tasmin Little
Tasmin Little is a versatile and appealing English violinist who has left few musical stones unturned in her busy career. As a concerto soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and even as a scholar and television producer, she has proved that her interests know few boundaries, and, especially in England, she has become something of a celebrity.
Born in London in 1965, Little studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School (where Nigel Kennedy was a classmate) and the Guildhall School of Music, where she was a gold medal winner. She later studied privately in Toronto with Lorand Fenyves. The year 1988 marked two important debuts: a recital at London's Purcell Room with pianist Piers Lane (who has remained a frequent chamber music partner), and her solo debut with the Hallé Orchestra. During the 1990s, Little built a solid international reputation, often working with Kurt Masur, Simon Rattle, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Andrew Davis, and other renowned conductors. She also presented unusually personable recitals in which she engaged directly with the audience in a discussion of the music.
During the same period, Little began a prodigious recording career, appearing on excellent issues from EMI, Chandos, Decca, Virgin, and Hyperion. The real breadth of her repertory comes into focus when examining her discography, which includes a range of concertos (Brahms, Bruch, Delius, Dvorák, Lalo, Sibelius, Walton, and others); chamber works by Debussy, Poulenc, and Ravel; and a variety of miniatures. She has been particularly associated with the music of Frederick Delius, about whom she produced a television documentary (BBC2's The Works). She was awarded the Diapason d'Or for her recording of Delius' sonatas, and the Delius Society published her scholarly paper on the composer's Violin Concerto. Another documentary in 2008 followed her creation of "The Naked Violin," a solo recital program offered for free internet download. Her 2010 Chandos recording of the Elgar Violin Concerto was named "Critics Choice" at the 2011 Classics BRIT Awards.
Appointment as Officer of the Order of the British Empire followed in 2012, and Little's recording career, centered on the Chandos label, continued without flagging. In 2016, she released a triple-CD cycle of Beethoven's violin-and-piano sonatas with Martin Roscoe, and she recorded music from Strauss and Respighi to Ravel, as well as the violin favorite The Lark Ascending of Ralph Vaughan Williams. She remained best known for her performances of British music, and she was well-positioned to take advantage of the rise in popularity of tonal British repertoire. In 2015, she joined the Delius Suite for violin and orchestra to the rare Violin Concerto in G minor, Op. 80, of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and a concerto by "light music" (or easy listening) composer Haydn Wood. A fan favorite by the mid-2010s, she was also tapped for crossover projects like A Violin for All Seasons (2016).
Little has taught at her alma mater, the Guildhall School of Music. In 2016, she was granted honorary membership in the Royal Academy of Music. The pace of her recordings only increased in the late 2010s, and by 2020, her discography numbered more than 50 items. Little has remained a fixture of Chandos' catalog, issuing such innovative items as an album of music by Clara Schumann, Dame Ethel Smyth, and Amy Beach in 2019, and a performance of the Phantasy Concerto for violin and orchestra, Op. 63, by Eugene Goossens the following year, with Sir Andrew Davis and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. In 2020, she announced that she would be pursuing a new direction in her career, but due to the truncation of that year's concert seasons due to the COVID-19 epidemic, that new direction remained unspecified.
© Allen Schrott, James Manheim /TiVo
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Walton: Symphony No. 1 & Violin Concerto
Edward Gardner, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Tasmin Little
Concertos - Released by Chandos on May 1, 2014
Gramophone: Recording of the Month24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
British Violin Sonatas, Vol. 2
Classical - Released by Chandos on May 1, 2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending
Sir Andrew Davis, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Tasmin Little
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Nov 13, 2013
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Lutosławski: Symphony No. 1, Partita, Chain 2 & Preludia Taneczne
Edward Gardner, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Tasmin Little, Michael Collins
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Mar 1, 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Britten, Ferguson, Walton: British Violin Sonatas, Vol. 1
Classical - Released by Chandos on Jun 1, 2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
British Violin Sonatas, Vol. 3
Classical - Released by Chandos on May 1, 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Tasmin Little Plays Clara Schumann, Dame Ethel Smyth & Amy Beach
Classical - Released by Chandos on Feb 1, 2019
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Elgar: Violin Concerto, Interlude from Crown of India & Polonia
Sir Andrew Davis, The Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Tasmin Little
Concertos - Released by Chandos on Oct 29, 2010
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Finzi: Cello Concerto and other Orchestral Works
Vernon Handley, Richard Hickox, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, City Of London Sinfonia, Raphael Wallfisch, Tasmin Little
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Jan 1, 2007
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
A Violin For All Seasons
Tasmin Little, BBC Symphony Orchestra, David Wright, Graham Bradshaw
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on Oct 1, 2016
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Tasmin Little Plays Schubert
Tasmin Little, Tim Hugh, Piers Lane
Chamber Music - Released by Chandos on Apr 1, 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Complete Sonatas for Piano and Violin
Classical - Released by Chandos on Feb 1, 2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Moszkowski & Karłowicz: Violin Concertos (Hyperion Romantic Violin Concerto 4)
Tasmin Little, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins
Classical - Released by Hyperion on Apr 1, 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tasmin Little Plays British Violin Concertos
Tasmin Little, Sir Andrew Davis, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Concertos - Released by Chandos on Nov 13, 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Virtuoso Violin
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on Mar 3, 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Best of Tasmin Little
Concertos - Released by Chandos on May 1, 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tasmin Little: Brahms, Sibelius & Part
Classical - Released by Parlophone UK on Oct 3, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Tell-Tale Heart (Live)
Juliane Banse, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Tasmin Little
Classical - Released by Challenge Classics on Feb 4, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Delius: Double Concerto, Violin Concerto & Cello Concerto
Tasmin Little, Paul Watkins, Sir Andrew Davis, BBC Symphony Orchestra
Concertos - Released by Chandos on Oct 6, 2011
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss & Respighi: Violin Sonatas
Classical - Released by Chandos on Nov 1, 2012
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Wood, Coleridge-Taylor & Delius: Music for Violin & Orchestra
Tasmin Little, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Alberto Menéndez Escribano, Andrew Davis
Classical - Released by Chandos on Nov 13, 2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo