János Négyesy has long excelled in the interpretation of contemporary music, bringing his élan to a repertoire ranging from Rihm to Reynolds, from late Cardew to Cage’s peerlessly difficult Freeman Etudes. His curiosity and enthusiasm are abundantly evident in this new collection, which presents the work of five women of very different generations and styles — the exotic textures of Kaija Saariaho, the post-Bergian expressionism of Bun-Ching Lam, the fervent energy of Athanasia Tzanou, the enigmatic and mobile aphorisms of Marita Bolles, the haunting (or haunted) simplicities of Alice Samter. What weaves these dissimilar works into a coherent program is János’ warmth and vigor, a robust generosity all too exceptional in new music performance: a new recording from János is a matter for celebration.

1. Athanasia Tzanou — affect (2000)

2. Alice Samter — Monolog einer Geige (1974)

3. Bun-Ching Lam — Bittersweet Music II (1981)

4. Marita Bolles — Constraints (2005)

5. Kaija Saariaho — …de la terre (2001)

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János Négyesy was born in Budapest, Hungary and studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music and later at Detmold in Germany. He left Hungary in 1965 and from 1970-74 was concertmaster of the Berlin Radio Orchestra. He lived and worked in Paris, Vienna and New York before joining the UCSD faculty in 1979. Long an advocate of new music, Mr. Négyesy has appeared at major festivals throughout the world. In addition to performing, recording and teaching he has written a definitive study of contemporary violin techniques. Recently he has been receiving acclaim for his expertise as master of the Mathews electronic violin. In addition to his interest in new music, he is an exponent of the standard violin repertoire, as well. Some of Mr. Négyesy's landmark recordings included the first European recording of the complete Violin and Piano Sonatas of Charles Ives with pianist Cornelius Cardew and a recording of works specifically dedicated to him by important contemporary composers such as Attila Bozay, Carlos Fariqas, Vinko Globokar, Hans Otte and Isang Yun. He recently recorded Aether, a piece written for him by Roger Reynolds, who also finished a violin concerto for Mr. Négyesy, Personae was premiered in San Diego with the SONOR ensemble in March 1990 and a CD was released Spring 1992. He gave the world premiere of John Cage's Freeman Etudes I-XVI in Torino, Italy in 1984 and XVII-XXXII in Ferrara, Italy in 1991. A double CD of the complete Etudes was released July '95 by Newport Classics Records. The complete Bartôk Duos for two Violins - with Päivikki Nykter - was released by Neuma Records in June 1993. Dedications - with solo works written especially for Mr. Négyesy - by current and former UCSD students - was released June '96 and a CD with solo compositions by Bartôk, Berio and Xenakis were released Winter 2000, on Aucourant Records and Neuma Records, respectively.