Daishin Kashimoto, 1st Concertmaster of the Berliner Philharmoniker since 2009, has built a parallel reputation as a renowned international soloist and chamber musician. He makes his Warner Classics debut with the complete Beethoven Sonatas for Piano and Violin, partnered by the distinguished Russian pianist Konstantin Lifschitz with whom he has performed over many years. These recordings follow their critically acclaimed tour of the cycle in Japan.
 
“It is never easy to work on a Beethoven piece, not just the sonatas but even the small chamber pieces or orchestral pieces, especially spiritually or psychologically”, Daishin said during the recording process. “I always try to understand the genius of Beethoven. Making music at the highest level like this gives me tremendous satisfaction and a feeling of being emotionally complete.”

Ludwig van Beethoven was only 27 years old when he composed his first ‘sonatas for piano and violin’ in 1797 but his writing is already assured and confident. He accords the violin equal status with the piano in this popular genre intended for aristocratic salons and middle-class drawing rooms.

The three Opus 12 sonatas, composed between 1797 and 1798, were dedicated to the court composer Antonio Salieri. The next sonatas, Opus 23 and 24, were composed in 1800 and bear a dedication to Count Moritz von Fries. The two works are very different, Opus 23 urgent and restless, Opus 24 ‘Spring Sonata’ lyrical and expressive.

Three sonatas, Opus 30, followed these, composed in 1802 after Beethoven had been advised to move from the centre of Vienna to the countryside because of his developing deafness, and dedicated to the young Russian Tsar Alexander I. The next year, after an introduction to the celebrated violinist George Bridgetower, Beethoven composed a sonata (Opus 47) for him, which the two artists premiered together. Alas, they soon fell out and by the time the sonata was printed, it had been dedicated to the French virtuoso Rodolphe Kreutzer.

Beethoven’s final sonata, Opus 96, was completed in 1812, a work of poetic inwardness composed for the unflashy French violinist Pierre Rode. 

Born in London in 1979, Daishin Kashimoto began studying the violin with Kumiko Etoh in Tokyo at the age of three. In 1986, he became the youngest student at the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School in New York City. Four years later, he moved to the Lübeck Musikhochschule to study with Dr Zakhar Bron and, in 1999, to the Freiburg Musikhochschule, where he was a pupil of Rainer Kussmaul and from which he graduated in 2005.

During his student years, Daishin won numerous awards, including first prize in the Menuhin International Junior Violin Competition (1993) and the International Competition for Violinists in Cologne (1994 and 1996). In 1994, he was awarded the Steigenberger Prize and the Davidoff Prize. In 1996 he was the youngest-ever winner of both the International Fritz Kreisler Violin Competition in Vienna and the Marguerite Long–Jacques Thibaud International Competition in Paris.

Daishin has given recitals and made solo appearances in major cities of the United States, the Far East and Europe. He has performed with many internationally renowned orchestras, including the State Symphony Orchestra of Russia (Evgeny Svetlanov), the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra (Mariss Jansons and Yuri Temirkanov), the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra (Vladimir Fedoseev), the Moscow Soloists (Yuri Bashmet), the NHK Symphony Orchestra (Evgeny Svetlanov), the Orchestre National de France and the Berliner Philharmoniker.

As a chamber musician, Daishin regularly collaborates with such artists as Yuri Bashmet, Konstantin Lifschitz, Myung-Whun Chung, Itamar Golan, Claudio Bohórquez, Yefim Bronfman, Shlomo Mintz, Tabea Zimmermann, Paul Meyer, Antoine Tamestit, Jian Wang, Eric Le Sage, Misha Maisky and Jing Zhao.

The Russian-born pianist Konstantin Lifschitz has studied with Alfred Brendel, Leon Fleisher, Theodor Gutmann, Hamish Milne, Charles Rosen, Karl-Ulrich Schnabel, Vladimir Tropp, Fou T’song and Rosalyn Tureck. Today he performs all over the world with leading orchestras and conductors, in recital and as a chamber musician with first tier colleagues. He has a vast repertoire and has premiered numerous works written expressly for him. An Associate and Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in London, he is also professor of piano at the Hochschule für Musik in Lucerne and gives master classes all over the world. Lifschitz is known for his marathons and complete cycles of works by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Mozart, Schubert and Shostakovich.