Classical Music: Live From The Aspen Music Festival And School

George Frideric Handel Violin Sonata in D major, HWV 37; Igor Stravinsky Divertimento; Carlos Gardel Tango (Por una cabeza) arr. John Williams; JS Bach Chaconne from Partita No. 2 for Unaccompanied Violin in D minor, BWV 1004; Pauline Viardot Berceuse from Six Morceaux, VWV 3003; Fritz Kreisler Praeludium and Allegro; Florence Price Adoration; Olivier Messiaen Thème et variations; Camille Saint-Saëns Introduction et Rondo capriccioso, op. 28 arr. Elbert Liu*.

Aubree Oliverson (violin), Yanfeng (Tony) Bai (piano)
Recorded live at the 2025 Aspen Music Festival, Harris Concert Hall

*Yvette Kraft violin Christy Kim violin Hope Hyink viola Hannah Jeong cello Peter Shane Savage double bass

ARR0004 / Arlos Records
Release date: 26 June 2026

This is the debut recording of young American violinist Aubree Oliverson, captured live at the acoustically pristine Harris Concert Hall during the Aspen Music Festival and School's 2025 summer season. Aspen is the United States' leading classical summer festival, drawing top musicians and students from around the world each year, and Oliverson is very much a product of that environment—an alumna who studied there for four summers and won its prestigious Dorothy DeLay Fellowship Competition before going on to the Colburn Conservatory under Robert Lipsett. The recording marks the festival's own first venture into digital release, and on this evidence it's an auspicious one: a wonderfully surprising recital disc, ranging across two and a half centuries from Handel to Messiaen and taking in a clutch of familiar favourites along the way, all played impeccably by Oliverson, accompanied for much of the programme by Yanfeng (Tony) Bai.

She opens with the lyrical and rather lovely Handel Violin Sonata in D major — rhythmical and expressive, with delightful accompaniment from Bai. The playing throughout is perfectly balanced and crisply articulated, the dynamics judged with care, each movement elegantly shaped.

Stravinsky's Divertimento, an arrangement of music from his ballet The Fairy's Kiss (itself an homage to Tchaikovsky), receives a graceful, stylish performance, the textures beautifully realised.

The partnership between soloist and accompanist really comes into its own in a delightful account of Carlos Gardel's Tango, where the emotional rapport between the two players is palpable, the soul and spirit of the music shining through.

Unaccompanied, Oliverson gives an assured reading of the Chaconne from Bach's Partita No. 2, the violin showing off its full range as she articulates and colours every line. The Berceuse from Pauline Viardot's Six Morceaux follows—Viardot, an acclaimed singer as well as composer, wrote the set in 1868 as a gift for her eleven-year-old son, Paul, to whom it was dedicated. The romance and tenderness come through in playing of real sublimity.

Fritz Kreisler's Praeludium and Allegro, a favourite often pressed into service as an encore, is deftly handled here, the passagework stylishly and virtuosically articulated. Florence Price's brief, glowing Adoration makes a delightful addition to the programme, suavely performed, before Messiaen's Thème et Variations demonstrates that both players are equally at home across the disc's wide stylistic range.

Oliverson is joined by a small string ensemble for Saint-Saëns's Introduction et Rondo capriccioso, which closes the recital. The arrangement works superbly, bringing the disc to a close with the violin singing in a rich, lyrical, mellow tone.

My only mild reservation is that the booklet notes could have been a touch more comprehensive.

I chose the pieces on this program because they expand in significance with every encounter. Live performance is where the most magic is often found, so I’m thrilled to present these raw moments in time created with my phenomenal friend Yanfeng (Tony) Bai at the very special Aspen Music Festival and School.