Violinist Takako Nishizaki is perhaps the most frequently recorded concert violinist of the digital era. She was also the first violinist to learn by way of the Suzuki method; her father, Shinji Nishizaki, worked with Shinichi Suzuki in developing the method, and Takako Nishizaki took instruction from both teachers. She made her debut at the age of 9, and further studied with Broadus Erle, starting in Japan and later at Yale University. NishizakiRead more finished her violin studies at Juilliard under Joseph Fuchs and in 1967 won second prize in the Leventritt International competition behind Pinchas Zukerman.
One would surmise that with her talent and beauty that American record companies would be getting in each other's way to obtain Nishizaki's recording contract. But they weren't, and by 1974 Nishizaki settled in Hong Kong, where she established a career as the pre-eminent violin virtuoso on the Chinese concert circuit. This was no small feat, as in China they take the violin seriously and its literature is central to the entire establishment of Chinese classical music. Along the way Nishizaki met and married German businessman Klaus Heymann, founder of HNH International, the corporate parent to the popular classical label Naxos. Heymann sponsored Nishizaki in an extensive series of recordings of Chinese classical music on his Marco Polo label. Some of these recordings sold into the millions of copies in China, providing the nest egg that launched the Naxos label in the late 1980s.
With Naxos, Nishizaki has recorded much of the standard Western violin literature, as well, but has made a special mission of recording key violin literature that is known in concert and in the classroom, but seldom represented on records. The most celebrated example of this tendency is her recordings of the concertos of Chevalier de St-Georges, but it also includes her interpretations of Charles August de Bériot, Louis Spohr, and Joseph Joachim. All of Nishizaki's recordings are notable for her generous, singing tone; flexible rhythmic sensibility; her sense of architectural symmetry in regard to whole movements; her ability to excite; and the sheer beauty of Nishizaki's sound. Read less
Label: Naxos
Catalog: 8509003
Release Date: 10/14/2016
Number of Discs: 9
Composer:
Gioachino Rossini,
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky,
Antonio Vivaldi,
John Adams
...
Performer:
Takako Nishizaki,
Jénö Jandó,
Jürgen Schuster,
Idil Biret
...
Conductor:
Michael Halász,
Stephen Gunzenhauser,
Marin Alsop,
Keith Clark
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Éder String Quartet,
Danubius String Quartet,
German Wind Soloists
...
Label: Naxos
Catalog: 8578341
Release Date: 09/09/2016
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Franz Schubert,
Edvard Grieg,
Erik Satie,
Georges Bizet
...
Performer:
Nora Shulman,
Judy Loman,
Takako Nishizaki,
Wolf Harden
...
Conductor:
Peter Breiner,
Jérôme Kaltenbach,
Alfred Walter,
Jorma Panula
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra,
Nancy Lyric Symphony Orchestra,
Budapest Strauss Symphony Orchestra
...
Label: Naxos
Catalog: 8578322
Release Date: 06/17/2016
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer:
Jenö Jandó,
Takako Nishizaki,
Patrick Gallois,
Roderick Shaw
...
Conductor:
András Ligeti,
Stephen Gunzenhauser,
Patrick Gallois,
Mátyás Antal
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Concentus Hungaricus,
Capella Istropolitana,
Swedish Chamber Orchestra
...
Label: Naxos
Catalog: 8578320
Release Date: 06/17/2016
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
George Frideric Handel,
Antonio Vivaldi,
Johann Sebastian Bach,
Johann Pachelbel
...
Performer:
Takako Nishizaki,
Daniel Rothert,
Ladislav Kyselak,
Maria Kliegel
...
Conductor:
Béla Bánfalvi,
Stephen Gunzenhauser,
Jaroslav Dvorák,
Helmut Muller-Brühl
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Budapest Strings,
Capella Istropolitana,
Cologne Chamber Orchestra
...
Label: Marco Polo
Catalog: 8225835
Release Date: 03/11/2016
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Joseph Koo,
Ching Hsi Weng,
Michael Lai,
Chia-Chang Liu
...
Performer:
Takako Nishizaki
Conductor:
Varujan Kojian,
Kenneth Jean,
Henry Shek
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
Label: Naxos
Catalog: 7828990
Release Date: 11/11/2014
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
George Frideric Handel,
Léo Delibes,
Claude Debussy,
Alexander Glazunov
...
Performer:
Takako Nishizaki,
Rivka Golani,
János Selmeczy
Conductor:
Peter Breiner,
Andrew Mogrelia,
Alexander Rahbari,
Konstantin Krimetz
...
Label: Naxos
Catalog: 578281
Release Date: 04/29/2014
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Ralph Vaughan Williams,
George Frideric Handel,
Edvard Grieg,
Modest Mussorgsky
...
Performer:
John Artore,
Balazs Szkolay,
Giorgio Koukl,
Takako Nishizaki
...
Conductor:
Kees Bakels,
Peter Breiner,
Stephen Gunzenhauser,
David Lloyd-Jones
...
Label: Naxos
Catalog: 8501204
Release Date: 04/30/2013
Number of Discs: 12
Composer:
Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer:
Ruxandra Donose,
Hasmik Papian,
Manfred Fink,
Claudio Otelli
...
Conductor:
Béla Drahos,
Barry Wordsworth,
Stephen Gunzenhauser,
Kenneth Jean
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Nicolaus Esterházy Sinfonia,
Capella Istropolitana,
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra
Label: Naxos
Catalog: 8501064
Release Date: 04/30/2013
Number of Discs: 10
Composer:
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Franz Joseph Haydn,
Franz Schubert,
Felix Mendelssohn
...
Performer:
Tamás Szabo,
Gábor Fias,
Attila Falvay,
György Éder
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Kodály String Quartet,
Auer String Quartet,
Villa Musica Ensemble
...
Label: Naxos
Catalog: 2110298
Release Date: 11/13/2012
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Ludwig van Beethoven
Performer:
Takako Nishizaki
Conductor:
Michael Halász,
Kenneth Jean
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra,
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra
Label: Naxos
Catalog: 8578217
Release Date: 05/29/2012
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Hildegard of Bingen,
Johannes Brahms,
Carl Orff,
Henryk Mikolaj Górecki
...
Performer:
Norbert Kraft,
Klára Körmendi,
Takako Nishizaki,
Kathryn Selby
...
Conductor:
Jeremy Summerly,
István Bogár,
Stephen Gunzenhauser,
Antoni Wit
...
Label: Naxos
Catalog: 8501061
Release Date: 04/24/2012
Number of Discs: 10
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach,
George Frideric Handel,
Antonio Vivaldi,
Georg Philipp Telemann
...
Performer:
Nadja Schubert,
Daniel Rothert,
Corinne Chapelle,
Karl Kaiser
...
Conductor:
Helmut Müller-Brühl,
Kevin Mallon,
Bradley Creswick,
Jozef Kopelman
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Cologne Chamber Orchestra,
Aradia Ensemble,
Northern Sinfonia
...
Recommendation
Label: Naxos
Catalog: 8501058
Release Date: 04/24/2012
Number of Discs: 10
Composer:
Antonio Vivaldi,
Johann Sebastian Bach,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Louis Spohr
...
Performer:
Takako Nishizaki,
Simone Lamsma,
Ilya Kaler,
Misha Keylin
...
Conductor:
Stephen Gunzenhauser,
Oliver Dohnányi,
Patrick Gallois,
Kenneth Jean
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Capella Istropolitana,
Sinfonia Finlandia,
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra
...
Recommendation
Label: Naxos
Catalog: 8578214
Release Date: 03/27/2012
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Performer:
Oxana Yablonskaya,
Maria Kliegel,
Joseph Banowetz,
Ilona Prunyi
...
Conductor:
Michael Halász,
Philippe Entremont,
Gerhard Markson,
Ondrej Lenárd
...