On his new album ‘Händel Mendelssohn’, which will be released on 13 June, violinist Niklas Liepe, who has won many awards for his creative repertoire concepts, combines Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's Violin Concerto in E minor with new variations on well-known melodies by Georg Friedrich Händel, supported by the NDR Radiophilharmonie. Pianist, composer and arranger Tim Allhoff has reworked the well-known aria ‘Lascia ch'io pianga’ from the opera ‘Rinaldo’ and the coronation hymn ‘Zadok the Priest’ for solo violin, piano and orchestra, while violinist and composer Aleksey Igudesman contributes his ‘Peace-acaglia’, a four-movement variation on Handel's ‘Passacaglia’. Composer and pianist Florian Christl provides a minimalist counterpoint to the original with his variation on the striking theme of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, which is being released today as a digital single. ‘Mendelssohn and Handel have inspired me since I was a child. Their clear forms and flowing melodies are simply inspiring. On my album, I wanted to show the different colours in which these melodies shine and how these forms can be reinterpreted,’ explains Niklas Liepe.

Niklas Liepe, violin

Nils Liepe, piano (tracks 1-3), harpsichord (tracks 4-7)

NDR Radiophilharmonie

Joseph Bastian, conductor