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Ray Chen

Player 1

Decca Classics
Release Date: October 18, 2024

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Interview w/ Winnipeg's Classic107fm
Ray Chen plays Estrellita with Amsterdam Sinfonietta (encore)
Interview with WQED - Pittsburgh, Jim Cunningham
Ray Chen: Nobel Prize Concert 2012, behind the scenes
New Day Cleveland: Ray Chen
In the mind of Ray Chen: Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto
1 Romantic Flight (Arr. Herbert for Violin & Orchestra) - From How to Train Your Dragon  
2 Sadness & Sorrow (Arr. Rimmer for Violin & Orchestra) - From Naruto  
3 Main Theme (Arr. Skeet for Violin & Orchestra) - From The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom  
4 Korngold I. Moderato nobile [Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35]  
5 Korngold II. Romance. Andante [Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35]  
6 Korngold/ III. Finale. Allegro assai vivace [Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35]  
7 I Remember My Name (Arr. Langley for Violin & Orchestra) - From Squid Game  
8 Tanzil Serenade  
9 Pallet Town (Arr. Skeet for Violin & Orchestra) - From Poke´mon Red  
10 Isabella's Lullaby (Arr. Rimmer for Violin & Orchestra) - From The Promised Neverland  
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Decca Classics is thrilled to announce award-winning violinist, entrepreneur, and pioneer Ray Chen's innovative new album, Player 1, to be released globally on October 18, 2024. The first single, Sadness & Sorrow (from Naruto) by Toshio Masuda (arr. Benjamin Rimmer).

Blending classical music with the immersive world of gaming, the album also comprises a thrilling array of themes from television, Anime, and film including The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Pokémon, and Squid Game.

Recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Cristian Macelaru, these compositions gravitate around the sonic centerpiece of Erich Korngold’s Violin Concerto. The Austrian composer was a pioneering 20th-century classical composer who became one of the first musicians of international stature to score films for Hollywood. Like Ray, Erich was a child prodigy. Like Ray, he was drawn to the dramatic and the cinematic. And like Ray, he understood the thrill of storytelling.

Nostalgia looms in surprising and uplifting ways on this album. Ray performs with the 1714 ‘Dolphin’ Stradivarius, which is on loan from the Nippon Foundation. This violin was once owned by Jascha Heifetz, who has been hailed as the greatest violin virtuoso since Niccolò Paganini and who premiered the Korngold Concerto in 1947. Ray is the web that binds everything together. “Player 1 aims to create a meaningful connection between the past and the present,” he says.

Ray Chen’s mission now is to challenge traditional perceptions of classical music, making it accessible and inspiring. Nintendo consoles, TV dramas, films, anime, soundtracks, and a near-century-old work by Korngold may at first seem like disparate cultural phenomena. But they have one thing in common. They weave fantasies. Player 1 is a contemporary journey into these fantastical realms.

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