This edition of the Dvořák Violin Concertowas inspired by Ruggiero Ricci’s fantastic interpretation in a live performance with the Sydney Symphony, conducted by Louis Fremaux. Ruggiero himself gave me the video from the concert as a gift when I once visited him at his home in Salzburg where I spent lots of wonderful hours together with him and his wife.

When Ruggiero died on August 5th, 2012 I lost a great friend. It was in December of that year when the idea of creating the Dvorak edition was born. Ruggiero never left many fingerings and bowings – I remember while teaching at the Mozarteum he knew the Lalo Symphony espagnole completely by memory as if he had played it the previous night at Carnegie. So, I started to copy every detail from his performance including fingerings, bowings and some special bow positions he used in the Dvorak as recorded on the video. Sometimes I used slow motion or paused the video to look at his hand to get his fingerings. I remembered the way he did changes of position which was helpful at that moment.

It took me about 5 weeks, working in great detail watching the video again and again. In the end I dedicate this to him, to the Master, to which he would say "Good job". I think I was very close to him during those five weeks...

Thanks, Ruggiero, for everything you gave to the world of violin.

-Ernst Schliephake

Click below to watch the performance of the Dvořák Violin Concerto performed by Ruggiero Ricci that Ernst Schliephake used to make this edition.