Tag: Maxim Vengerov

Vengerov/Osetinskaya @ Carnegie Hall ~ 2022

Above: Maxim Vengerov

Thursday October 20, 2022 – In February 2020, just days before life-altering pandemic commenced, Maxim Vengerov and Polina Osetinskaya gave a memorable recital at Carnegie Hall. This evening, they were back on the Carnegie stage with another enticing program.

But our evening did not quite go as planned. First, a 20-minute delay of the start of the concert caused the audience to become restless. Then, during the music, the women behind me chatted whilst a woman next to me fell asleep and snored lightly. Then, about 90 seconds before the end of the Kreutzer sonata, a woman stood up and struggled over the people in her row to get to the aisle. My friend Dima, who is Russian, always says ‘Russian audiences are the worst’; we decided to have a late supper rather than endure more distractions. It was kind of sad to leave, because Mr. Vengerov and Ms. Osetinskaya really were playing divinely.

The artists finally took the stage, Mr. Vengerov rather oddly clad in what appeared to be a bulky blue sweater and matching trousers. Ms. Osetinskaya on the other had was a vision of elegance in a black frock which perfectly showed off her lithe figure.

J. S. Bach Violin Sonata No. 1 in B-Minor, BWV 1014, is different from many other works for violin and harpsichord from this era, because the right hand of the harpsichord is fully written out by Bach. Up to this point in time, it had been customary for only the left hand and the chords for the keyboard to be specified. But BWV 1014 changed the relationship of the instruments: the harpsichord would now be equal to the violin, not merely an accompaniment. The harpsichord thus became a second melodic voice, changing the art of the violin sonata forever.

Of course, Ms. Osetinskaya was at the Steinway rather than a harpsichord; her playing of the Bach was simply exquisite, though – in fact – she surpassed herself in the ensuing Beethoven. It is the piano that opens the Bach sonata with a really gorgeous passage, and then the violin enters on a long, soft-suspended tone. Throughout the sonata, the two artists’ dynamic modulations were perfectly in sync.

The first Allegro is lively and charming, and the Andante – with its hushed, sustained start – has a fine, dignified feeling. The minor-key finale is fast and fun, with the two players keenly tuned into one another as the music hastens along.

The artists took only a momentary break – not leaving the stage – before commencing their luminous rendering of Beethoven’s immortal Violin Sonata No. 9 in A-Major, Op. 47, “Kreutzer“.

The sonata begins with a slow introduction played by the solo violin. The piano then responds, Ms. Osetinskaya displaying a gracious subtlety. Mood swings now come into play: passages of animation alternate with more pensive phrases. The music gets almost angry before the composer reverts to the calm of the sonata’s opening.

Ms. Osetinskaya launches the familiar theme of the Andante with a softly rippling motif. Now comes a delicious set of variations in which the ravishing sound of the piano sustains each mood and meshes with Mr. Vengerov’s sweetly turned phrases, his whisper-light top notes, and fabulous trills.

From its sprightly start, the third movement, a tarantella based on another familiar theme, calls for great virtuosity from both players: “Tons of notes!!”, I scrawled on my Playbill. The sonata ends with a celebratory final rush. The audience gave the musicians a resounding ovation though, in fact, they deserved even more.

Mr. Vengerov is scheduled to return to Carnegie Hall on Sunday May 21st, 2023, for a Concert in Honor of Andrei Sakharov. Gidon Kremer, Steve Isserlis, Evgeny Kissin, Lera Auerbach, and the Emerson String Quartet willm also take part.

Now if we could just get Ms. Osetinskaya here for a concerto evening, or – better still – a solo recital…!

We headed out, sorry to miss the arrangements of six songs from Dmitri Shostakovich’s marvelous song cycle, From Jewish Folk Poetry; these songs are so dear to me.

~ Oberon

October 20, 2022
Vengerov/Trpčeski @ Carnegie Hall

Above: violinist Maxim Vengerov and pianist Simon Trpčeski onstage at Carnegie Hall; photo by Jennifer Taylor, courtesy of Carnegie Hall

Thursday January 20th, 2022 – My first concert at the Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall since March of 2020. I was very happy to bring my friend DK to see one of his favorite artists, Maxim Vengerov, in recital. The Macedonian pianist Simon Trpčeski was at the Steinway for a wonderful program.

The audience gave the musicians a hearty welcome as they walked out onto the stage. People are simply aching to hear great music played live again after the the long months of uncertainty. And so the opening Mozart seemed like a transfusion of peace and hope, though still tinged with darkness.

Above: Maxim Vengerov, photo by Jennifer Taylor

Mozart’s Violin Sonata in E-Minor, K. 304 was composed in 1778; this is the only one of Mozart’s violin sonatas written in a minor key; its underlying wistfulness might be connected to the fact that the composer’s mother had passed away while he was working on it.

Departing from the norm, this sonata is in only two movements. The Allegro takes its character from the poignant opening theme, played in unison by violin and piano. The piano brings forth a second, more animated theme, though the mood remains restrained. A lovely dovetailing of dynamics marked the Vengerov/Trpčeski partnership’s playing, the violinist’s repeated insistent notes met by the pianist’s wonderful subtleties.

Mozart marks the second movement Tempo di Minuetto, but it has a forlorn quality not usually heard in a minuet. Solo piano introduces the grave yet graceful opening melody, and soon the two instruments take turns with it, their voices entwining. A major-key interlude gives us an unexpected ray of light, with sublimely soft playing from Mr. Trpčeski. The minor mode resumes, the melody flowing on to a rather sudden stop.

Photo by Jennifer Taylor

In direct contrast to the Mozart, Mssrs. Vengerov and Trpčeski next offered the Prokofiev Violin Sonata No.1. Prokofiev is one of my A-list composers, and this sonata encapsulates everything I love about his works: the rough-edged drama, the heartfelt lyricism, the chiaroscuro dynamics, and the subtle wit of his music always fascinates me.

Following the four-movement structure (slow-fast-slow-fast) of the Baroque church sonatas, Prokofiev opens this sonata with a somber passage from the piano. The violin joins, edgy and buzzy, and then the two instruments blend in a unison lament. The piano’s dolorous notes draw the violin into a yearning, dramatic passage. Then the violin skitters softly on high as the pianist intones soft chords; it sounds “like the wind in a graveyard” as Prokofiev told David Oistrakh, who played the sonata’s premiere performance.

The second movement, Allegro brusco, begins vigorously, lapses into a songful state, then turns fast and furious. Things subside briefly, but accents soon propel the piano forward again as the violin makes agitated remarks. Calming to lyricism, the music then gets grand – with a soaring melody leading to a wild finish.

In the third movement, Andante, the Vengerov/Trpčeski transported us with their spectacular playing. An opening passage of piano filigree is taken up by the violin. A gorgeous violin melody is heard, whilst the piano sustains a magical atmosphere. This ethereal music puts us in a blissful state, with Mr. Vengerov finishing his reverie with a miraculously sustained pianissimo trill. Heavenly!

Brilliant playing from both artists drove the sonata’s concluding Allegrissimo forward in spectacular fashion. A melodious interlude lets us again savour the warmth and serenity of Prokofian lyricism, and then some biting staccati dazzle us yet again. Another whiff of the “wind in a graveyard” motif leads on to work’s quiet closing.

Photo by Jennifer Taylor

Following the interval, César Franck’s ever-popular Violin Sonata was given a thrilling performance by the Vengerov/Trpčeski duo. This sonata was inspired by the marriage of the great violinist Eugène Ysaÿe to Louise Bourdeau in 1886. Franck’s initial idea for the sonata was to commence with a a slow and reflective opening movement, but Ysaÿe persuaded him that it worked best at a quicker tempo, so Franck marked it Allegretto, ben moderato. This movement juxtaposes rather than develops two themes, the first given almost exclusively to the violin, the second to the piano. These themes, particularly the violin’s, will return in the following movements. From note one, I fell under the spell of this music, which seemed so fresh and vivid as performed tonight. Mr. Trpčeski’s playing was positively rhapsodic, whilst Mr. Vengerov poured so much passion into the thrilling melodies the composer has given him.

The agitated, dramatic second movement casts its own spell, with the players again displaying their intriguing dynamic range and their peerless legato. The music is at once propulsive and poetic. Then comes the pensive Recitativo-Fantasia, wherein Mr. Vengerov’s rapturous playing in the high range is heard over the piano’s gently rolling misterioso figurations.

The familiar and beloved themes reappear in the sonata’s final movement, which builds to a glorious finish. The inevitable reaction of the audience to the playing of Mssrs. Vengerov and Trpčeski was a fervent ovation, richly deserved.

Ravel’s Tzigane was a late addition to the program. Familiar to me mainly from the ballet that George Balanchine created for his muse, Suzanne Farrell, to this music, it’s a Vengerov specialty: he played it here at his February 2020 concert, just days before the pandemic shut everything down.

In July 1922, Maurice Ravel met the young Hungarian violinist, Jelly d’Aranyi, who was the grand-niece of famed 19th-century violinist Joseph Joachim. The composer was intrigued when he heard the violinist playing gypsy melodies at a party. Inspired, he fashioned a gypsy rhapsody, working on it over a period of two years. Ravel completed it just a few days before the premiere: on April 26, 1924, in London, Mlle. d’Aranyi and pianist Henri Gil-Marchex gave the premiere of Tzigane.

Tzigane is a legendary showpiece, and tonight the amazing dexterity of the violinist (later joined by the pianist) kept the audience on the proverbial edge of their seats. After a giant “pre-cadenza”, the music starts to dance, by turns high and shimmering, then wildly earthy.

At the concert’s end, Trpčeski and Vengerov were greeted with a lively ovation. They returned for three encores: two delicious Fritz Kreisler treats, and then Gabriel Fauré’s sublime Après un rêve, which was sublimely played. Bravo, gentlemen! Bravissimo!!

All photos by Jennifer Taylor, courtesy of Carnegie Hall.

~ Oberon

January 20, 2022
Maxim Vengerov @ Carnegie Hall

Above: violinist Maxim Vengerov

~ Author: Oberon

Tuesday October 30th, 2018 – Three wonderfully contrasted violin sonatas were on offer tonight at Carnegie Hall as the renowned Maxim Vengerov took the stage, joined by the excellent Roustem Saïtkoulov at the Steinway.

About ten years ago, Mr. Vengerov – as most classical music-lovers know – developed a mysterious arm/shoulder ailment that took nearly four years to diagnose and treat. He returned to the stage in 2012, and I first heard him live in 2015, playing the Tchaikovsky violin concerto with the New York Philharmonic. It was a thrilling performance, and tonight I was very excited to be hearing him again. In the grand and glorious setting of Carnegie Hall tonight, Mssrs. Vengerov and Saïtkoulov made a most congenial collaboration, to the great benefit of the music they’d chosen, and to the great delight of the audience.

Johannes Brahms’ Violin Sonata No. 3 in D-Minor is in four movements rather than the more usual three. It opens with an achingly romantic lyrical theme, aglow with passionate colours. The Vengerov/Saïtkoulov partnership brought a lot of nuance to the music, with a lovely dynamic palette and finely dovetailed modulations. In a heartfelt piano passage, Mr. Saïtkoulov’s playing moved me. An intoxicating, soulful finish seemed to entrance the audience.

The Adagio commences with a wistful melody, sublimely tailored; the players’ astute attention to dynamics again kept up their intriguing effect. The familiar descending theme of this movement brought a feeling of plushy, Olde World magic, but then a dropped program booklet and a cellphone intrusion ruined the ending.

Rhythmic vitality, and some charming plucking motifs, adorned the Scherzo, which has a somewhat sentimental quality: no mere jesting here.

Then players immediately launched the concluding Presto agitato, full of great swirls of notes and a rich mix of colours. Syncopations are at work here; the music builds and subsides, and then re-bounds in a rush to the finish. Prolonged applause, but the players did not come out for a bow.

George Enescu wrote his Violin Sonata No. 2 in F-Minor at the age of seventeen, reportedly in the space of a fortnight. Mssrs. Vengerov and Saïtkoulov play in unison for the sonata’s rather mysterious start. Turbulence is stirred up, but reverts to the unison motif. The piano then shimmers as the violin sings above with rising passion. Vengerov and Saïtkoulov both demonstrated great control of dynamics as the music took on a restless quality. They play in unison again, moving to a quiet finish.

A sad song opens the second movement, marked Tranquillement, pervaded by a strangely lovely feeling of melancholy. Again Mr. Vengerov displays pinpoint control of line in an affecting soft theme that rises to an exquisite sustained note. There’s a darkish quality from the piano as the violin is plucked. Then: a sudden stop. The music resumes – so quietly – with a shivering violin tremolo. The ending is simply gorgeous.

The concluding movement, marked simply Vif (“Lively”), starts off all wit and sparkle; both musicians savor the animation, tossing in wry soft notes from time to time. The music turns briefly grand, then softens, and the liveliness resumes. The players are on the verge of exceeding the speed limit when they suddenly veer into an unexpected ‘romance’. But wit prevails in the end.

Above: pianist Roustem Saïtkoulov

Maurice Ravel’s Violin Sonata was premiered in Paris on May 30, 1927, with none other than George Enescu as violin soloist, and Ravel himself at the piano. The opening Allegretto starts quietly, with a piano theme that is taken up by the violin. Mr. Vengerov sweetens his tone here, making the most of the melodic possibilities. The violin trembles over a shadowy piano passage, and then a transportive lyricism builds, with the violin rising and lingering. A heavenly conclusion: sustained violin tone over a shimmering piano.

To open the Blues: Moderato, the violinist plucks in altering soft and emphatic notes. The piano sounds rather glum at first, then starts pulsing persuasively as the violin gets jazzy, bending the phrases enticingly.

From a gentle start, the Perpetuum mobile finale lives up to its name. The piano goes scurrying along, and Mr. Vengerov turns into a speed demon. The music rocks along – Rhapsody in Blue and Fascinatin’ Rhythm are evoked briefly – with the violinist verging on manic whilst Mr. Saïtkoulov’s playing stays light and luminous.

The concluding works on the printed program both felt very much like encores: Heinrich Ernst’s decorative incarnation of The Last Rose of Summer and Nicolo Paganini’s super-elaborate take on the great aria Di tanti palpiti from Rossini’s TANCREDI (arranged by Fritz Kreisler) each had an “everything-but-the-kitchen-sink” feeling. Mr. Vengerov managed the fireworks well, drawing a celebratory audience response. My feeling was that one or the other of these two virtuoso pieces would have sufficed.

As an encore, Fritz Kreisler’s Caprice Viennois was beautifully played. The audience then began streaming out. We were in the lobby when we heard a second encore commencing; but it was too late to double back.

~ Oberon

October 30, 2018
Vengerov/Long Yu @ The NY Philharmonic

Above: violinist Maxim Vengerov

Friday January 23rd, 2015 – A “Russian Night” at The New York Philharmomic, with Maxim Vengerov as soloist for the Tchaikovsky violin concerto, followed by the Shostakovich 5th symphony. Long Yu was on the podium for what proved to be one of the outstanding concerts in an already-outstanding NY Phil season.

The Tchaikovsky violin concerto makes extreme demands on the soloist. Tchaikovsky wrote it for (and originally dedicated it to) Leopold Auer, who declared it unplayable; though eventually Auer mastered it, the premiere went to Adolf Brodsky. Since then, it has become a repertory staple, in part because players want to show their mastery of it and in part because it is such a melodically entrancing piece.

Of the concerto’s 1881 premiere in Vienna, the critic Eduard Hanslick wrote that “…the violin was not played but beaten black and blue”. Mr. Vengerov’s playing was not violent, but in the intense passages where the notes fly off the strings at the speed of light one could imagine how the piece must have both astounded and baffled both musicians and audiences as the concerto began making its way into the international repertoire.

Vengerov, in the violin’s first statements, showed an Old World warmth of timbre and a seductive sense of legato, while the orchestra brought a rich density of sound to their familar themes. As the technical fireworks loom up, the violinist dazzled with his accuracy and speed; in the cadenza there were a couple of wiry notes at the top of the register but these were swept aside by a masterful, uncannily sustained trill. Sailing forward, Vengerov continued to move us with his poignant expressiveness in the lyrical passages whilst evoking our smiling admiration for his brilliant dexterity in the blazes of fiorature. As he finished in a blaze of glory, the audience erupted in shouts of rejoicing and a full standing ovation ensued. After bowing repeatedly, Vengerov gave us an encore: a Bach adagio that showed his heartfelt artistry to perfection.

Following the interval, Long Yu (above) led a grand and deeply satisfying of the Shostakovich 5th. This symphony marked the composer’s efforts to mollify the Soviet government following Joseph Stalin’s scathing denunciation his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District in 1936. Overnight Shostakovich had become a persona non grata. He knew that his next symphony, the 5th, would be crucial if he was to continue his career. Although the 5th did indeed win a resounding success and salvage his reputation with the Soviet, he continued to fall in and out of favor with the government for years to come.

This is a symphony overflowing with marvelous thematic material. Conductor Long Yu painted a magificent sound canvas, drawing all the rich and varied voices of this incredible orchestra into a cohesive and beautifully-shaped whole. Shostakovich’s orchestration is highly imaginative and constantly allures the ear with such vivid interjections as piano, harps, and xylophone. As the vast array of string players sail thru some really marvelous passages, whether plucked (in the witty Scherzo) or richly bowed, the composer provides the horns and trumpets with triumphal opportunities – resoundingly seized tonight – and there are splendid gems for solo winds: flute (Robert Langevin), clarinet (Anthony McGill), Liang Wang (oboe) and Kim Laskowski (bassoon). The outstanding playing of our acting concertmaster Sheryl Staples was rightly recognized by Long Yu as he presented her in a solo bow, greeted with ‘bravas‘ from the crowd. Everyone in the hall had swept to their feet after the final chord echoed, hailing the orchestra, the conductor, and the resounding genius of Shostakovich.

A splendid night of music-making then, with the promise of much more to come in this Philharmonic season.

January 23, 2015