July 11, 2011

The International Tchaikovsky Competition is one of the most prestigious musical contests in the world. Founded in Moscow in 1958, it began with just two disciplines, piano and violin.  The winner of the piano competition, the 23 year-old Texan by the name of Van Cliburn, became an overnight sensation and the darling of both the Russian and American public.  This summer in Moscow he presided as the honorary Chairman of the piano jury, still adored by the older generation of the competition’s regulars.  In 1962 the cello was added, and four years later, the voice competition rounded out the expanded list of musical fields.  Among the winners were such outstanding musicians as pianists Vladimir Ashkenazi, John Ogdon, Vladimir Krainev, and Mikhail Pletnev; violinists Viktor Tretiakov, Gidon Kremer; cellists Natalia Shakhovskaya and David Geringas, sopranos Elena Obraztsova and Deborah Voight.  And of course during its more than fifty year history, the competition has had its share ups and downs as well as controversies.

The recently completed 14^th edition of the competition had an unusual format.  Due to the ongoing renovations of the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, it was decided that the competition would be split between two cities: the pianists and cellists would play in Moscow, while St.-Petersburg would host the violinists and vocalists.  Valery Gergiev was the chairman; realizing that in recent years the Tchaikovsky’s reputation was somewhat sagging, he attempted to improve the quality and reputation of the jury panels by inviting the best musicians.  It seems that to a large extent he succeeded.  The piano jury included such luminaries as Vladimir Ashkenazy and Yefim Bronfman (both judged only the final round), Peter Donohoe and Dmitri Alexeev.  Among the violinists were Anne-Sophie Mutter, Leonidas Kavakos and Maxim Vengerov.  Renata Scotto, Ileana Cotrubas, and Olga Borodina were on the vocalists’ jury.

Among the pianists the winner was Daniil Trifonov (Russia), Narek Hakhnazaryan (Armenia) won the cello competition, the first prize in the violin competition was not awarded, and two South Koreans, Sun Young Seo, soprano and Jong Min Park, bass, won among the vocalists. The 14^th Competition had its share of controversies.  One of the public’s favorites, the pianist Alexander Lubyantsev was eliminated after the second round. The conductor Mark Gorenstein drew a lot of unwanted attention when he made derogatory remarks about the cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan during the orchestral rehearsals before the final round.  Unbeknownst to Gorenstein the rehearsal was being recorded and broadcast on Internet (these innovative broadcasts were a welcome addition to the competition).  The video went viral; Gorenstein apologized and withdrew “due to illness.”

We’re very proud that two of the winners, Daniil Trifonov and Narek Hakhnazaryan are represented in our library.  You can listen to Daniil playing Chopin’s Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, Op. 60 here. Narek’s interpretation of Claude Debussy’s Sonata for Cello and Piano can be heard here.  He’s accompanied by the pianist Roman Rabinovich.

July 7, 2011.  The great Austrian composer Gustav Mahler was born on this day in 1860.  Our congratulations to all Mahlertites!

July 4, 2011.

The Italian pianist Igor Cognolato was born in Treviso, Italy, in 1965. He started his musical training at the age of five. At nineteen he received a diploma, magna cum laude, in piano performance from the Benedetto Marcello Academy in Venice, where he studied under the late Vincenzo Pertile, himself a student of the great Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. He pursued his musical education at the Academy of Music in Hanover, Germany, with the Brazilian pianist Roberto Szidon. In his debut concert, which was broadcast live, he played Liszt's Second Piano concerto with NDR Symphony Orchestra. Igor continued his studies in composition and piano with Aldo Ciccolini, Paul Badura-Skoda, the composer Ugo Amendola, and others.

Igor Cognolato has successfully performed throughout the Western Europe and the US. As a soloist with a number of orchestras (Radiophilharmonie Hanover, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Bourgas Philharmonic, Orchestra del Gran Teatro La Fenice di Venezia among them), he recorded for RAI, NDR Radio, and for Norwegian National Radio. Since 2009 he has been performing with Athenaeum String Quartet, which consists of the members of the Berlin Philharmonic. Recently they took part in the Aix-en-Provence chamber music festival and their performance was broadcast live on ARTE TV channel.

Presently, Igor Cognolato teaches piano performance at the Academy of music “Giuseppe Tartini" in Trieste, Italy. He also gives master classes at the Musikhochschule in Graz, and in Vienna, in Lübeck, Germany, and in London (the Trinity college of music).

We’re fortunate to have a large selection of Igor Cognolato’s recordings, both as a soloist and a chamber musician. Igor’s repertoire is broad and includes a number of pieces by modern Italian composers. We’ll hear him play the following: Noctuelles and Oiseaux tristes from Miroirs, by Maurice Ravel; Arioso, from the rarely performed Sinfonia, Arioso e Toccata op.59, by the Italian composer Alfredo Casella; Blues, the second movement of Maurice Ravel’s Sonata for violin and piano (with the violinist Ara Malikian). Finally, we’ll hear Liszt’s Scherzo and March, S.177. To listen, click here.

June 20, 2011

Igor Stravinsky.  We just missed the anniversary of the great composer, who was born on June 17, 1882 in Oranienbaum, near St-Petersburg.  Probably one of the most influential musicians of the 20^th century, he changed styles as often as he adopted countries.  Born in Russia, he moved to Switzerland in 1910 and then, in 1920, to France, where he settled for the next 20 years and became a citizen.  With the Second World War approaching, Stravinsky moved to the United States, where he lived for the rest of his life (he was naturalized in 1945).  Stravinsky died on April 6, 1971. But even more remarkable was the ease with which he changed his compositional styles. The early (Russian) period saw the creation of the three ballets, The Firebird in 1910, Petrushka a year later, and The Rite of Spring in 1913.  All three were commissioned by Sergei Diagilev, the celebrated impresario and creator of Ballets Russe.  The Rite of Spring famously provoked a riot during the premier at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris.  Almost 100 years later one still looks at this star-studded event in awe: the ballet was choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky, one of the greatest dancers of all time, the set design and costumes were created by Nicholai Roerich, the famous Russian painter (and philosopher).  The conductor on that night was Pierre Monteux.

In the 1920s Stravinsky radically changed his style.  The exuberance of the Russian period was replaced with the neoclassical detachment of such compositions as the ballet Apollon musagète and three symphonies, Symphony of Psalms, Symphony in C, and Symphony in Three Movements.  Later, in the 1950s he dabbed in serialism, the ballet Agon being probably the most important piece of that period.  One thinks of Pablo Picasso, another cosmopolitan genius of the 20^th century, who in the span of 20 years went from the Blue period to the Rose period to cubism, and then, like Stravinsky, to neoclassicism.  (There are other similarities in their biographies: both lived most of their lives outside of their countries of birth, which they for the most part detested; France was central to both of them; both were married to Russian women; and even their lives practically coincided: Picasso was born less than a year earlier than Stravinsky, and died just one year later).

We’ll hear four compositions.  First, Danse Russe, from the ballet Petrushka, arranged for the piano by the composer himself in 1921.  It’s played by Gideon Rubin.  Then, also from the Russian period, Five Easy Pieces (1917).  They’re performed by Silver-Garburg Piano Duo. Two following pieces are from the neoclassical period: Suite Italienne for violin and piano, based on the ballet Pulcinella, is performed by the violinist Ilana Setapen, with Kuang-Hao Huang on the piano.  Finally, Sonata (1924) is played by the young Israeli pianist Einav Yarden.  To listen, click here.

June 13, 2011

“A very gifted romantic pianist, highly emotional, with a great temperament and bright, creative individuality” – is how the late Vladimir Krainev characterized Victoria Lyubitskaya.  Born in Moscow, Victoria studied at the Conservatory-affiliated music schools, first with Valentina Sedova-Berman and then with the well-known pianist and teacher Victor Bunin. She continued her education in the Moscow Conservatory under Professors Samvel Alumyan and Lev Naumov.  Victoria Lyubitskaya is currently a soloist of the Moscow State Philharmonic Society.  She is a laureate of several international competitions.

Victoria's concert repertoire is wide and diverse, embracing works from the 18th to the 20th century. Rachmaninov occupies a special place for her, and she performs all of his solo piano works as well as all four concertos and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Victoria has collaborated with such well-known conductors as Saulius Sondeckis, Mark Gorenstein, Veronika Dudarova, Vladimir Verbitsky; she has performed with leading orchestras such as the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, the Russian Symphony Orchestra, and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra.  Victoria has given concerts at the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, and in the Grand Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Society; she has also gave concerts in other Russian cities. Internationally, she has performed in Switzerland, Italy, Montenegro, Croatia, Poland, Latvia, Germany, Hungary and Australia and participated in a number of international and national music festivals.

Ms. Lyubitskaya has been recorded for various radio, television and CD companies. In 2008, her recording of Alfred Schnittke's piano works, released on the Belgian label Fuga Libera, was awarded the top rating by the prestigious French classical-music magazine Diapason (“The only possible reproach one could make… is that there isn’t more of it”). We present three pieces from that CD.  First, the recording of Schnittke’s Concerto for Piano and Strings, written for Vladimir Krainev in 1979.  Schnittke was not satisfied with the original version and re-wrote the concerto.  Although the initial reception to the concerto was cool, it is now  recognized as one of Schnittke’s most significant compositions.  Reviewing the CD for the classical music magazine La Scena Musicale, René Bricault praised Ms. Lyubitskaya’s recording as setting a new standard for this work. Ms. Lyubitskaya is accompanied by the Russian State Academy Orchestra, Mark Gorenshtein, conductor. We’ll also hear two pieces for piano solo: Schnittke’s Variations on one chord and Improvisation and Fugue, Op. 38.  To listen, click here.