September 13, 2010

The pianist Elena Melnikova was born in 1982 in Novosibirsk, Russia. She received her first piano lessons at the age of five. In 1989, she was accepted at the special music school for gifted students in Novosibirsk, where she studied with Meri Lebenzon. In 1994 Elena was awarded the second prize at the Vladimir Krainev competition in Kharkov and the first prize at the Citta di Marsala international piano competition. She also received the first prize at the 1995 International Tchaikovsky competition for young musicians in Sendai, Japan. In 1999 Elena entered the State University of Music and Drama in Hanover, where she became a student of Karl-Heinz Kämmerling. In 2001 she won the first ZF Musik Award in Friedrichshafen. Elena has a successful solo career; she has been performing in Italy, France, Japan, Germany, Russia, and Austria. She’s also a passionate chamber music player.

We have created a three-piece playlist of Elena’s recordings that allows listeners to appreciate the different aspects of her talent. First, you can hear Bach’s Chaconne from violin Partita No. 2 in d minor in Busoni’s transcription. Robert Schumann’s Kreisleriana follows. The selection concludes with her crisp, fresh interpretation of Beethoven’s Sonata No. 8 ("Pathetique"). To listen, click here.

September 6, 2010

The great Czech composer Antonín Dvořák was born on September 8, 1841 near Prague in what was then the Austrian Empire. A musical nationalist, Dvořák broadly used Czech folk idioms in his compositions (while in the United States, he also actively promoted Native American and African American music). Dvořák wrote nine symphonies (New World Symphony being the most popular), operas, and chamber music. He also wrote three concertos; the Cello Concerto is his masterpiece.

We’ll hear Humoresque, performed by Brett Deubner (Viola); Slavonic Dance in A-Flat Major, played by the piano duo Joseph Tong and Waka Hasegawa; and String Quintet Op. 97, performed by Pacifica Quartet and Michael Tree (Viola). To listen, click here.

A note: a very mediocre composer, whose renown owes more to chance and the genius of other than any accomplishments of his own, was also born this week. Anton Diabelli was trying to promote his publishing business when he submitted a little waltz to several well-known composers to be used as a theme for variations. He expected them to write just one, which is exactly what Schubert, Czerny, Hummel, and Moscheles, among others, did. Beethoven, on the other hand, created 33, and the set became know as the Diabelli Variations. They are now considered one of his greatest piano compositions. You can hear them in Beth Levin’s interpretation here.

August 30, 2010

Richard Strauss’s Violin Sonata. Richard Strauss was 23 years old when he wrote this sonata. This was his third (he had already composed a piano sonata and one for the cello) and last one: even though he composed for another 60 years, he would never return to this genre again. The Violin sonata is a romantic piece very much in the tradition of Schumann and Mendelssohn. While not considered a masterpiece, this composition is graceful, balanced, and full of wonderful melodic lines and youthful energy.

We have three performances of this sonata. The most recent one is by the violinist Korbinian Altenberger (he’s accompanied by Jiayi Shi). Mr. Altenberger was born in Munich, Germany, studied at the Musikhochschule Köln and then at the New England Conservatory as a student of Donald Weilerstein. Later he studied with Midori at the University of Southern California. Mr. Altenberger received first prize at the Jacob Stainer Violin Competition in 2005, and second prize at the prestigious Montreal International Musical Competition in 2010. You can listen to his performance here.

The second performance is by the young American violinist Tessa Lark. Ms. Lark also studied at the New England Conservatory (with Miriam Fried). She has won several competitions: first place at the Johansen International Strings Competition in Washington, D.C., in 2006, and another first place at the Irving Klein International String Competition in San Francisco in 2008. You can listen to her performance of the sonata here. Ms. Lark is accompanied by Ron Regev.

Finally, we have two masters who need no introduction: Ilya Kaler and Eteri Andjaparidze. You can enjoy their interpretation here.

August 23, 2010

The young cellist Fanny Nemeth-Weiss likes to travel: she was born in Hungary and studied in Zagreb (Croatia), Graz (Austria), Zurich and Basel (Switzerland), where she was a student of Ivan Monighetti. In 2005 she entered the Manhattan School of Music and is currently studying at the Catholic University of America. Fanny received scholarships from several programs, including the Itzhak and Toby Perlman program. She also participated in master classes lead by Bernard Greenhouse, Eleonore Schoenfeld, Natalia Shahovskaya, Itzhak Perlman, Robert Mann, the Takacs Quartet and several others. In 2008 Fanny made her Weill Recital Hall debut. She played recitals and chamber concerts in France, Germany, Hungary, Austria, Italy, and other countries.

We’ll hear two large-scale works played by Ms. Nemeth-Weiss: first, Robert Schumann’s Fantasy Pieces Op. 73, and then Suite for solo cello no. 3 in C Major by Bach. To listen, click here.

August 16, 2010

Claude Debussy, one of the most influential and popular composers of the last 100 years, was born on August 22, 1862. From Maurice Ravel’s works at the beginning of the 20^th century, to the young Stravinsky, "Les Six," Vaughn Williams, Messiaen, and Toru Takemitsu’s compositions at the end of the 20^th century, Debussy’s influence is enormous. And judging by how often his music is played in concert halls and on the radio, he remains tremendously popular with the listening public and the performers. On Classical Connect we have a large selection of Debussy’s works: his numerous piano works, songs, several recordings of cello and violin sonatas, and his quartet in g minor – just go to Browse by Composer and select Debussy. Our short playlist contains three piano works: General Lavine – eccentric, from Préludes Book II played by Jorge Federico Osorio; Mouvement, played by the young Georgian pianist Ana Gligvashvili (Piano); and Jardins sous la pluie, from Estampes, performed by Michael Mizrahi. To listen, click here.

August 9, 2010

Sorabji and Ibert. Two very different composers were born on August 15, 2010: Kaikhosru Sorabji and Jacques Ibert. Sorabji, a British composer of Indian descent, was born in 1892. He wrote extraordinarily long and difficult piano pieces. His work Opus Clavicembalisticum, was once listed in the Guinness book of records as the longest piano piece ever composed: the complete performance runs about four hours. Not very many pianists attempt to play Sorabji; among the well-known recordings are those of the late John Ogdon. Marc-André Hamelin and Fredrik Ullén also play Sorabji. It’s interesting to note that Ullén also recorded George Flynn’s piece Trinity, which runs for about an hour and 10 minutes (in our library we have a recording made by the composer). Sorabji, incidentally, was one of the composers who influenced George Flynn. We included Sorabji’s Pastiche on Habanera from "Carmen" by Bizet, brilliantly played by Nikolai Choubine. Not to worry, this one runs less than 6 minutes.

The Frenchman Jacques Ibert, born in 1890, was a very different composer altogether: optimistic, joyful, witty and often brief – everything that Sorabji was not. We have a short exerpt, Allegro con moto, from Concertino Da Camera played by the virtuoso saxophonist Ashu. To listen to the playlist, click here.