PETER ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893) Violin Concerto in D Op. 35 Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor Op. 23 Christian Tetzlaff, violin Nikolai Lugansky, piano Russian National Orchestra conducted by Kent Nagano PTC 5186 022 DSD recorded

 

Virtuoso "heavyweights"

Only a few works from Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky’s huge oeuvre have gained general acceptance; however, these are of such an enduring nature that the Russian is ranked among the great composers in the history of music. The way the world of music highlights especially his last three symphonies, his Piano Concerto No. 1, his opera Eugen Onegin and his Rococo Variations is nothing less than extraordinary.
Tchaikovsky’s life alternated between tragedy and happiness. He was born on May 7, 1840 in Kamsko-Votkinsk, and received his first piano lessons from his mother at the tender age of five. Even as a child, he was prone to psychosomatic attacks and depressions, which he attempted to combat by composing brilliant pieces on the piano. His parents established the family home in St. Petersburg in 1852, after moving house a number of times. During the following 10 years, Tchaikovsky read law, found employment as a civil servant, travelled throughout Europe as an interpreter and, on the whole, led a carefree and joyous life. He was only sporadically interested in music: his sole artistic activities consisted of evenings spent at the opera or at concerts, and irregular piano lessons.
In 1862 came the radical turnabout: Tchaikovsky resigned from his position as a civil servant and enrolled at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire to study composition under Anton Rubinstein and Nikolai Zaremba. In 1866 he began teaching composition at the Moscow Conservatoire, where he remained for 12 years. It was during this intensive and especially productive period of composition that he wrote his first great works. However, his productivity was overshadowed by major problems: in order to counterbalance rumours concerning his homosexuality, Tchaikovsky rushed into marriage with one of his students. This resulted in chaos, inner despair and, finally, a suicide attempt.
Only after he came into contact with the well-to-do Nadezhda von Meck, did Tchaikovsky begin to find some peace in his troubled life. The generous annual income she fixed on him made it possible for him to give up his position at the Conservatoire and to work independently as a composer from 1878 onwards. Their relationship continued for 13 years, without the composer and his patroness ever actually meeting. More than 1200 letters bear witness to what was probably the most unusual relationship in the history of music. This ended abruptly in 1890, when Madame von Meck discontinued the correspondence. Tchaikovsky was deeply hurt by this and his inner loneliness gained the upper hand, never more to relinquish its hold. Not even his triumphant successes as a conductor were able to diminish his melancholy. Tchaikovsky died in 1893 – supposedly from cholera. However, rumours concerning suicide or even murder by poison still abound to this day.
The compositions recorded on this CD - his Piano Concerto No. 1, in B-flat minor, Op. 23 and Violin Concerto in D, Op. 35 – are ranked unreservedly among his "masterpieces", and could perhaps even be respectfully considered "virtuoso heavyweights". Following its completion, Tchaikovsky presented his Piano Concerto to the Principal of the St. Petersburg Conservatoire on Christmas Eve in 1874. Nikolai Rubinstein‘s opinion of the work was crushing: the concerto was no good, was unplayable, the themes were corny and inappropriate, the material he had come up with was weak, and some of it he had even plagiarized. Hurt and upset, Tchaikovsky crossed out the dedication, and rededicated the work to the German conductor Hans von Bülow, who gave the highly successful première of the work in Boston on October 25, 1875. The alternation of vital impetuousness and expressive melancholy, the sensitive dialogue between soloist and orchestra, the intensified, emphatic expression of the first movement are equally impressive as the middle movement. The almost violent, hymnal display of strength with the repetitive, rondo-like main theme, which is played "con fuoco", brings the work to a triumphant conclusion.
The creation of the Violin Concerto (March 17 – April 11, 1877) is closely connected to violinist Josef Kotek, who helped Tchaikovsky out with suggestions during the composition of the work – an artistic association, from which was born a violin solo part which at first gave the impression that the work was "unplayable", due to its accumulation of technical difficulties and showpieces. The concerto ingeniously links symphonic structure to the principles of the concerto form, while leaving the indisputable role of the leader to the soloist. The first movement owes its fascination to the emotional, freely flowing main theme. After a cadenza full of bravura, a Coda and Stretta define the unfettered ending, completely in the sense of the symphonic climax. The second movement, a profound Canzonetta (at Kotek‘s suggestion, Tchaikovsky had written this to replace the original movement, which was in the form of a mazurka), sounds modest and melancholy in its lyricism and expression: this is the complete opposite of the Finale, which begins attaca subito, and pushes its way forward with great speed and a marked rhythm. The "Russian" themes display effervescent joie de vivre, and the technical demands made on the soloist are extraordinarily high.

More information on Nikolai Lugansky's website

Kent Nagano

Kent Nagano is a member of the Russian National Orchestra Conductor Collegium and has served as artistic director for several RNO commissioning projects. Renowned for his gifted interpretations of both the orchestral and operatic repertoire, he is Chief Conductor of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Principal Conductor of the Los Angeles Opera and Music Director of the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra. Starting in 2006, he will become Generalmusikdirektor of the Bayerische Staatsoper.
Nagano was Music Director of England’s venerable Hallé Orchestra from 1991-2000, and of the Opéra de Lyon from 1989 to 1999. In both former positions, he was credited with bringing his ensembles to the forefront in the international scene through innovative programming and acclaimed concerts, tours and recordings.
Guest conducting appearances include the Paris Opera, La Scala, Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Vienna Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony and Berlin Philharmonic. He regularly leads productions at the Salzburg Festival and at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.
Among the world's most recorded conductors, Nagano has been recognized with three Grammy Awards, the Edison Award, several Gramophone Awards and, on three occasions, the Grand Prix du Disque. He is an Officer in France's Order of Arts and Letters and has been honored as Conductor of the Year in England, Personality of the Year in France and Musical America's 2001 Conductor of the Year.
Nagano’s forthcoming projects with the RNO include several recordings, commissions and premieres.

Christian Tetzlaff, violinist

" Mr Tetzlaff´s tone was gleaming and focused. The combination of wildness and clarity was thrilling. Here was a Romantic-era staple as reconsidered by one of the most brilliant and inquisitive artists of the new generation." (New York Times, April 2002).
Christian Tetzlaff was born in Hamburg in 1966 and later studied at the Lübeck Conservatory with Uwe-Martin Haiberg and in Cincinnati with Walter Levin. He now lives near Frankfurt.
Today, Christian Tetzlaff is recognized as one of the most inspiring musicians of his generation. Equally at home in the Classical/Romantic repertoire and contemporary music, he sets standards with his interpretations of the violin concertos by Beethoven, Brahms and Tchaikovsky as well as Berg, Ligeti, Schönberg and Shostakovich. Indeed, a focal point was his concert series with the Munich Philharmonic and James Levine, where he performed the Schönberg and Beethoven violin concertos in one evening. Another central facet for Christian Tetzlaff is his incomparable performances of the Bach Sonatas and Partitas for Violin Solo. With his special affinity for chamber music, he performs regularly with such distinguished colleagues as Boris Pergamenschikov, Heinrich Schiff, Tanja Tetzlaff and Tabea Zimmermann. He has founded his own string quartet, and gives duo recitals with Leif Ove Andsnes, Matthias Kirschnereit and Lars Vogt.
During the season 2002/03, Christian Tetzlaff performed with the National Symphony Orchestra Washington, New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra, with the London Symphony Orchestra under Pierre Boulez, both in London and on tour in Japan, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique in Paris, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, and the Deutsche Symphonieorchester, both in Berlin and on tour in Spain. As Artist in Residence at the Société Philharmonique in Brussels, he gave concerto performances with the Orchestre National de Belgique and the Antwerp Philharmonic Orchestra, and a performance with his string quartet, where they were joined by Tabea Zimmermann. In the summer of 2002, he performed at the Edinburgh Festival, and appeared with Orchestre National de Lyon at the BBC Proms in London.
Highlights scheduled for Mr. Tetzlaff’s 2003/04 season include return engagements with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Toronto and Atlanta symphonies; his début with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra under James Levine at Carnegie Hall; a two-concert series at Lincoln Center featuring the music of Bartók and Janácek with Lars Vogt; and performances of the complete Sonatas and Partitas for Violin Solo by Bach at the Ravinia and Tanglewood festivals.
Christian Tetzlaff plays a violin by the German violin-maker, Peter Greiner, modelled after a Guarneri del Gesú.

Nikolai Lugansky, pianist
Prize-winner of the 1994 Tchaikovsky Competition

The exceptionally gifted Russian pianist Nikolai Lugansky was born in 1972 and studied with the well-known pianist and pedago-gue, Tatiana Nikolaeva. He is one of the most remarkable talents to have appeared among the new generation of pianists from the former Soviet-Union. At the age of 14, Nikolai Lugansky won first prize in Tiblisi during a competi-tion for young musicians. In the Netherlands, Nikolai Lugansky made a sensational début performance in May 1990, at the age of 17, as a last-minute replacement for Maria Joao Pires in the large hall of Muziekcentrum Vreden-burg in Utrecht. A few months later, Lugan-sky gave a recital in the large hall of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam in the series "Vijf Jonge Russi-sche Top-talenten" (= five of the most talented young Russians). This performance was described unanimously as extraordinarily impressive, and resulted in many further invitations. In Februa-ry 1994, he performed in the series "Meesterpi-anisten" (= master pianists) in the Amster-dam- Concertge-bouw and the Doelen in Rotter-dam. In April 1999, he gave a Chopin recital in the large hall of the Concertgebouw.
Nikolai Lugansky regularly performs with Dutch and Belgian orchestras: during the 2002/2003 season, Nikolai Lugansky toured Japan with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam and its chief conductor Riccardo Chailly, performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5. Furthermore, he performed Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in May 2003 in Brussels with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders.
Nikolai Lugansky made his orchestral début in the United States with Valery Gergiev and the Kirov Orchestra at the Holly-wood Bowl in August 1996. During the past seasons, he has played with the Hous-ton Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. In 2003, he is scheduled to tour Germany with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Further important orchestral engagements include concerts with the Oslo Philharmonic and Mikhail Pletnev, the Toulouse Orchestra and Michel Plasson, the London Philharmonia and Richard Hickox, the Hallé Orches-tra and Kent Nagano, and the Royal Scottish Orchestra and Eri Klas. During the 2002/2003 season, he made his début with Orchestre de la Suisse Romande with Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 1 under conductor Alexander Lazarev. He also made his début at the Saarbrücken Festival in Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.2 with the Monte Carlo National Orchestra and Marek Janowsky. Furthermore, he gave performances of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Dresden Philharmonic and Marek Janowsky in Dresden, Turin and Verona.
In Russia, Nikolai Lugansky regularly performs with the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra and the famous Russian State Orchestra (both under the former chief conductor, Yevgeny Svetlanov and the present chief conductor, Vassily Sinaisky). In August 2001, he went on tour with the Russian National Orchestra and chief conductor Vladimir Spivakov, performing among other in Amsterdam (the Concertgebouw) and Copenhagen. Nikolai Lugansky is in great demand as a recitalist. During the past years, he has been a regular guest artist at the international piano festival at Roque d’Antheron, and last season he performed at the festivals of Nantes, Biarritz, Perigord, Grange de Meslay, Baden-Baden and Festival Internacional de Musica da Povoa de Varzim in Portugal. This season he is giving recitals in London’s Wigmore Hall, the Théâtre du Champs-Elysées in Paris, Brussels, Toulouse, Avignon and Moscow.

More information on Nikolai Lugansky's website

*****MULTICHANNEL DISC OF THE MONTH*****
“A rendition of singular focus and poised dynamics”
--Gary Lemc, Audiophile Audition

“The orchestral playing is typically East European with pungent winds and earthy passionate string playing, but very heavily tempered and disciplined by a more Western sensibility. Best of both worlds?! The violin and piano soloists are truly fabulous, playing these two well known works with undoubted Romanticism that is not cloying but very persuasive and refreshing! I loved the readings the first time round, which is rare as I usually need time to get used to a new point of view. The violin concerto is played with fantastic melodic structural flow - rivetting!!! The piano concerto, which I have had jaded of hearing, sounds fresh and beautiful again to me with this reading”
Hi-Rez Highway, (November 2003)

Editor’s choice Gramophone (February 2004)
“Two of the finest soloists from the younger generation team uo with Mikhail Pletnev’s Russian National Orchestra for a pair of very fine performances of these favourite concertos. If you are investigating SACD, or even contemplating it (this disc is quite as effective heard on a CD player), then here’s a disc for your collection…”
---James Jolly, Gramophone

“Notable virtuoso skills rouse these warhorses for a lively canter”
---Ivan March, Gramophone (February 2004)

“Neither Tetzlaff nor Lugansky seems to have the least difficulty to overcome these notiously difficult scores.”
---Jerome Bastianelli, Diapason (January 2004)

“In Multi Channel you can feel the sound waves reverberating through the hall!”
---SA-CD.net