Shchedrin: Concerto Cantabile / Stravinsky: Violin Concerto in D / Tchaikovsky: Serenade melancholique,Op.26 ~ Vengerov

Rodion Shchedrin (Composer), Igor Stravinsky (Composer), Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (Composer), Mstislav Rostropovich (Conductor), London Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Maxim Vengerov (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Maxim Vengerov
• Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Mstislav Rostropovich
• Composer: Rodion Shchedrin, Igor Stravinsky, Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky
• Audio CD (June 6, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Angel Records / EMI
• ASIN: B00004RITO
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #276,687 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EXCITING, July 27, 2001

By 

MOVIE MAVEN (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Shchedrin: Concerto Cantabile / Stravinsky: Violin Concerto in D / Tchaikovsky: Serenade melancholique,Op.26 ~ Vengerov (Audio CD)

I have several different recordings of Stravinsky's remarkable VIOLIN CONCERTO IN D, including Anne-Sophie Mutter's top drawer performance. It is, undoubtedly, one of the finest concertos of the 20th century and if you are lucky enough to live in New York, you can see George Balanchine's brilliant ballet set to this music at The New York City Ballet. In this ballet, as the master choreographer said, one can "see the music."

Beautiful and simple, severe and yet highly emotional in Stravinsky's "neo-classic" style, this is a piece of music that the listener can return to over and over again and be fulfilled. It is nothing to be "feared" by people who think the 20th century only brought abstraction to the arts.

The combination of Maxim Vengerov, not yet 30 years old, and Mstislav Rostropovich, almost 70 years old, is absolutely unbeatable. I thought, at first, I was listening to a live concert recording, it was that exciting. This is a recording to treasure

The companion piece, Shchedrin's CONCERTO CANTABILE is new to me and positively beautiful. Rounding out this all Russian program is Tchaikovsky's lovely, more traditionally lyrical SERENADE MELANCOLIQUE.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great CD! Don't hesitate!, June 7, 2006

By 

Thomas Martin "sonomatom" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Shchedrin: Concerto Cantabile / Stravinsky: Violin Concerto in D / Tchaikovsky: Serenade melancholique,Op.26 ~ Vengerov (Audio CD)

The 'Schedrin'piece is haunting; the "Stravinsky" infectious, and the 'Tchaikovsky' simply beautiful.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Idling in the Shchedrin, taking off in the Stravinsky, January 1, 2006

By 

Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Shchedrin: Concerto Cantabile / Stravinsky: Violin Concerto in D / Tchaikovsky: Serenade melancholique,Op.26 ~ Vengerov (Audio CD)

The Amazon reviewer has given us the background of Vengerov's very productive relationship with Rostropovich, and this CD reveals how the two spark each other off musically. The Stravinsky is a riot of slashes and swoops one never hears in this neoclassical work, alternating with sudden slides that I'm sure Stravinsky hardly imagined. It makes for a romantic encounter with the century's most anti-romantic composer. Come swoon over Maxim, and why not?

But first you have to troll thorugh the still waters of the Shchderin, whose "modernism" is fifteen minutes ahead of Fritz Kreisler and fifteeen years behind WW II. The operative question with this composer is just how junky his music will be this time around. In the Concreto Cantabile composed for Vengerov we get the Russian version of Corigliano's Red Violin movie socre--long legato lines interspersed with showy fiddling--but much less melodically inspired. If you're going to be this retrograde, it helps to carry a tune.

As filler we get the Tchaikovsky Serenade Melacholique, which is essentially a wordless aria in the melodic style of Eugene Onegin. Vengerov plays it to the manner born, and although the most minor thing on this CD, the Tchaikovsky makes you feel that Oistrakh has found his spiritual godson.

EMI's sonics are close and larger-than-life, which makes for great impact but also turns Vengerov's tone somewhat coarse and metallic at times. In any event, for anyone who comes for the Stravinsky, this could be the performance of a lifetime.