DE 3413 TCHAIKOVSKY: Complete works for violin & piano

1. Sérénade Mélancolique, Op. 26 (9:37) 2. Valse-Scherzo, Op. 34 (9:26) Souvenir d’un lieu cher, Op. 42 3. Méditation, No. 1 (10:31) 4. Scherzo, No. 2 (3:48) 5. Mélodie, No. 3 (3:22) 6. Humoresque, Op. 10, No. 2 (2:44) 7. Andante funebre e doloroso ma con moto, Op. 30 (10:30) 8. Oh! Chante Encore!, Op. 16, No. 4 (3:27) world premiere recording

Total Playing Time: 53:30

Sasha Rozhdestvensky, violin Josiane Marfurt, piano

Special thanks to my dear friend Constantine Orbelian for his help with this project. — Sasha Rozhdestvensky

Executive Producer: Carol Rosenberger Producer/Engineer: Ilya Karpov Recorded at the Academy of Choral Art, , October 22-24, 2010 Cover Design: Elena Iliady Sasha Rozhdestvensky photo: Mina Angela Josiane Marfurt photo: Sasha Rozhdestvensky Cover Photo: Sasha Rozhdestvensky Graphics: Mark Evans

7 & W 2011 Delos Productions, Inc., P.O. Box 343, Sonoma, California 95476-9998 (707) 996-3844 • Fax (707) 320-0600 • (800) 364-0645 Made in USA www.delosmusic.com NOTES ON THE PROGRAM

sk any seasoned fans of mainstream classical music who their per - only after international public acclaim had made him something of a na - sonally “most lovable” composers are, and odds are that Peter tional treasure. Still, he walked an artistic tightrope for much of his life. But Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) will be close to the top of their lists. this is precisely what Tchaikovsky wanted to do: namely to produce quality ALike the handful of other composers most likely to top such lists (Mozart, music that would earn him international respect and admiration while re - Schubert, Dvo rˇák), many such aficionados will probably also tell you that it maining true to Russian melody, sound and style. The simple fact that his is the music of such supreme masters of melody and harmony that first music remains far more popular than that of his “Mighty Handful” contem - grabbed their ears and souls as young people, igniting unquenchable fires poraries – both in Russia and everywhere beyond its borders – stands as in their bellies for great music. We may well look to other romantic giants potent testimony to the success of his unique approach. for greater grandeur (Wagner, Bruckner), polished elegance (Chopin), spontaneity (Schumann), blithe good spirits (Mendelssohn), or intellectual Yet Tchaikovsky’s music remains quintessentially Russian, and not only in intensity (Brahms). But, for sheer beauty of melody and harmony – and the terms of its melodic, harmonic and stylistic nature. Like the music of most ability to pull listeners, head-over-heels, into a world of pure musical emo - of his compatriots, his compositions tap into the unique Russian national tion – Tchaikovsky has few, if any peers. psyche: a pervasive and persistent mindset that arises from both historical and geographical factors. In fact, Russian history is a seemingly endless While revering his music, the classical music establishment tends to agree saga of mass oppression: its early centuries of brutal feudal tyranny per - that Tchaikovsky was hardly a pioneering innovator of the romantic era. sisted through the last of the Czars (listen to Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov After all, he adhered mostly to then-conventional western-European forms sometime), and the following Soviet era only substituted different sorts and styles of composition. Most musicologists consider him to be a tyranny and mass hardship. Likewise, Russia’s wide-open steppes – with supremely effective creator of mainstream romantic music, though with a few, if any natural defenses – have left the region open to frequent and cat - distinct Russian twist. But in his native Russia, he was long regarded as a astrophic foreign invasions, from the Medieval era’s Teutonic knights and rebel of sorts. During much of his career, he was at creative odds with his Mongol hordes through the Napoleonic and German encroachments of the nation’s progressive musical forces, led by the “Mighty Handful” (or “The past two centuries. Thus, over nearly a millennium, have suffered Five”): an alliance of largely unschooled Russian composers (Mily Bal - more than their fair share of war’s ravages and grief. akirev, Alexander Borodin, César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov) who sought to promote a uniquely Russian style based No wonder, then, that the long-suffering Russian people developed a exclusively on folk-styles and traditions. These worthies decried strong collective sense of hopeless persecution, backed up by pronounced Tchaikovsky’s “academic” approach that, to them, was more European distrust of foreigners: attitudes that only lately – with the advent of global - than Russian in nature. On the other hand, the academic formalists of the ization and the information age – are beginning to dissipate. Emotionally, conservatories of St. Petersburg and Moscow (who had trained him) disap - Russians also tend to be exceptionally intense and demonstrative. And such proved of what they saw as both his emotional excesses and his determina - impulses cannot help but spill over into all aspects of Russian culture: art, tion to impart a distinctly Russian flavor to his music. literature, and (of course) music. Indeed, few (if any) of the great Russian composers have been strangers to misery or deep, turmoil-ridden emotion The composer was eventually able to make peace with both camps – but – Tchaikovsky included. So, to hear Russian music is often to feel pain – or to ride a harrowing emotional roller-coaster, plunging from rhapsodic and ited efforts in the genre still stand as some of the most representative from triumphant highs to the blackest and most hopeless gloom and despair. Ei - the romantic era. Even this album of compositions for violin and piano can ther way, it’s great therapy. Tchaikovsky – via his music – tells us loud and be seen (and heard) as a musical microcosm of the composer’s hallmark clear (and better than most) that he’s “been there” through the ups and style, melodic-harmonic richness, and emotional intensity. It should be downs of life – and we take comfort that we’re not alone in our own partic - noted that most of the works heard here also exist in arrangements for vio - ular emotional states, whatever they may be. lin and orchestra: both his own and from other composers.

The course of Tchaikovsky’s life gave him ample reason for both elation Composed in 1875, Tchaikovsky’s Sérénade Mélancolique , Op. 26, was first and despair. Though deeply sensitive to criticism of his work – particularly heard a year later in its version for violin and orchestra. The piece was to in his up-and-down early career – he never lost confidence (at least not for have been premiered by its dedicatee, violinist Leopold Auer – but when he long) in his ability to produce beautiful and appealing music: an assurance backed out of the engagement, violinist leapt into the bolstered by his ever-increasing public successes. His most productive peri - breach. The same thing happened several years later with Tchaikovsky’s ods were marked by joyous episodes of headlong creative frenzy and ful - beloved Violin Concerto : after Auer allegedly declared it “unplayable,” fillment. Eventually, he was even able to brush off the negative reviews that Brodsky again came to the rescue. occasionally condemned even his most popular works, gradually becoming his own harshest critic. After a short piano introduction, the violin enters, singing one of those soft and despondent Russian melodies that makes the sensitive listener Contrary to conclusions from earlier biographers that his homosexuality want to cry. A wistful, but less tragic second theme soon appears, devel - and fear of scandalous exposure in an intolerant society were sources of oped from the piano’s opening passage. The mood becomes somewhat constant lifelong torment, we can now see them as only partially justified, more agitated in the central section, as the violin delivers running eighth in light of more modern research based on his correspondence and archival notes over the piano’s foundation, building to an inspiring climax. A quiet documents that have only come to light since the Soviet regime folded. violin cadenza takes us into reprises of the opening themes, with the play - While he certainly suffered much anguish following his disastrous mar - ers trading the melodies back and forth before a short coda brings the riage to – a former student of his – the experience may work to a hushed close. well have ultimately been a positive one, in that it enabled him to finally come to terms with the unalterable permanence of his sexuality. Even the Frothy and lighthearted contrast comes with the Valse-scherzo , Op. 34. It persistent rumors of his alleged final “suicide” to avoid public scandal now was written in early 1877 for the young violinist Iosif Kotek, who is be - appear unfounded. Yet his many same-sex infatuations, flings and longer lieved to have been one of Tchaikovsky’s lovers. After its coy introductory attachments – with their inevitable emotional highs and lows – are certainly piano octaves, the violin spins a happy, skipping tune that builds in care - reflected in his music. As disconcerting as it may seem to some, the steamy free abandon. But the contrasting central section soon brings a more romance and ecstatic passion of works like Romeo and Juliet and Francesca da poignant mood, before a flashy, virtuosic episode returns us to the joyous Rimini were certainly inspired by “the love that dares not speak its name.” opening theme, leading to a brilliant finish. On the other hand, his darkest musical utterances were no doubt often in - duced by his many romantic disappointments. The three-movement Souvenir d’un lieu cher (Memory of a dear place), Op. 42 is actually the only work for these instruments that Tchaikovsky com - Tchaikovsky was never a prolific composer of chamber music, but his lim - posed specifically as a chamber piece. He completed it in May of 1878, while enjoying an idyllic getaway at Brailovo: a Ukrainian country estate posed in early 1876 as the third movement to Tchaikovsky’s emotionally belonging to his (then-absent) longtime benefactress . harrowing String Quartet No. 3 , Op. 30, written in memory of Ferdinand The work also exists in orchestral versions, but as arranged by other com - Laub: a violinist who – not long before his death – had taken part in the posers. He had already composed the first movement, the Méditation , two premieres of the two earlier quartets. The composer transcribed the move - months earlier in Switzerland, where he had also written his Violin ment for violin and piano later that year, at about the same time the above Concerto . The music was originally scored for orchestra, as it was initially Humoresque was reworked. intended as the concerto’s slow movement. But, realizing that it wasn’t sub - stantial enough for that purpose, he set it aside. The violin grabs the listener’s attention right away with emphatic repeti - Never one to let good music go to waste, Tchaikovsky decided at Brailovo tions of a single note over varied piano chords, suggesting a slow funeral to use the Méditation in his new chamber piece, and rewrote the orchestral procession. These gradually lead into an aching, dirge-like melody that parts for piano. The minor-hued opening melody is melancholic and eventually shifts into a solemn evocation of Russian Orthodox chant, sweetly plaintive, full of Tchaikovsky’s hallmark sense of yearning and adding something of a sacred dimension to the music. The original theme rising before long to a passionate climax. The brief central interlude shifts returns briefly, along with a fleeting new melody, before the chant-like ma - to a honeyed major-key dialogue between the instruments before a reprise terials return to take us to the work’s subdued close. of the opening section ends the movement. Next comes a darkly virtuosic minor-key Scherzo , with its skittering outer sections framing a sweet and Finally, as if to revive our spirits after the previous work’s deep despair, we flowing central violin melody over wave-like figurations from the piano. hear Oh! Chante Encore (O Sing the song again), Op. 16, No. 4. This de - The final Mélodie is by far the most famous of the work’s movements, and lightful musical confection first appeared as one of the Six Songs (or Ro - is often performed as a stand-alone miniature. The movement is domi - mances ) of the original Op. 16, from 1869. The composer later transcribed nated by a dreamy tune of exceptional beauty from the violin, laced with three of them for piano solo, in which form this piece is best known. While imitative passages from the piano. The fleeting central passage offers the preface to the complete Tchaikovsky Edition reveals that Tchaikovsky lively contrast, until the main melody returns to end the work with exqui - had further arranged the piece for violin and piano, the score was believed site tenderness. to have been lost. But our album’s terrific violinist, Sasha Rozhdestvensky, was delighted to discover the piece at the National Library of France in Another of Tchaikovsky’s most popular short pieces is his Humoresque : . originally composed as the second of his two Op. 10 Morceaux for piano solo in the winter of 1871-1872; he transcribed the piece for violin and piano In any event, the music adapts beautifully to the violin/piano combination in 1876. The piece is also known from its later orchestral transcriptions by – as you may well imagine, given its origin as a vocal piece. The work’s conductor Leopold Stokowski and composer Igor Stravinsky, who worked outer sections radiate wistful contentment, as in a gentle reverie – with the it into his The Fairy’s Kiss ballet score. Its buoyant opening (and closing) central episode offering a more subtly tender feel. This is the work’s pre - theme brings a perky Russian dance to mind, but the piece’s central section miere recording – and a wonderful way to bring our album of shifts into a more lyrical mode with a lovely French folk-melody that the Tchaikovsky’s gems for violin and piano to a close. composer collected during a visit to Nice. — Lindsay Koob

As its title suggests, the Andante funebre e doloroso ma con moto is cer - tainly the most tragic music heard in this album. It was originally com - ARTIST BIOS

Sasha Rozhdestvensky is considered one of Russia’s finest young violinists. Paris Conservatoire and the Royal College of Music in London with Dr. Felix An - Yehudi Menuhin pronounced him to be “one of the most talented and refined vio - drievsky, Zinaida Gilels, Maya Glezarova and Gérard Poulet. linists of his generation,” while the legendary violinist Ivry Gitlis said of him: “He belongs to the great line of outstanding artists. His approach and relationship to He plays several violins, among which are a Guarneri del Gesù and a Stradivarius music and the violin is intense, highly sensitive and intelligent.” loaned to him by the Stradivari Society. He recently became an ambassador for the Stradivari Society. He has worked with many of the world’s renowned conductors including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Yuri Bash - met, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Valery Gergiev, Vernon The young Swiss pianist Josiane Marfurt received her first Handley, Jacques Mercier, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, piano lessons from Yukio Oya, former student of Claudio Gerard Schwarz, and has appeared internationally Arrau. Soon after beginning her studies she was invited to with many leading orchestras including the Bayerische participate in YAMAHA’s young composers program for Staatsorchester, Boston Symphony orchestra, gifted children. After the three-year course she was L’Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, Hong awarded the first prize for her piano sonata. During those Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Or - years she also received several first prizes at the Swiss na - chestra, London Symphony Orchestra, The Mariinsky tional competitions for young musicians. Later on, she Orchestra, The Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic Or - won other prizes at international competitions, such as chestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Sym - “Concours Géza Anda,” and ARD Competition Munich. phony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony and the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich. Josiane studied in Zurich and Munich, from 2001 to 2005 at the Academy of Music and Theater Zurich in the class He has appeared at major festivals including the BBC of Konstantin Scherbakov. This led to the award of the Proms, Tanglewood, Schleswig-Holstein, Gstaad, Is - prestigious concert diploma. After that, she spent two tanbul, Colmar, Ravinia, Florida, Taormina, Sienna, years in the soloist class of Gerhard Oppitz at the Acad - Lockenhaus, Montreux. emy of Music and Performing Arts Munich. Josiane completed this course with the award of a master’s de - Sasha has recorded numerous works for Thesis and gree. Subsequently she returned to Zurich to join the Chandos, including the Double Concerto (Concerto soloist class of Homero Francesch, where she completed Grosso No.6) written by Alfred Schnittke especially for her studies in the summer of 2009. him and Viktoria Postnikova. Most recently he recorded The Glazunov Violin Con - certo and Shostakovich Violin Concerto No.1 with The State Symphony Capella of In addition to solo repertoire, Josiane dedicates her - Russia and Gennady Rozhdestvensky for Nimbus records. self to chamber music. She is currently working very closely with the violinist Sasha Rozhdestvensky and in other ensembles. Concert invitations have taken His dedication to contemporary music is highlighted through close contact with several her to Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Spain, England, Poland, eminent composers, such as Alfred Schnittke, Sofia Gubaidulina and Giya Kancheli. He Japan and Russia. also devotes his time to the performance of traditional Latin American music together with the instrumental group “Ambar” and “Paris Gotan Trio.” Both groups have re - Josiane has worked with a number of European orchestras, including the Academic cently released CDs : “El Diablo Suelto” (DE 4031 on Delos) and “Champan Rosado .” Orchestra Zurich, the Bern Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Chamber Orchestra and the Sasha studied at the Central Music School in Moscow, the Moscow Conservatory, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. ALSO AVAILABLE ON DELOS FEATURING SASHA ROZHDESTVENSKY

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