Nostalgic Russia Hideko Udagawa, violin [1] Pyotr Tchaikovsky (transc. Mikhailovsky): Romance, Op. 5 ** 5:20 [2] Tchaikovsky: Valse Sentimentale, Op. 51, No. 6 2:05 Petr Limonov, piano Eduard Nápravník: Four Pieces, Op .64 [3] 1. Nocturne 4:20 [4] 2. Valse – Caprice 4:17 Recorded in St. Silas Church, London, 25 & 27 November 2020 [5] 3. Melodie russe 3:35 [6] 4. Scherzo espagnol 3:59 Producer: Ian Watson [7] Sergei Rachmaninov (transc. Mikhailovsky): Elegie, Op. 3 No. 1 ** 5:28 Engineer: Philip Siney [8] Igor Stravinsky: Chanson Russe- Russian Maiden’s Song 3:36 Mastered for compact disc by Paul Arden-Taylor [9] Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (transc. Kreisler): Hymn to the Sun Mastered for digital release by Gene Gaudette, Urlicht AudioVisual (from Le coq d’or) 4:39 [10] Anton Arensky (transc. Heifetz): Tempo di Valse 4:37 Total Playing Time - 72:20 [11] Arensky: Serenade, Op. 30, No. 2 3:10 [12] Alexander Scriabin: Nocturne, Op. 5 No. 1 (transc. Mogilevsky) 4:00 ** World premiere recording Dmitri Shostakovich (transcr. Tsyganov) : Three Fantastic Dances, Op. 5 [13] No. 1. Allegretto 1:32 [14] No. 2. Andantino 1:36 [15] No. 3. Allegretto 1:05 Shostakovich: from Five Preludes, Op. 34 (transcr. Tsyganov) [16] No. 2. Allegretto 1:10 [17] No. 18. Allegretto 0:59 [18] No. 11. Allegretto 0:57 [19] No. 17. Largo 2:19 [20] No. 5. Allegro 0:45 [21] Dmitri Kabalevsky: Improvisation, Op. 21, No. 1 4:41 [22] Kabalevsky: Rondo, Op. 69 7:59 ** World premiere recording This album brings together rarely heard works by leading Russian composers of the slowest number of the set, with a long, arching melody, here transferred to the violin, Romantic era and the 20th century. All are written for violin and piano, others over broadly-voiced accompanying textures. transcribed, often from solo piano works. Russian music in the late 19th century had a Stravinsky’s Chanson russe is from a Pushkin opera. Mavra is a one-act comedy, written strong focus on melody, but composers also sought to present their melodic ideas in for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes company in 1922. The Chanson is sung by Parasha as a atmospheric settings with sophisticated accompaniments. Advances in piano lament for her absent lover, who soon returns disguised as a cook. The music is in a construction through the century allowed composers to explore a wider range of mood parodied Russian folk style. In the 1930s, Stravinsky teamed up with violinist Samuel and colour in their piano writing. The addition of solo violin, either by the composer or Dushkin to perform and tour. Chanson russe appeared regularly on their recital by a later arranger, further expanded the expressive palette. These works showcase a programmes, the violin and piano transcription a collaboration between the two men. wide range of Russian melodies from the era, referencing many styles and genres, Russian opera proved a valuable source for chamber music in the early 20th century, including folksongs, elegies, Russian dances and opera. with many arias adapting well for violin and piano. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Hymn to The two short works by Tchaikovsky date from early and late in his career. The the Sun is taken from his 1908 opera The Golden Cockerel. This opera, the composer’s Romance, Op. 5, was composed in 1868 and is dedicated to Désirée Artôt, to whom he last, sets a fairy-tale story by Pushkin. In the story, Tsar Dodon sets out to battle the was engaged. The engagement soon ended, but Artôt remained dear to the composer Queen of Shemanka. The Tsar and the Queen meet, and she seduces him with the throughout his life. The Romance is an early work, one of the frst to show Hymn to the Sun. Hostilities cease, but the Tsar’s capitulation is the frst stage in his Tchaikovsky’s distinctive melodic style, yearning and sentimental but with dark eventual downfall. The aria is the most famous section of the opera. It was arranged for undertones. The Valse Sentimentale, Op. 51 No. 6, is another bittersweet melody. It was violin and piano by Fritz Kriesler, who made a recording of his transcription at Abbey composed in 1882 and is dedicated to Emma Genton, who was governess to the Road in 1938. children of Tchaikovsky’s friends Nikolay Kondratyev and his wife Mariya. Anton Arensky was a Moscow-based composer in the circle of Tchaikovsky - a major Eduard Nápravník was a Czech composer and conductor who spent most of his career infuence on his music. Both the Serenade, Op. 30 No. 2, and the Tempo di Valse were in Russia. He was a prominent fgure in turn-of-the-century St Petersburg, as principal originally scored for violin and orchestra. The light-hearted Serenade was written for conductor of the Mariinsky Theatre. Nápravník wrote four operas and four symphonies, violin and chamber orchestra in 1891 but was also published in a violin and piano and was also prolifc in chamber music, writing many works for violin and piaNo. The arrangement by the composer. The Tempo de Valse was originally the third movement Four Pieces, Op. 64, were composed in 1898. They demonstrate Nápravník’s outsider of Arensky’s Violin Concerto, also from 1891. The arrangement for violin and piano is by perspective on Russian Romanticism. The rich, melodic style is typically Russian, but the Jascha Heifetz. piano textures also look to the German Romantics, especially Schumann. As well as a composer, Arensky was infuential as a teacher at the Moscow Rachmaninov’s Elegie is taken from his Op. 3 set of piano pieces, Morceaux de fantaisie. Conservatory, where his pupils included Alexander Scriabin. Scriabin’s music would The collection, which also includes the famous Prelude in C-Sharp Minor, was composed later become more radical and progressive, but during his student years he wrote in a in 1892, the year he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory. His teachers there had style heavily infuenced by Chopin. The Nocturne, Op. 5 No. 1, originally for piano, dates included the composer Anton Arensky, to whom that set is dedicated. The Elegie is the from 1890, during his studies. Already though, Scriabin’s harmonic language is dark and complex. The transcription for violin and piano was made by Alexander Mogilevsky a Hideko Udagawa has performed extensively throughout the world and captivates close friend of the composer and director of the Kremlin band under Tsar Nicholas II. international audiences with her artistry and enthusiasm. Critics have acclaimed her Dmitri Kabalevsky was a composer of the Soviet era, and his two works presented here performances, commending her passionate commitment, dazzling agility and demonstrate the greater rhythmic focus of Russian music in the 20th century, but also refnement of taste. As a protégée of Nathan Milstein, she has inherited the great the continuing importance of direct melodic expression. Improvisation, Op. 21 No. 1, Russian romantic tradition of violin playing. Her performances have spanned thirty was written in 1934 as incidental music for the flm Night of Saint Petersburg. The work’s countries across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacifc, and more than 100 cities and textures are imposing, but the violin line is lyrical and based on a folk- like melody. The towns in the United Kingdom alone. Rondo, Op. 69, was composed in 1961 as a test piece for the Second International Ms Udagawa made her orchestral debut in London with the London Symphony Tchaikovsky Competition. The virtuosity required of the contestants is tested in the Orchestra under Sir Charles Mackerras, playing Bruch’s Violin Concerto in G minor at the motoric main theme, but this alternates with quieter episodes, requiring sustained and Barbican Hall. Highlights from her other engagements include performances with the focussed lyricism. Philharmonia under Leonard Slatkin, Royal Philharmonic under Paavo Jarvi, Royal Dmitri Shostakovich was a prodigy, both as a pianist and a composer. His Three Liverpool Philharmonic under Marek Janowski, City of Birmingham Symphony under Fantastic Dances, Op. 5, dated 1922, when he was just 16. Dance rhythms propel the Okko Kamu, London Mozart Players under Matthias Bamert, Russian National under music, and mischievous harmonic twists anticipate the composer’s mature style. That Paavo Berglund, as well as the Moscow Philharmonic, English Chamber, National style is demonstrated in the Preludes, Op. 34. These were written in 1932–33, and are Symphony and Bavarian Radio orchestras. loosely modelled on Chopin’s Op. 28 Preludes, modest in scale, but with many surprising In addition, she has made a twelve city tour in North America with the Mozarteum shifts in mood and texture. The arrangements of the Opp. 5 and 34 piano works into Orchestra of Salzburg and tours in Japan with Warsaw Philharmonic under Kazimierz ones for violin and piano are by Dmitri Tsyganov, long-serving frst violinist of the Kord and with the Japan Philharmonic. She has also toured as a guest soloist with Beethoven Quartet, who premiered most of Shostakovich’s string quartets. visiting orchestras to the United Kingdom, including Berlin Symphony, Polish Chamber Shostakovich praised his arrangement of the Op. 34 Preludes as sounding even more and Bucharest Philharmonic. Invitations to many international festivals have included idiomatic than the original piano versions. the George Enescu, City of London, Norfolk & Norwich, Perth, Brno, Ankara and Assisi © Gavin Dixon 2020 festivals. In addition to live performances, Ms Udagawa has made a number of recordings which draw on her wide-ranging repertoire of over 40 concerti. She is particularly enthusiastic about discovering great unrecorded works. Her CD of works by Rachmaninov with the pianist Konstantin Lifschitz, for Signum, was the frst ever collection of this popular composer’s works for violin and piano and includes previously unrecorded pieces.