JULIA ZILBERQUIT WOULD LIKE TO EXPRESS DEEP APPRECIATION AND GRATITUDE TO MR. AND MRS. LEN BLAVATNIK Produced by Vadim Ivanov Recorded May and September 2001 by Russian Season at The Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Moscow Engineered by Vitaly Ivanov Edited by Farida Uzbekova Design: Evan Gaffney Design Cover Photograph © Paul Maeyaert / The Bridgeman Art Library Photograph of Julia Zilberquit by Vlad Loktev ൿ 2002 Julia Zilberquit, under licence to Warner Classics, Warner Music UK Ltd. Ꭿ 2013 Warner Classics, Warner Music UK Ltd. A Warner Music Group Company. All rights of the producer and of the owner of the work reproduced reserved. Unauthorised copying, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting of this record prohibited. Made in the EU. www.warnerclassics.com www.juliazilberquit.com Julia Zilberquit J.S. BACH Russian-born American pianist Julia Zilberquit has earned critical acclaim as a recitalist, Complete Solo Keyboard Concertos orchestral soloist, chamber musician, and recording artist. Recently, she was hailed as “an outstanding soloist” by The New York Times following her 2012 Carnegie Hall performance of César Franck’s symphonic poem Les Djinns with the American Symphony J.S. BACH–VIVALDI Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein. Two Concertos Ms. Zilberquit’s recordings include The Mystery of Bagatelles, released in 2007 on Naxos and praised as a “superb performance” by The Washington Post and described as an “adventurous program, sparkling with unusual clarity and pointalistic luminescence” in Pianist magazine. Ms. Zilberquit has also recorded Jewish music from Russia, featuring works by Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and Slonimsky (Harmonia Mundi). Her arrangement of Shostakovich’s Concertino for piano and orchestra was performed worldwide to JULIA ZILBERQUIT critical acclaim and recorded with Vladimir Spivakov and Moscow Virtuosi (BMG). In commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel, in 2008, Ms. piano Zilberquit premiered Slonimsky’s Jewish Rhapsody for piano and orchestra, which was commissioned by and dedicated to her, in Jerusalem with Leon Botstein and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. In 2004 Ms. Zilberquit found and premiered a virtually MOSCOW VIRTUOSI unknown early piano concerto by Beethoven in Moscow with Yuri Bashmet and the Young Russia Orchestra. Saulius Sondeckis, conductor Julia Zilberquit has performed with leading orchestras including the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, and Deutsche Symphony, and has given recitals at many of the world’s major halls, including New York’s Carnegie Hall and Alice OLGA MARTUNOVA MARINA FEDOROVA Tully Hall. A native of Moscow, Ms. Zilberquit was born into a family of musicians. harpsichord & ILYA LEBEDEV She graduated from Moscow Gnessin School of Music and the Juilliard School (class of Bella Davidovich). She lives in New York City with her husband, son, and daughter. flute* DISC ONE thirty-second notes become longer, creating the sense of breathtakingly rapid forward movement. This is one of the most complex and virtuoso finales among Bach’s concertos. J. S. Bach–Vivaldi J. S. Bach The Bach–Vivaldi Concerto in A minor, BWV 596 (RV 522), in an arrange- Concerto in D minor, op.3 no. 11 Keyboard Concerto in E major ment for keyboard with orchestra, reflects two primary sources: Vivaldi’s string (BWV 593, RV 565) (BWV 1053) concerto and Bach’s organ concerto. The keyboard therefore bears the responsi- Transcription for piano and chamber 7. I 8:11 bility of eliciting both the inflectional expressiveness of Vivaldi’s violin original orchestra by Julia Zilberquit 8. Siciliano 6:44 and the power of Bach’s organ version, yet remains within the bounds of the 1. Allegro 4:53 9. Allegro 6:37 keyboard esthetic. This peculiarity of the concerto is especially noticeable in 2. Largo e spiccato 3:23 the Allegro (first movement). In the Andante (second movement), the performer 3. Allegro 2:48 J. S. Bach faces another difficult task: to convey sorrow and humility in a laconic context. Keyboard Concerto in D major Here Zilberquit, in the spirit of the 18th-century performing tradition, enriches J. S. Bach (BWV 1054) the modest melodic line with various ornaments. The keyboard part in the finale Keyboard Concerto in D minor 10. I 7:47 is organically woven together from a duet of two violins. Most impressive, too, (BWV 1052) 11. Adagio e piano sempre 6:20 are the sharply articulated fragments (reminiscent of Bach’s original Concerto 4. Allegro 7:37 12. Allegro 2:50 in D minor) and the arioso episodes, extremely simple in texture yet highly 5. Adagio 7:38 expressive. 6. Allegro 7:50 —Mark Zilberquit Translated by Cathy Young DISC TWO movement, it contains passages in which the expressiveness of inflection requires extraordinary mastery from the performer. Bach’s Keyboard Concerto in F major, BWV 1057, is a different version of his J. S. Bach J. S. Bach own Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G major. One of the work’s peculiarities is the Keyboard Concerto in A major Keyboard Concerto in G minor fact that it spotlights two solo flutes along with the solo keyboard. Nevertheless, (BWV 1055) (BWV 1058) it definitely is not a Concerto Grosso (as are the Brandenburg concertos); this piece has a brilliant, virtuoso solo part for the keyboard. The second movement, 1. Allegro 4:03 10. I 3:56 2. Larghetto 6:15 written in the manner of a Sarabande, features a rich part for the orchestra and 11. Andante 6:13 3. Allegro ma non tanto 4:11 virtuoso parts for both flutes, but still allows the keyboard to retain the lead role 12. Allegro assai 4:01 with a very expressive melody. The finale is a festive-sounding fugue in which J. S. Bach J. S. Bach–Vivaldi the theme shifts from the piano to the flute and then to the orchestra. However, Keyboard Concerto in F minor Concerto in A minor, op.3 no.8 even in the episode where the keyboard acts as accompanist, its dominant role, (BWV 1056) (BWV 596, RV 522) with its exceptionally complex passages, remains almost intact. Transcription for piano and chamber The Keyboard Concerto in G minor, BWV 1058, also stems from a violin pro- 4. I 3:23 orchestra by Julia Zilberquit totype, the Concerto in A minor (BWV 1041). The first movement is very versatile 5. Largo 2:52 6. Presto 3:27 13. Allegro 3:42 in both character and texture; Bach rarely used chordal narrative in concertos 14. Larghetto e spiritoso 6:15 as he does here at the beginning of the main theme. The Andante is dominated J. S. Bach 15. Allegro 4:11 by nuances of piano and pianissimo. Only at times does the orchestra make power- Keyboard Concerto in F major * ful “incursions,” which seem merely to offset the barely changing dynamics of (BWV 1057) the solo instrument. In the concluding, third movement, Bach uses his favorite technique for finales: the gradual “division” of time values (from sixteenth notes 7. Allegro 7:24 to thirty-seconds) in the clavier part. After they first appear, the episodes with 8. Andante 4:15 9. Allegro assai 5:30 vivid, literally festive, major-key music, “peppered,” like the first movement, with graceful minor-key episodes. Bach’s Keyboard Concerto in A major, BWV 1055, represents yet another stage in the evolution of the genre, moving it toward greater virtuosity and instrumental brilliance. The tone is set by the first part, homogenous in style but far from monotonous, in which the keyboard with its swift movement never loses the initiative even for a moment. The second movement, the Larghetto, is remarkable in that two melodic lines — that of the solo keyboard and that of the orchestra — run parallel and are absolutely equal in importance and expressive- T ness. The rhythmic, whimsical finale, abundant in ornamentation, requires the he concerto genre, as suggested by the literal meaning of the same special brilliance and exceptional clarity of play from the performer as was word “concerto” (from the Latin concertatio, or “contest”), is based on the principle called for in the opening. of competition between the solo instrument (or instruments) and the orchestra The Keyboard Concerto in F minor, BWV 1056, is also reported to have had (tutti). Born in the early 17th century in Italy, the classical Baroque concerto a violin prototype, the Concerto in G minor. The Allegro at the beginning, with its was fully crystallized in the work of Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741). It was Vivaldi’s heavy stride, is most expressive and versatile in its musical material. In this move- concertos that in many ways inspired Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), whose ment, the modern piano can probably “say” much more than the harpsichord, own works in this genre set a new standard. since the expressiveness of this music is better served by the piano’s richer singing It is likely that Bach first became acquainted with the concertos of Vivaldi inflection than by the harpsichord’s clarity. The second movement’s character and other Italian composers who wrote in this genre while he was working in is that of a chaste pastoral. Here, the orchestra lends only a little support to the Weimar (1708–1717). This knowledge, however, did not bear fruit until later, in his soloist, who, as it were, soars above the orchestra’s pizzicato sound. The finale so-called Ketten period (1717–1723), during which he created his most important does not achieve the same virtuosity as in some other concertos, but is every way keyboard compositions. It was also in those years that the composer created their equal in its wholeness of construction and clarity of direction. Like the first is preceded by a tragic Adagio that recalls the most moving pages of Bach’s numerous (about twenty) arrangements of concertos by other composers in Passions.