music critic
Hirose Daisuke
Music with an unwavering core
For the author, Alexander Vedernikov remained a figure known only through recordings for a long time. It seems he was always listened to as a subject of "study," particularly for his energetic introduction of little-known Russian repertoire. The author first heard the complete Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila (not just the overture!) in a recording with the Bolshoi Theatre. The video of Rimsky-Korsakov's The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya, recorded at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari, Italy, was also, as far as the author remembers, first viewed in Vedernikov's version.
Even recently, Vedernikov's name is often credited on recordings of concertos that are truly impressive. At the 2006 Lugano Festival, a live recording captured a spirited, back-and-forth performance of Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 1, with Martha Argerich and Sergei Nakariakov as soloists. His recording of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 2 (not the No. 1!), performed with the Sinfonia Varsovia and featuring Boris Berezovsky as the soloist, deserves to be better known as the recording that sparked a re-evaluation of this work, which has seen increased performance opportunities in recent years.
It has become clearly evident what kind of conducting style Vedernikov possesses, and how he drives an orchestra, over the past decade or so through his regular guest appearances with the NHK Symphony Orchestra. Most recently, in October 2016, for Subscription Concert Program C, he presented Dvořák's Cello Concerto and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6, "Pathétique." The soloist on that occasion was Alexander Kniazev. While Kniazev is an intensely individualistic player in a different way from Berezovsky, when hosting such soloists, Vedernikov seems to transform into the type who incites the orchestra, rather than strictly dedicating himself to accompaniment, resulting in a truly gripping performance. In the Pathétique, he performed the second through fourth movements continuously, taking the center of gravity deep and allowing the music to progress with a sense of spaciousness.
It is precisely because Vedernikov demonstrates an ability to adapt in a myriad of ways depending on the work and his collaborators, while an unwavering, river-like flow of music exists at his core, that expectations are high for this latest combination of works with diverse personalities. With Andrei Korobeinikov, who has visited Japan frequently since his youth and has been actively recording Scriabin's solo works in recent years, he will present Scriabin's Piano Concerto. This promises to be a notable performance, shimmering with the unique sense of color characteristic of this composer. Glazunov's Symphony No. 7, "Pastoral," which is said to quote material from Beethoven in its first movement, should also be a performance that encourages a re-evaluation of Scriabin, a composer whose works are still not frequently heard.
Source.
For the author, Alexander Vedernikov remained a figure known only through recordings for a long time. It seems he was always listened to as a subject of "study," particularly for his energetic introduction of little-known Russian repertoire. The author first heard the complete Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila (not just the overture!) in a recording with the Bolshoi Theatre. The video of Rimsky-Korsakov's The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya, recorded at the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari, Italy, was also, as far as the author remembers, first viewed in Vedernikov's version.
Even recently, Vedernikov's name is often credited on recordings of concertos that are truly impressive. At the 2006 Lugano Festival, a live recording captured a spirited, back-and-forth performance of Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 1, with Martha Argerich and Sergei Nakariakov as soloists. His recording of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 2 (not the No. 1!), performed with the Sinfonia Varsovia and featuring Boris Berezovsky as the soloist, deserves to be better known as the recording that sparked a re-evaluation of this work, which has seen increased performance opportunities in recent years.
It has become clearly evident what kind of conducting style Vedernikov possesses, and how he drives an orchestra, over the past decade or so through his regular guest appearances with the NHK Symphony Orchestra. Most recently, in October 2016, for Subscription Concert Program C, he presented Dvořák's Cello Concerto and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6, "Pathétique." The soloist on that occasion was Alexander Kniazev. While Kniazev is an intensely individualistic player in a different way from Berezovsky, when hosting such soloists, Vedernikov seems to transform into the type who incites the orchestra, rather than strictly dedicating himself to accompaniment, resulting in a truly gripping performance. In the Pathétique, he performed the second through fourth movements continuously, taking the center of gravity deep and allowing the music to progress with a sense of spaciousness.
It is precisely because Vedernikov demonstrates an ability to adapt in a myriad of ways depending on the work and his collaborators, while an unwavering, river-like flow of music exists at his core, that expectations are high for this latest combination of works with diverse personalities. With Andrei Korobeinikov, who has visited Japan frequently since his youth and has been actively recording Scriabin's solo works in recent years, he will present Scriabin's Piano Concerto. This promises to be a notable performance, shimmering with the unique sense of color characteristic of this composer. Glazunov's Symphony No. 7, "Pastoral," which is said to quote material from Beethoven in its first movement, should also be a performance that encourages a re-evaluation of Scriabin, a composer whose works are still not frequently heard.
Source.
