"Praise be … to Glinka and Tchaikovsky for showing what glittering substance is all about, and to Alexander Vedernikov for perfection of style in both. (★★★★)".
David Nice, The Arts Desk
“… Vedernikov inspired the musicians to discover their inner savage, propelling the most explosive sections with an elemental thrust. At the same time, in all that heat Vedernikov still balanced and shaped textures and phrases with a manicurist’s precision. The woodwinds’ introduction, wondrously virile, told us that. Through all the rhythmic pandemonium the ensemble sense was terrifyingly exact, making the couple of brass fluffs insignificant, flies on a lion’s back.”
Geoff Brown, TheTimes.co.uk Sep 24th 2013
“… Vedernikov’s approach to the symphony’s frenzied closing bars was resolute and almost mechanistic: the great machine of the state overwhelming the people, be they anti-tsarist or Hungarian protesters. It was powerful, menacing stuff, and there was a sense that the Sunday-afternoon Edinburgh audience was more shellshocked than appreciative.”
Rowena Smith, The Guardian Dec 4th 2017
“… On the strength of this performance, Alexander Vedernikov is not such a musician. Conducting the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, in what was surprisingly the orchestra’s first performances of the work, Vedernikov showed himself to be an economical master of this music. This was a performance full of character but decidedly lacking in histrionics. From the outset, where glacial strings provide a backdrop for the recurring ghostly tattoo on the timpani – surely one of the most atmospheric of symphonic openings – this was a measured, almost cool performance that emphasised the work’s Mahlerian scope and scale.”
Rowena Smith, The Guardian Dec 4th 2017
“Alexander Vedernikov conducted brilliantly, and the lurid colours and goose-pimple glissandi of the orchestra were exceptionally vivid.”
Anna Picard, The Independent Jul 30th 2006
“The new cast of Eugene Onegin, the season opener at the Met, has weighed in. Turns out — hooray! — they’re a troupe of heavyweights, especially as conducted by debuting Alexander Vedernikov, who appears to have Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky deeply embedded in his DNA.”
David Finkle, The Huffington Post Nov 24th 2013
“The Liszt made for a grand opening to the concert. Vedernikov’s fluid, expressive style of direction elicited a powerful and intense performance by the orchestra. The climax came at full power from the orchestra to produce a majestic lead-in to the Sibelius. “
Andre S. Hughes, South Bend Tribune Review Dec 2nd 2006
“Vedernikov relishes detail and adds an edge to the music he conducts (aided by a lucid and expressive technique), which came into its own in Tchaikovsky 4, the opening brassy ‘fate’ motif grandly stated, Vedernikov keeping the opening movement on the move without forcing the pace, tempo- and dynamic-dovetailing linking the chains persuasively “
ClassicalSource.com Oct 30th 2009
“In this utterly compelling (63-minute) performance, Vedernikov brought unequivocal shape and direction to a Symphony that can seem overblown and empty; not a bit of that here as he lived the music, sometimes stood back from it, alternating a mix of ‘proper’ conducting with something off the cuff, and in doing so aligning himself to the charismatic and maverick Rozhdestvensky. Certainly Vedernikov has a formed a close rapport with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, magnificently responsive here, with future appearances from this estimable conductor keenly anticipated. “
Colin Anderson, ClassicalSource.com Mar 22nd 2013
“The conductor Alexander Vedernikov may have adopted a broad-brush approach to the latter work, but as a former music director of the Bolshoi, he was certainly at home in this music. And the main work itself? Vedernikov’s Rite had powerful individuality. Though not short of virtuosity, which the BBCSO delivered with trademark ease, it stood out for its melancholic tone, with even the big orchestral howls carrying unusual anguish. A characterful conductor, Vedernikov supplied his own wild-man choreography on the podium, very different from Nijinsky’s contribution, which Stravinsky later recalled as “the knock-kneed and long-braided Lolitas jumping up and down”.”
John Allison, Telegraph Sep 23rd 2013
“This last in the series featured the First Symphony, and a rousing performance it was, capturing the young Sibelius’s rumbustiousness as he set off on his epic symphonic odyssey. The Russian conductor Alexander Vedernikov, who had opened the evening with a swaggering account of Shostakovich’s suite from The Bolt, threw himself into the symphony with an enthusiasm that swept up orchestra and audience.”
Andrew Clark, Financial Times May 13th 2012
Source.
"To have the opportunity to see him on stage and see how he makes the music succeed in the way he does was a pleasure. Vedernikov can at once deliver a great precision and safe control and set the orchestra free. There is nothing better than war his left hand, it is not holding the staff, just saying: and so on! fill in yourself! It is large format and provides music that breathes and sharpens the ears."
Camilla Marie Dahlgreen, Information, Februar, 12, 2019
Source.
Nixon in China opera by John Adams, The Royal Danish Theatre.
Vital and nuanced orchestral playing.
The Opera's music director, Alexander Vedernikov, we associate mostly with the great (late)Romantic repertoire, from Weber to Shostakovich, but here he showed his great breadth by delivering a very convincing interpretation of a music that is immediately very far away from the Classical-Romantic opera language. Minimalist music has a marked, often physically intrusive pulse as its trademark, it feeds on rhythmic-motivic repetition + variation and on a special sound world, not on bulging crescendi, languishing melodies or exciting chords. The orchestra is composed in a different way than the traditional one: about half as many strings as we are used to, and a wind band where trumpets and horns are replaced with saxophones of all sizes, and where flutes and clarinets play a very important role in the sound formation. In addition, two grand pianos and a distinctive percussion section contribute to a sound that is more reminiscent of musical and symphonic jazz than of romantic orchestral music. Vedernikov probably kept the rhythmic pot boiling, but at the same time he created moments of great melodic and tonal beauty as soon as the composer allows it, e.g. in the Wagner-inspired apotheosis of ballet music, and he gave the singers plenty of space to delineate their individual tonal and melodic profiles.
Lars Ole Bonde, May 22, 2019
Source.
Nixon in China opera by John Adams, The Royal Danish Theatre.
The Royal Danish Court Orchestra under Alexander Vedernikov performed with absolute perfection. The score, enriched with electronic instruments, demands the highest degree of rhythmic precision, especially in the first act, and repetitive figures from strings and winds, which are more suited to a beat than a melodic instrument. The security with which the choir and orchestra listened to the busy, hectic first act in particular was stunning.
Dr. Martin Knust, Operapoint, May 15, 2019
Source.
International Artist Of The Year 2017
P2 The Prize for International Artist of the year goes to the conductor Alexander Vedernikov for being a fantastic driving force in Odense's performance of Wagner's 'The Ring of the Nibelung'.
Most recently in Siegfried, where Alexander Vedernikov demonstrated his exceptional artistic strength, commitment and energy that inspires the Odense Symphony Orchestra and the soloists to perform at the highest international level.
DR P2 Prisen 2017
Source.
"...But the lion's share of the praise goes to the orchestra and condutor Alexander Vedernikov. Exhilarating from begginning to end, his was an interpretation full of controlled ecstasy and exquisitely blened colors."
Hannah Nepil, Financial Times. Oct 6th 2014
Source.
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Vedernikov at the Barbican
“… Vedernikov inspired the musicians to discover their inner savage, propelling the most explosive sections with an elemental thrust. At the same time, in all that heat Vedernikov still balanced and shaped textures and phrases with a manicurist’s precision. The woodwinds’ introduction, wondrously virile, told us that. Through all the rhythmic pandemonium the ensemble sense was terrifyingly exact, making the couple of brass fluffs insignificant, flies on a lion’s back.”
Geoff Brown, The Times, September 24 2013.
Source.
Eugene Onegin
A revolutionary production of the most popular Russian opera, featuring Mariusz Kwiecień and Tatiana Monogarova in the leading roles of a story about elusive love.
The premiere of the production took place on September 1, 2006, on the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theatre, amidst rumors of the prolonged reconstruction of the historic stage. It became an event as historic as the reconstruction of the main theater building in the country.
Dmitry Chernyakov opted against a detailed reconstruction of the Pushkin era, and not only that; many canonical details of the classic work underwent changes. It is enough to say that the scene of the duel between Onegin and Lensky significantly differs from the original, which greatly upset Galina Vishnevskaya, who "protested" against the director's arbitrary choices and refused to celebrate her anniversary at the Bolshoi.
The musical director of the production at that time, Alexander Vedernikov, recounted shortly after the premiere: "I recently received a letter: 'Alexander Vedernikov, I wanted to write 'Dear,' but my hand wouldn't allow it.' Somehow, it is believed that the new production of 'Eugene Onegin' is a desecration of national treasures. There is a certain category of people who go to the opera to experience familiar sensations once again, rather than seek new impressions. But the theater is a place that reflects the processes existing in real life. Life changes and the theater changes too. And they just cannot accept that the theater's task is not to preserve certain fixed forms."
Vedernikov aptly responded to all the outraged remarks: Chernyakov's "Eugene Onegin" represents precisely a new form of life for this great opera, fresh, vibrant, and psychologically authentic. No one has ever undertaken such interpretations of Tchaikovsky before. In harmony with the inventive direction, the ensemble of actors – under Chernyakov's guidance – performs on a par with the greatest dramatic artists: Mariusz Kwiecień as Onegin, Tatiana Monogarova as Tatiana, Makvala Kasrashvili as Larina, and Andrei Dunayev as Lensky.
coolconnections.ru
Source.
Eugene Onegin. Recorded live at the Opera National de Paris, September 2008.
Alexander Vedernikov draws excellent playing from his Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra.
It’s certainly worth seeing this staging and, with such excellent vocal performances, it bears repeated listening at the very least.
Mark Pullinger, 2020 Gramophone Magazine — 3 March.
Source.
The heir to a venerable musical dynasty, the son of the famous bass Alexander Vedernikov Sr., the keeper of the traditions of the Bolshoi Theater of the USSR, in the 2000s Vedernikov Jr. carried out on the main opera stages of the country perhaps the most daring reform in its history. It was he who was the chief conductor and musical director of the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre from 2001 to 2009. And during this time, he managed to create an entire era in the country's main theater, marked by landmark premieres - the performances of Leonid Desyatnikov's "Rosenthal's Children", Dmitry Chernyakov's "Eugene Onegin", Sergei Prokofiev's "War and Peace" and "The Fiery Angel", Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh" and others. When in 2009 he felt that he had done everything he could for the Bolshoi, he made a gesture unprecedented for the Russian cultural scene - he resigned.
By switching to the foreign music market, Vedernikov again disappointed expectations — instead of resting on the laurels of a patented specialist in the Russian repertoire, he easily got used to the European artistic context: all his key successes in the 2010s are associated with Western music of the twentieth century, which remains terra incognita for the vast majority of Russian conductors.
Press service of the St. Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra, March 3, 2021
Source.
Today, Alexander Vedernikov remains one of the key figures in the Russian and world opera and symphony scene. His work at the Bolshoi Theatre, as well as tours with world orchestras, continue to inspire generations of listeners. His legacy is not only a high level of performing skills, but also the ability to create music that penetrates the heart and inspires.Vedernikov proved that a conductor can be not only a technically perfect master, but also an artist capable of conveying complex emotions and the depth of music. His career is an example of how perseverance, talent, and passion for art can transform a person into a symbol of their era.
Viktor Myasnikov, Peoples.ru, May 3, 2005
Source.
Riga residents remember Alexander Vedernikov from the triumphant tours of the Bolshoi Theater at the Latvian National Opera in 2003 and 2008.
Vedernikov visited Riga first during a tour of the Bolshoi Theatre in June 2003. Then he conducted a production of Puccini's Turandot."This is my first time in Riga, and it's a very solemn moment for me," he said when he arrived from Moscow, sitting in the mezzanine hall of the Latvian Opera. - It was here that such luminaries as Richard Wagner, Leo Blech, Leonid Wigner conducted, and two Jansons, Arvid and Maris, worked. This is a very prestigious circumstance for me."And the second time he came exactly five years later, again to the Riga Opera Festival, organized by Andrejs Jagars. He has conducted two screenings of Pyotr Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin" and two screenings of Leonid Desyatnikov's acclaimed opera "Rosenthal's Children" staged by Aimuntas Nyakrosus. Now it's history, and those who saw those double tours are happy.
Andrey Shavrey, LSM.LV, October 30, 2020
Source.
David Nice, The Arts Desk
“… Vedernikov inspired the musicians to discover their inner savage, propelling the most explosive sections with an elemental thrust. At the same time, in all that heat Vedernikov still balanced and shaped textures and phrases with a manicurist’s precision. The woodwinds’ introduction, wondrously virile, told us that. Through all the rhythmic pandemonium the ensemble sense was terrifyingly exact, making the couple of brass fluffs insignificant, flies on a lion’s back.”
Geoff Brown, TheTimes.co.uk Sep 24th 2013
“… Vedernikov’s approach to the symphony’s frenzied closing bars was resolute and almost mechanistic: the great machine of the state overwhelming the people, be they anti-tsarist or Hungarian protesters. It was powerful, menacing stuff, and there was a sense that the Sunday-afternoon Edinburgh audience was more shellshocked than appreciative.”
Rowena Smith, The Guardian Dec 4th 2017
“… On the strength of this performance, Alexander Vedernikov is not such a musician. Conducting the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, in what was surprisingly the orchestra’s first performances of the work, Vedernikov showed himself to be an economical master of this music. This was a performance full of character but decidedly lacking in histrionics. From the outset, where glacial strings provide a backdrop for the recurring ghostly tattoo on the timpani – surely one of the most atmospheric of symphonic openings – this was a measured, almost cool performance that emphasised the work’s Mahlerian scope and scale.”
Rowena Smith, The Guardian Dec 4th 2017
“Alexander Vedernikov conducted brilliantly, and the lurid colours and goose-pimple glissandi of the orchestra were exceptionally vivid.”
Anna Picard, The Independent Jul 30th 2006
“The new cast of Eugene Onegin, the season opener at the Met, has weighed in. Turns out — hooray! — they’re a troupe of heavyweights, especially as conducted by debuting Alexander Vedernikov, who appears to have Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky deeply embedded in his DNA.”
David Finkle, The Huffington Post Nov 24th 2013
“The Liszt made for a grand opening to the concert. Vedernikov’s fluid, expressive style of direction elicited a powerful and intense performance by the orchestra. The climax came at full power from the orchestra to produce a majestic lead-in to the Sibelius. “
Andre S. Hughes, South Bend Tribune Review Dec 2nd 2006
“Vedernikov relishes detail and adds an edge to the music he conducts (aided by a lucid and expressive technique), which came into its own in Tchaikovsky 4, the opening brassy ‘fate’ motif grandly stated, Vedernikov keeping the opening movement on the move without forcing the pace, tempo- and dynamic-dovetailing linking the chains persuasively “
ClassicalSource.com Oct 30th 2009
“In this utterly compelling (63-minute) performance, Vedernikov brought unequivocal shape and direction to a Symphony that can seem overblown and empty; not a bit of that here as he lived the music, sometimes stood back from it, alternating a mix of ‘proper’ conducting with something off the cuff, and in doing so aligning himself to the charismatic and maverick Rozhdestvensky. Certainly Vedernikov has a formed a close rapport with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, magnificently responsive here, with future appearances from this estimable conductor keenly anticipated. “
Colin Anderson, ClassicalSource.com Mar 22nd 2013
“The conductor Alexander Vedernikov may have adopted a broad-brush approach to the latter work, but as a former music director of the Bolshoi, he was certainly at home in this music. And the main work itself? Vedernikov’s Rite had powerful individuality. Though not short of virtuosity, which the BBCSO delivered with trademark ease, it stood out for its melancholic tone, with even the big orchestral howls carrying unusual anguish. A characterful conductor, Vedernikov supplied his own wild-man choreography on the podium, very different from Nijinsky’s contribution, which Stravinsky later recalled as “the knock-kneed and long-braided Lolitas jumping up and down”.”
John Allison, Telegraph Sep 23rd 2013
“This last in the series featured the First Symphony, and a rousing performance it was, capturing the young Sibelius’s rumbustiousness as he set off on his epic symphonic odyssey. The Russian conductor Alexander Vedernikov, who had opened the evening with a swaggering account of Shostakovich’s suite from The Bolt, threw himself into the symphony with an enthusiasm that swept up orchestra and audience.”
Andrew Clark, Financial Times May 13th 2012
Source.
"To have the opportunity to see him on stage and see how he makes the music succeed in the way he does was a pleasure. Vedernikov can at once deliver a great precision and safe control and set the orchestra free. There is nothing better than war his left hand, it is not holding the staff, just saying: and so on! fill in yourself! It is large format and provides music that breathes and sharpens the ears."
Camilla Marie Dahlgreen, Information, Februar, 12, 2019
Source.
Nixon in China opera by John Adams, The Royal Danish Theatre.
Vital and nuanced orchestral playing.
The Opera's music director, Alexander Vedernikov, we associate mostly with the great (late)Romantic repertoire, from Weber to Shostakovich, but here he showed his great breadth by delivering a very convincing interpretation of a music that is immediately very far away from the Classical-Romantic opera language. Minimalist music has a marked, often physically intrusive pulse as its trademark, it feeds on rhythmic-motivic repetition + variation and on a special sound world, not on bulging crescendi, languishing melodies or exciting chords. The orchestra is composed in a different way than the traditional one: about half as many strings as we are used to, and a wind band where trumpets and horns are replaced with saxophones of all sizes, and where flutes and clarinets play a very important role in the sound formation. In addition, two grand pianos and a distinctive percussion section contribute to a sound that is more reminiscent of musical and symphonic jazz than of romantic orchestral music. Vedernikov probably kept the rhythmic pot boiling, but at the same time he created moments of great melodic and tonal beauty as soon as the composer allows it, e.g. in the Wagner-inspired apotheosis of ballet music, and he gave the singers plenty of space to delineate their individual tonal and melodic profiles.
Lars Ole Bonde, May 22, 2019
Source.
Nixon in China opera by John Adams, The Royal Danish Theatre.
The Royal Danish Court Orchestra under Alexander Vedernikov performed with absolute perfection. The score, enriched with electronic instruments, demands the highest degree of rhythmic precision, especially in the first act, and repetitive figures from strings and winds, which are more suited to a beat than a melodic instrument. The security with which the choir and orchestra listened to the busy, hectic first act in particular was stunning.
Dr. Martin Knust, Operapoint, May 15, 2019
Source.
International Artist Of The Year 2017
P2 The Prize for International Artist of the year goes to the conductor Alexander Vedernikov for being a fantastic driving force in Odense's performance of Wagner's 'The Ring of the Nibelung'.
Most recently in Siegfried, where Alexander Vedernikov demonstrated his exceptional artistic strength, commitment and energy that inspires the Odense Symphony Orchestra and the soloists to perform at the highest international level.
DR P2 Prisen 2017
Source.
"...But the lion's share of the praise goes to the orchestra and condutor Alexander Vedernikov. Exhilarating from begginning to end, his was an interpretation full of controlled ecstasy and exquisitely blened colors."
Hannah Nepil, Financial Times. Oct 6th 2014
Source.
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Vedernikov at the Barbican
“… Vedernikov inspired the musicians to discover their inner savage, propelling the most explosive sections with an elemental thrust. At the same time, in all that heat Vedernikov still balanced and shaped textures and phrases with a manicurist’s precision. The woodwinds’ introduction, wondrously virile, told us that. Through all the rhythmic pandemonium the ensemble sense was terrifyingly exact, making the couple of brass fluffs insignificant, flies on a lion’s back.”
Geoff Brown, The Times, September 24 2013.
Source.
Eugene Onegin
A revolutionary production of the most popular Russian opera, featuring Mariusz Kwiecień and Tatiana Monogarova in the leading roles of a story about elusive love.
The premiere of the production took place on September 1, 2006, on the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theatre, amidst rumors of the prolonged reconstruction of the historic stage. It became an event as historic as the reconstruction of the main theater building in the country.
Dmitry Chernyakov opted against a detailed reconstruction of the Pushkin era, and not only that; many canonical details of the classic work underwent changes. It is enough to say that the scene of the duel between Onegin and Lensky significantly differs from the original, which greatly upset Galina Vishnevskaya, who "protested" against the director's arbitrary choices and refused to celebrate her anniversary at the Bolshoi.
The musical director of the production at that time, Alexander Vedernikov, recounted shortly after the premiere: "I recently received a letter: 'Alexander Vedernikov, I wanted to write 'Dear,' but my hand wouldn't allow it.' Somehow, it is believed that the new production of 'Eugene Onegin' is a desecration of national treasures. There is a certain category of people who go to the opera to experience familiar sensations once again, rather than seek new impressions. But the theater is a place that reflects the processes existing in real life. Life changes and the theater changes too. And they just cannot accept that the theater's task is not to preserve certain fixed forms."
Vedernikov aptly responded to all the outraged remarks: Chernyakov's "Eugene Onegin" represents precisely a new form of life for this great opera, fresh, vibrant, and psychologically authentic. No one has ever undertaken such interpretations of Tchaikovsky before. In harmony with the inventive direction, the ensemble of actors – under Chernyakov's guidance – performs on a par with the greatest dramatic artists: Mariusz Kwiecień as Onegin, Tatiana Monogarova as Tatiana, Makvala Kasrashvili as Larina, and Andrei Dunayev as Lensky.
coolconnections.ru
Source.
Eugene Onegin. Recorded live at the Opera National de Paris, September 2008.
Alexander Vedernikov draws excellent playing from his Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra.
It’s certainly worth seeing this staging and, with such excellent vocal performances, it bears repeated listening at the very least.
Mark Pullinger, 2020 Gramophone Magazine — 3 March.
Source.
The heir to a venerable musical dynasty, the son of the famous bass Alexander Vedernikov Sr., the keeper of the traditions of the Bolshoi Theater of the USSR, in the 2000s Vedernikov Jr. carried out on the main opera stages of the country perhaps the most daring reform in its history. It was he who was the chief conductor and musical director of the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre from 2001 to 2009. And during this time, he managed to create an entire era in the country's main theater, marked by landmark premieres - the performances of Leonid Desyatnikov's "Rosenthal's Children", Dmitry Chernyakov's "Eugene Onegin", Sergei Prokofiev's "War and Peace" and "The Fiery Angel", Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh" and others. When in 2009 he felt that he had done everything he could for the Bolshoi, he made a gesture unprecedented for the Russian cultural scene - he resigned.
By switching to the foreign music market, Vedernikov again disappointed expectations — instead of resting on the laurels of a patented specialist in the Russian repertoire, he easily got used to the European artistic context: all his key successes in the 2010s are associated with Western music of the twentieth century, which remains terra incognita for the vast majority of Russian conductors.
Press service of the St. Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra, March 3, 2021
Source.
Today, Alexander Vedernikov remains one of the key figures in the Russian and world opera and symphony scene. His work at the Bolshoi Theatre, as well as tours with world orchestras, continue to inspire generations of listeners. His legacy is not only a high level of performing skills, but also the ability to create music that penetrates the heart and inspires.Vedernikov proved that a conductor can be not only a technically perfect master, but also an artist capable of conveying complex emotions and the depth of music. His career is an example of how perseverance, talent, and passion for art can transform a person into a symbol of their era.
Viktor Myasnikov, Peoples.ru, May 3, 2005
Source.
Riga residents remember Alexander Vedernikov from the triumphant tours of the Bolshoi Theater at the Latvian National Opera in 2003 and 2008.
Vedernikov visited Riga first during a tour of the Bolshoi Theatre in June 2003. Then he conducted a production of Puccini's Turandot."This is my first time in Riga, and it's a very solemn moment for me," he said when he arrived from Moscow, sitting in the mezzanine hall of the Latvian Opera. - It was here that such luminaries as Richard Wagner, Leo Blech, Leonid Wigner conducted, and two Jansons, Arvid and Maris, worked. This is a very prestigious circumstance for me."And the second time he came exactly five years later, again to the Riga Opera Festival, organized by Andrejs Jagars. He has conducted two screenings of Pyotr Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin" and two screenings of Leonid Desyatnikov's acclaimed opera "Rosenthal's Children" staged by Aimuntas Nyakrosus. Now it's history, and those who saw those double tours are happy.
Andrey Shavrey, LSM.LV, October 30, 2020
Source.
Press review
