Victor Tretiakov (violin)
Alexander TCHAIKOVSKY
(b. 1946) (not Boris as it says in the packaging!)
Concerto for Violin [36:19]
USSR State Symphony Orchestra/Arnold
Katz
Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH
(1906-1975)
Concerto for Violin no 1 in A minor,
Op. 99 (1947) [35:58]
USSR State Symphony Orchestra/Vladimir
Fedoseyev
Johannes BRAHMS
(1833-1897)
Trio for Horn, Violin and Piano in E
flat major, Op. 40 (1865) [34:52]
Mikhael Erokhin (piano), Boris Afanasiev
(French Horn)
Franz SCHUBERT
(1797-1828)
Sonata for Violin and Piano in A major,
D 574 (1817) [20:09]
Mikhael Erokhin (piano)
Christoph Willibald von GLUCK
Orfeo ed Euridice: Dance of the Blessed
Spirits (1762/1774) [4:12]
Mikhael Erokhin (piano)
Sergei PROKOFIEV
(1891-1953)
Melodies (5) for Violin and Piano Op.
35bis (1925) [14:09]
Mikhael Erokhin (piano)
Nikolai PEIKO
Prelude and Toccata [9:46]
Nikolai Peiko (piano)
Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH
(1906-1975)
Preludes (24) for Piano, Op. 34 – 2
Preludes arranged Tzyganov (1932-33)
[2:20]
Mikhael Erokhin (piano)
Richard WAGNER
(1813-1883)
Albumblatt [4:39]
Mikhael Erokhin (piano)
Pablo de SARASATE
(1844-1908)
Spanish Dances (2) for Violin and Piano,
Op. 23: No 2, Zapateado (1880) [3:28]
Mikhael Erokhin (piano)
Maurice RAVEL
(1875-1937)
Pièce en forme de Habañera
(1907) [3:18]
Mikhael Erokhin (Piano)
Rodion SHCHEDRIN
(b.1932)
Humoresque [2:30]
Mikhael Erokhin (piano)
Remy PRINCIPE
El campielo [3:07]
Mikhael Erokhin (piano)
Manuel de FALLA
(1876-1946)
Canciones populares españolas
(1914-15) [13:07]
Mikhael Erokhin (Piano)
Fryderyk CHOPIN
(1810-1849)
Nocturne for Piano in E minor, B 19/Op.
72 No 1 (1827) [4:51]
Mikhael Erokhin (Piano)
Johannes BRAHMS
(1833-1897)
Hungarian Dances (21) for Piano 4 hands
(1868-1880)
No. 7 [2:06]
F major [2:42]
G major [2:15]
D minor [3:04]
Mikhael Erokhin (piano)
Eugene YSAYE (1858-1931)
Poème élégiaque,
Op. 12 (1895) [14:11]
Mikhael Erokhin (piano)
Johann Sebastian
BACH (1685-1750)
Sonata for Violin solo no 1 in G minor,
BWV 1001 (1720) [18:21]
Concerto for two Violins in D minor,
BWV 1043 (1717-1723) [17:36]
Oleg Kagan (Violin)/ USSR State Symphony
Orchestra
Antonio VIVALDI
(1678-1741)
Concerto for two Violins in G major,
RV 516 [10:46]
Oleg Kagan/USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Concerto for Violin in A minor [10:17]
USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Giuseppe TARTINI
(1692-1770)
Sonata for Violin and Basso Continuo
in G minor, Op. 1 No 4 "Devil's Trill"
[14:54]
Mikhael Erokhin (piano)
Felix MENDELSSOHN
(1809-1847)
Concerto for Violin in E minor, Op.
64 (1844) [27:44]
USSR State Symphony Orchestra/Vladimir
Fedoseyev
Johannes BRAHMS
(1833-1897)
Concerto for Violin in D major, Op.
77 (1878) [39:37]
USSR State Academy Symphony Orchestra/Yuri
Temirkanov
Sergei PROKOFIEV
(1891-1953)
Concerto for Violin no 1 in D major,
Op. 19 (1916-17) [21:51]
USSR State Radio and TV Orchestra/Vladimir
Fedoseyev
Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH
(1906-1975)
Concerto for Violin No. 2 in C sharp
minor, Op. 129 (1967) [32:33]
USSR State Radio and TV Orchestra/Vladimir
Fedoseyev
Olivier MESSIAEN
(1908-1992)
Thème et Variations for Violin
and Piano (1932) [7:41]
Mikhael Erokhin (piano)
Camille SAINT-SAENS
(1835-1921)
Havanaise for Violin and Orchestra in
E major, Op. 83 (1887) [10:41]
Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra/Dmitri
Kitaenko
Introduction and Rondo capriccioso for
Violin and Orchestra in A minor, Op.
28 (1863) [9:09]
USSR State Symphony Orchestra
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN
(1770-1827)
Romance for Violin and Orchestra no
1 in G major, Op. 40 (1802) [7:41]
USSR State Academy Symphony Orchestra/Yuri
Temirkanov
Ernest CHAUSSON
(1855-1899)
Poème for Violin and Orchestra
in E flat major, Op. 25 (1896) [15:20]
USSR State Symphony Orchestra/Vladimir
Fedoseyev
Benjamin GODARD
(1849-1895)
Concerto romantique Op.35a - Canzonetta
(1878) [4:09]
Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra/Dmitri
Kitaenko
Fritz KREISLER
(1875-1962)
Caprice viennois [4:31]
Estonian State Symphony Orchestra/Neeme
Jarvi
Liebesfreud [3:22]
Liebesleid [3:28]
Schon Rosmarin [2:10]
Mikhael Erokhin (piano)
Nicolo PAGANINI
(1782-1840)
La Campanella [7:50]
Mikhael Erokhin (piano)
Caprice Op.1 No.17 [3:48]
Violin Concerto No.1 in D major Op.6
(1817) [35:29]
Estonian State Symphony Orchestra/Neeme
Jarvi
Aram KHACHATURIAN (1903-1978)
Violin Concerto (1940) (19:45]
Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra/Dmitri
Tulin
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY
(1840-1893)
Meditation [10:42]
Scherzo [3:24]
Melodie [4:00]
Serenade melancolique [10:46]
Valse-scherzo [5:35]
Violin Concerto in D major Op.35 [35:08]
USSR State Symphony Orchestra/Mariss
Jansons
Dmitri SHOSTAKOVICH
(1906-1975)
Violin Sonata Op.134 [33:18]
Sergei PROKOFIEV
(1891-1953)
Violin Sonata No.2 in D major Op.94a
[22:49]
Josef SUK (1874-1935)
Four Pieces for violin and piano Op.17
[17:23]
Tretiakov was born
in 1946 into a musical family. At ten
he was accepted by Yuri Yankelevich
and remains one of his most eminent
pupils. He won the 1966 International
Tchaikovsky Competition, though Yankelevich
and others ensured that the young man
remained under thoughtful guidance.
He toured internationally and made recordings
and played with other luminaries such
as Gutman, Bashmet, Richter and the
Borodin Quartet. He gradually began
to conduct as well, though his period
with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra didn’t
satisfy him for reasons of repertoire
and sensibility. Tretiakov now lives
in Germany where he is a much-admired
teacher and performer.
Brilliant Classics
honours the sixty year old violinist
with a ten disc retrospective covering
live performances given between 1965
and 1990, a quarter-century that covers
in the main standard repertoire. The
first disc actually gives us one the
most penetrating of Tretiakov’s performances
of a concerto rather disparaged in the
characteristically terse Brilliant notes
– Boris Tchaikovsky’s. What that
writer finds "workmanlike"
others may find introspective, serious-minded
and moving. In two movements it’s deeply
felt but not opaque. The ominous tread
and answering violin calls are part
of a potent orchestral sound world,
one that compels admiration. Scurrying
winds incite an increasingly athletic
soloist in his dynamic incursions; splendidly
played by Tretiakov in 1990. It’s coupled
not inappropriately with Shostakovich’s
No.1 in a 1984 broadcast. Expansive
and set in a rather swimmy acoustic
this isn’t allowed to bite quite as
toughly as it might. Blunted by the
sonics, though it is this is still commanding
playing, though adherents of Oistrakh
and Kogan will find Tretiakov rather
lateral in his playing of the Passacaglia
rather than riding crests of drama.
Some will also find him less intensely
communicative, even though he takes
a considerably slower tempo.
The second disc is
rather a mixed affair. It’s good to
hear him in the Brahms Horn trio
with two colleagues of long standing.
Once again though the ambience is decidedly
boomy and this doesn’t flatter the already
fat bore sound of horn player Boris
Afanasiev. The highlight of the performance
is the fine playing of the trio. With
his then regular associate the excellent
Mikhael Erokhin Tretiakov essays the
Schubert Duo in a decisive and
very masculine performance with very
occasional ensemble imprecisions. It
might not sit so well in this particular
disc in a programmatic context but the
Prokofiev Melodies are spiced
with considerable reserves of character.
Tretiakov has never
gone in for mere beauty of tone. And
one couldn’t say that his tone colours
are the most evocative or sensuous.
He seldom makes gestures that purr or
preen. What he seeks is an appropriate
sound colour for each work, not an amorphous
tonal beauty for its own sake. It’s
very noticeable how each work evokes
its own special series of colours and
gestures, for Tretiakov is at all times
a thinking virtuoso. Some, one should
note, may find this kind of playing
is at times rather roughly bowed and
that Tretiakov’s vibrato is wide without
having a definable core.
The third disc is a
miscellany. The Peiko Prelude
and Toccata has its composer as
piano accompanist. It’s rather Eli
Eli like, hinting at Bloch in its
lamentation, but also visceral in its
compact and folkloric drive. Tretiakov’s
Sarasate is subtle, multi-voiced
and contoured. He essays Shchedrin’s
witty Humoresque – a splendid encore
pleaser for violinists on the look out
for something different. And he disinters
Remy Principe’s El Campielo.
He plays all of de Falla’s songs
not just Jota and does so with
a certain astringency of tone. He also
proves in the long line of Russian players
who played Ysaÿe so well – in his
case it’s the Poème élégiaque.
A baroque volume is
devoted to Bach, Vivaldi and Tartini.
His Bach is heavily phrased,
quite slow and very serious-minded.
There’s little tonal allure for its
own sake in the solo sonata. He and
Oleg Kagan take what would now be considered
a rather ponderous tempo for the slow
movement of the Double Concerto but
it is well characterised tonally. The
Vivaldi concertos are rather
better in this respect though still
somewhat over-considered. The Tartini
Devil’s Trill has rather too
many moments of rough bowing and articulation.
Tretiakov makes a big play of timbral
contrasts between upper and lower strings
and plays with graphic intensity. But
this is not a performance in the grand
line of David Oistrakh’s classicist
spirit.
The Mendelssohn
Concerto with Vladimir Fedoseyev opens
unusually slowly and trades on a dichotomy
between extreme sweetness of solo tone
and a grandiose, rather monumental orchestral
support. The orchestral sound itself
is rather swimmy. The slow movement
is prayerful, the finale more conventional.
An unusual, ultimately unsatisfying
approach. Coupled with it is the Brahms
Concerto with Yuri Temirkanov. It’s
a shame that the soloist’s first entrance
is covered – or might it be the lack
of projection that some critics have
spoken of in relation to his alleged
small-scaled tone. Whichever this is
not an overtly muscular reading such
as one often hears from Russian players.
It has instead a certain weariness of
spirit, with an occasional intonational
slippage in chording. Some studio knob
twiddling has gone on in the tuttis
unfortunately and this makes for uneasy
listening. It would have better to have
let the tuttis ring out and sort out
the muddied lower string frequencies.
Tretiakov has always
impressed in Prokofiev, especially
the First Concerto. He’s partnered once
more with Fedoseyev and together they
turn in a good performance though not
an immaculate one. There’s commanding
control over the sardonic wit and the
dynamism. In theory this should suit
Tretiakov’s somewhat astringent playing
as well as it did Szigeti but in practice
Szigeti’s incision is of a different
order. From the same concert – not a
relaxing evening for the iron-armed
violinist – comes Shostakovich
No 2. This receives a reading of windswept
desolation, highly articulate and maintaining
vibrancy even in the highest positions.
The cadenza is redoubtably dispatched,
the performance one of power and gravity.
There’s an unlikely envoi to this disc;
Messiaen’s 1932 Thème
et Variations from a recital given
almost a decade earlier.
Another rather miscellaneous
disc is the seventh. His Saint-Saëns
is subtle but not especially sensuous.
The Chausson has a certain muscularity
that does, in fairness, lighten when
he soars upwards. I was not taken by
his Kreisler which, in the case
of Caprice viennois, accompanied
by the heft of the Estonian State Symphony
Orchestra under Neeme Järvi, sports
unnatural sounding rubati. Tretiakov
is inclined to be heavy handed and over
elastic rhythmically in this kind of
repertoire, as he shows in the other
three solo pieces. Lack of the requisite
style and tonal resources are fatal
here.
No such criticisms
could apply to his Paganini,
which is first class. He’s never espoused
the gymnastic repertoire and has never
been known as a finger-buster, though
his technique is rock solid. But one
concerto he certainly did pursue was
the Paganini No.1, here with Järvi
again and dating from 1978. Projection
and expression are fully on show in
a work in which he caused something
of a stir in his 1960s tours. Coupled
with it is the Khachaturian,
with Dmitri Tulin conducting in a 1967
concert. Once more he’s a great deal
more expansive than Kogan whose 1951
reading with the composer conducting
is also in a Brilliant Classics box.
Still, for those who find Kogan chilly
– and there are some who do – Tretiakov
doesn’t stint the warmth of the music,
though it’s rather blunted by another
woolly recording.
There’s an all-Tchaikovsky
disc, as one would expect of an International
Tchaikovsky Competition prize-winner.
The smaller works with the USSR State
under Mariss Jansons are all very acceptable.
The concerto – from the same concert
in October 1981 - is manly but thoughtful,
technically eloquent and tonally rich.
Fortunately Tretiakov is not a tempo
malingerer. Jansons conducts intelligently,
except perhaps for a melodramatic closing
few bars – try to excuse the percussive
outburst at the very end. A steady,
enjoyable but by no means stellar traversal.
Finally there is more
Prokofiev and Shostakovich. He was taped
in Shostakovich’s sonata in 1970
and one finds him using far more bow
weight than the dedicatee David Oistrakh
in his own traversals. He’s less core-centred
tonally than the older man, and tends
to be less febrile and more magisterial
sounding in the finale. Two years later
he was recorded in Prokofiev’s
sonata, the one originally written for
flute. Again he proves redoubtable in
this repertoire but Oistrakh proves
the more subtle and multi-variegated
artist.
This is an impressive
salute to a fine musician. If it seems
to me rather less essential than other
Brilliant salutes to Russian violinists
perhaps that’s a reflection both of
the nature of the repertoire on show
and of the lesser standing of Tretiakov
in the upper echelons of that violin
school. Muddied sonics of course don’t
always help his cause either. But Tretiakov
discs are not that plentiful at the
moment and it’s an opportune time to
salute this powerful figure on his sixtieth
birthday.
Jonathan Woolf
for
details
Mikhael Erokhin (piano) 
