This is a most unusual triptych of works to bring together and speaks
of some committed programme making. Khachaturian’s Concerto-Rhapsody
is seldom heard in the concert hall and it makes only sporadic appearances
in the catalogues. Composed for Leonard Kogan between 1961 and 1962,
it was premiered by the violinist on 3 November 1962 with Kondrashin
conducting the Moscow Philharmonic. A surviving live performance from
the same forces a week or so later exists and is on a Kogan Brilliant
Classics box [93030; 10 CDs]. The Sonata-Monologue is, if anything,
even rarer on the recital stage and on disc. The dedicatee and first
performer was Viktor Pikaizen and the premiere recording is housed
in a 5 CD set devoted to the artist [Melodiya MEL CD 10 01000]. I
have reviewed
it on this site. Sergei Lyapunov’s lovely Concerto was written in
1915. It’s not as personalised as Glazunov’s or Conus’s concertos,
which is why violinists avoid it, but it has choice lyricism in the
first movement, and a tune almost good enough for ‘Strangers in Paradise’,
as well as a commanding cadenza, and should certainly be played far
more often than it is. I’ve only otherwise heard Fedotov’s Naxos recording
with Yablonsky on Naxos 8.570462 (review
review).
Hideko Udagawa has recorded quite a deal of Russian music and her
eminent teacher was Nathan Milstein. Her Khachaturian violin and piano
disc with Boris Berezovsky for Koch (review)
a number of years ago most valuably contained no fewer than seven
world premiere recordings. She is certainly au fait with
the ethos of the two composers here and is often a passionate artist.
The accompaniments of the RPO and Alan Buribayev are perfectly reasonable
and so is the recording, except for the fact that it places the soloist
uncomfortably forward sometimes. This is a particular problem in unaccompanied
passages, such as the cadenzas but most particularly in the case of
the Sonata-Monologue. Given her selfless pedigree I don’t wish to
make a point of this beyond noting that there are a number of technical
frailties evident throughout her performances of all three works.
The very (solo) start of the Concerto-Rhapsody includes squeaks, bowing
roughness, and impoverished tone. Her shaping of the same composer’s
Sonata-Monologue is woolly, and the playing, alas, again leaves much
to be desired. Things are somewhat better in the Lyapunov, except
for the exposed cadenza. Each of the alternative versions above is
preferable, despite - except the Naxos - their age. It pains me to
say it, but this disc wasn’t an easy or enjoyable listen for me.
Jonathan Woolf
see also review
by Nick Barnard
