{"id":92398,"date":"2023-01-16T14:55:44","date_gmt":"2023-01-16T19:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=92398"},"modified":"2023-01-16T14:55:44","modified_gmt":"2023-01-16T19:55:44","slug":"scrutiny-maxim-vengerov-brings-virtuosity-expression-koerner-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2023\/01\/16\/scrutiny-maxim-vengerov-brings-virtuosity-expression-koerner-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | Maxim Vengerov Brings Virtuosity With Expression To Koerner Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Maxim
Maxim Vengerov, 2011 (Public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bach; Beethoven; Shostakovich; Tchaikovsky. Maxim Vengerov, violinist; Polina Osetinskaya, pianist. January 15, 2023, Koerner Hall, Toronto.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

When I first heard Maxim Vengerov in recital over 20 years ago, I came away very impressed by the Russia-born Israeli violinist\u2019s dazzling technical virtuosity, but little else. So I was unprepared for the warmth and expressivity he brought to his recital yesterday afternoon before a packed house at Koerner Hall, a concert without a single bravura showpiece!<\/p>\n

Throughout the afternoon, slower-than-usual tempi predominated, Vengerov spinning long, often hushed, vibrato-laden musical threads. This meant a highly-romanticized performance of Bach\u2019s Violin Sonata No. 1 in B Minor, BWV 1014<\/em>. Granted, Bach\u2019s six sonatas for violin and keyboard are more songful than his six works for solo violin, but in both the Adagio and Andante, Vengerov\u2019s violinistic dreaminess and crooning, while lovely, would likely not be considered echt<\/em> Bach.<\/p>\n

The most often performed of Beethoven\u2019s violin sonatas, No. 9 in A Major, Op. 47 (\u201cKreutzer\u201d)<\/em>, received a rather subdued reading, in which lyricism prevailed over its customary drama. The central melody of the Adagio sostenuto \u2013 Presto was taken slowly and quietly, with
\ntension-building pauses and gradual crescendi. The Andante con variazioni ranged between reverence, playfulness and melancholy. The Finale (Presto) showed that Vengerov\u2019s fingers can still fly, his light, quicksilver bowing creating a Mendelssohnian scintillation.<\/p>\n

Russia-born pianist Polina Osetinskaya was Vengerov\u2019s vital partner, especially in the Beethoven, her crystalline articulation drawing rich colours from the keyboard, her frequent pauses providing space for Vengerov\u2019s stretched-out phrasing. (She\u2019ll return to Koerner Hall for her Canadian solo debut on June 3.)<\/p>\n

Shostakovich wrote his 24 Preludes, Op. 34<\/em> to perform on his own instrument, the piano. With his blessing, 19 of them were transcribed for violin and piano by Shostakovich\u2019s good friend, Dmitry Tsiganov, first violinist of the Beethoven Quartet, the ensemble that premiered nearly all of Shostakovich\u2019s string quartets. Seven of the ten brief Preludes<\/em> that Vengerov and Osetinskaya performed were cabaret or folk-style dances with quirky, broken meters, in which I would have wished for a bit more of Shostakovich\u2019s sardonic, rhythmic bite. Two pieces were wistfully sentimental, and I particularly enjoyed the final selection, filled with the dark brooding so characteristic of Shostakovich.<\/p>\n

The only works that Tchaikovsky ever composed for violin and piano received wonderfully enchanting performances. The three-movement Souvenir d\u2019un lieu cher, Op. 42<\/em>, begins with M\u00e9ditation<\/em>, originally conceived by Tchaikovsky to be the slow movement of his Violin Concerto. Vengerov took it slowly, intensely wringing out all its pathos-soaked juices. Scherzo called for Vengerov\u2019s fleet fingerwork, its luscious, expansive middle theme played with extreme ardour. Vengerov gave the M\u00e9lodie<\/em>, music that would not be out of place in Tchaikovsky\u2019s Sleeping Beauty<\/em>, all the bittersweet sentimentality it requires.<\/p>\n

Ending the formal program, Vengerov brought Kreisler-like charm to Tchaikovsky\u2019s
\nValse-Scherzo in C Major, Op. 34<\/em> (it also exists in a version for violin and orchestra). Responding to the well-deserved ovation, Vengerov and Osetinskaya performed two encores: the Scherzo from Beethoven\u2019s \u201cSpring\u201d Sonata<\/em> and the third movement of Franck\u2019s Violin Sonata<\/em> \u2014 the latter played very slowly, with a rare depth of feeling \u2014 an appropriately introspective conclusion to a concert, free of any superficial display, that will long abide in memory.<\/p>\n

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Maxim Vengerov brought warmth and expressivity to his recital before a packed house at Koerner Hall, a concert without a single bravura showpiece.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":92399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[40430,76,19,52,63,68],"tags":[1876,2155],"yst_prominent_words":[12458,10549,7670,6606,11242,8298,10582,7904,7263,7249,10565,11697],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/01\/MAxim-Vengerov-review.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-o2i","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92398"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92398"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92400,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92398\/revisions\/92400"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92398"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=92398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}