Old Soul Violinist – Maxim at the San Francisco Symphony
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Twenty-seven-year-old Russian violinist Maxim Vengerov starts his second encore of his solo performance by dragging a chair out from backstage at Davies Symphony Hall, in San Francisco.
"I have been performing since I was five years old," he says in lightly accented English. "It is a great privilege to play for audiences like you, and you come to hear me play. Between us there is music. But I never get to communicate in words. So, he sits casually and crosses his legs, "I want to talk to you. Ask me some questions."
So starts an extraordinary conversation between a remarkable old soul violinist and 1,500 of his closest friends. One person asks why he held his bow so high during the first number, Bach's 'Toccata and Fugue in D minor'. Written originally for the organ, this complicated piece requires a specially rounded bow to make the playing easier, he replies. "And you may have noticed that I did not play that piece on my Baroque violin. It's ill with all the changes in humidity and weather."
"Tell us about your violin," another person tosses across the nearly sold out auditorium. "My instrument was made in Crimea in 1727 by Antonio Stradivarius. It is an ex-Kreisler instrument, meaning that it once belonged to the great violinist, Fritz Kreisler. And I was lucky enough to get it at Christie's auction in 1998." This raises murmurs of appreciation from the audience.
"Will you compose in the future?" Vengerov chuckles, "I'm not very popular in the composing world because I like tonal music, music that has a melody that you can take home with you." The audience cheers in agreement.
"Tell us about your UNICEF work." Vengerov loses his characteristic smile and light-hearted nature. "I have traveled to Uganda, Thailand, and Kosovo and seen what terrible things have happened to the children there. Some have lost limbs; some have lost the ability to speak. They have no expressions. Then I see what music can do for them. They start to dance, smile and forget their worries. Here, I will play for you what I played for them." And he plays 'Balalaika', a piece completely plucked, to his third standing ovation.
Love of Bach
Maxim Vengerov, then, is an unusual mixture of boyish charm and old-world mastery. He opened his concert with Bach's 'Toccata and Fugue in D-Minor', which has been made famous by organ-playing vampires and monsters everywhere. I was wondering how a single violinist, surrounded by an empty stage and an anticipatory audience, would bring the fugue to life with just one bow and four strings. Before long, I had completely forgotten that there was only one person performing, as the varying melodies danced and intertwined.
The program was built on Vengerov's love of Bach and melody, and included a Russian composition 'Echo - Sonata for Solo Violin, Opus 69' by Rodion Shchedrin. The program notes state: The Echo Sonata refers back to Bachs music for solo violin - it is an echo of Bach's music. "I first played this piece when I was 10 years old," he says. "I memorized it because I wanted to impress the composer, who was in the audience. As you will see, it's still very difficult to memorize." Written to challenge the stoutest of violinists, Shchedrin filled the piece with a flurry of wildly spinning melodies, requiring exacting nimbleness of mind and finger.
The rest of the program showcased four of the six sonatas, written by Eugene Ysaye, a talented Belgian violinist who wrote each of the pieces for different virtuosos. 'The Sonata No. 2 in A Minor, Opus 27, no. 2' is dedicated to Jacques Thibaud, who was "one of Ysaye's spiritual children," according to the program notes. "And this is perhaps why the music takes is such a 'soul-searching work' filled with rue and a dance of furies."
The program notes that "'The Sonata in D minor, Opus 27, no. 3, Ballade' is dedicated to George Enescu, the Rumanian composer and violist whose friendship became increasingly vital to Ysaye in his later years, as the musical establishment became dismissive and his gifts - this is a spectacular concentrated music that offers varied characters - from the spare, agonized outset to the fabulously technical run-to-the-finish. To hear Gypsy elements in the music is to hear it as homage to the dedicatee."
"'The Sonata in E minor, Opus 27, no. 4' is dedicated to Fritz Kreisler," the program continues, "a violinist who combined virtuosity with a ferociously expressive insight, and also wrote light and lighthearted Viennese parlor pieces - the music of this piece is pure and unaffected. The final moments are obsessive, intense and delirious."
The final piece of the concert was written in tribute to Manual Quiroga, a Spanish violinist in the "great tradition of Sarasate." It was dashing and full of bravado, honoring Quiroga's popular in Europe and the United States. "There is a touch of obviously Spanish music and the piece captures a youthful, optimistic spirit."
What else is there to do in Western Siberia?
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Cymber Quinn, Jetsetters Magazine Correspondent – Read Jetsetters Magazine at www.jetsettersmagazine.com To book travel visit Jetstreams.com at www.jetstreams.com and for Beach Resorts visit Beach Booker at www.beachbooker.com
About the Author
Cymber Quinn, Jetsetters Magazine Correspondent. Join the Travel Writers Network in the logo at www.jetsettersmagazine.com Leave Your email next to the logo for FREE e travel newsletter.