Brahms Violin Sonatas : Francis Marion Univ Performing Arts Center : Sept 24

[Scion7]

I'm a huge Brahmsian - he's my favorite composer as far as his life-story is concerned, but this recital seems to be a bit ..... dense/challenging? 
All three of the Violin Sonatas back-to-back, and that's it. 
This may be a bit hard too sit through without some breaks "for the bar" - but there is no bar.  :-P
I've never read about a recital quite like this before.

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Florence, SC
Francis Marion University's Performing Arts Center  has this recital Thursday,
September 24th at 7:30:

Levon Ambartsumian, violin and Evgeny Rivkin, piano  -- Russian performers

PROGRAM
The Brahms Piano and Violin Sonatas 

Sonata for violin & piano No. 1 in G major ('Regen'), Op. 78 - (1879)
1. Vivace ma non troppo
2. Adagio
3. Allegro molto moderato

Sonata for violin & piano No. 2 in A major ('Thun'), Op. 100 - (1886)
1. Allegro amabile
2. Andante tranquillo, Vivace
3. Allegretto grazioso (quasi Andante)

Sonata for violin & piano No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108 - (1888)
1. Allegro
2. Adagio
3. Un poco presto e con sentimento
4. Presto agitato

Now, if it was Hahn or Dylana Jenson or Anne-Sophie Mutter, this would come off a little better, IMHO.   


Performer info:
Levon Ambartsumian studied music in the Moscow Central Music School and then in the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where his teachers were Mikhail Garlitsky, Felix Andrievski, Yury Yankelevich, Leonid Kogan and Igor Bezrodny. In 1977 he became the First Prize winner of Zagreb International Violin Competition headed by Henryk Szeryng. Two years later he was a prizewinner of the Montreal International Competition, and, in 1981, he won the All-Union Violin Competition in Riga.

Levon Amartsumian was distinguished as Honored Artist of Armenia in 1988 and Honored Artist of Russia in 1997. Since 1977 Levon performed regularly at major venues throughtout the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe as he was not permitted to accept invitations to travel to the West. He collaborated with conductors and composers such as Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Fedoseev, Maxim Shostakovich, Aram Khachaturian, Alfred Schnittke, and many others.

Since 1988 Levon has performed in the United States, Canada, Italy, France, Germany, Greece, Spain, Brazil, and South Korea. In 1989, Ambartsumian founded the Moscow Chamber Orchestra ARCO, which has since then regularly performed in Russia and abroad and is currently based in Athens, Georgia, the United States. Amabartsumian joined the faculty of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in 1978, where he taught for 15 years. He was for two years a Visiting Professor at Indiana University School of Music (Bloomington, Indiana). In 1995, Ambartsumian accepted the position of Franklin Professor of Violin at the University of Georgia School of Music (Athens, Georgia).

Ambartsumian devotes himself to contemporary Russian, Armenian and American Music and has made several important world premiers. He has released numerous CDs with music by Wieniawski, Sarasate, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi, Stravinsky, Bartok, Shostakovich, Schnittke, Bronner, Arutiunian and other contemporary composers. As a teacher, Ambartsumian has given master classes in Russia, Armenia, South Korea, Canada, Brazil, and France. His former students hold principal positions with major European orchestras in Germany, France, Portugal, and Denmark, and many have been prizewinners at international violin competitions.

Evgeny Rivkin was born in Russia and earned his master's and doctoral degrees at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where he studied with Professor Evgeny Malinin. He has been the recipient of many major awards, including top prizes in the USSR National Piano Competition in 1977, the Sixth International  Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow, the Bayerishe Rundfunk Competition in Munich, 1985, as well as the L. MacMahon International Competition in Lawton, Oklahoma. He has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in  Italy, France, Hungary, Germany, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Yugoslavia, USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and other countries in live performances as well as radio and TV broadcasts, always earning enthusiastic praise for his exciting pianism and sensitive artistry.

Mr. Rivkin has made symphonic appearances and presented solo recitals in many world-famous halls, such as the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory and Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, Great Hall of St. Petersburg Philharmonic Society, Hercules-Saal in Munich, Gewandhaus Hall in Leipzig, Wagner Hall in Riga, Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Carnegie Hall in New York and others.

His repertoire includes all the keyboard concertos of J.S.Bach, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff and the piano concertos of Schumann, Liszt, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Brahms, Grieg, etc., and the major solo literature from the Classical and Romantic eras.

Mr. Rivkin has recorded for A-RAM and Melodiya labels in Russia, Sintez records of Latvia, and in the United States, ACA Recordings. "Treat yourself to this fine rendition," wrote Fanfare magazine about his recording of Tchaikovsky's  G major Piano Sonata and The Seasons, adding that Rivkin brings out the best of this music.

Mr. Rivkin has been a Professor of Piano at the University of Georgia since 1995.

[Scion7]

Either this is the first concert of the tour (they are playing the U. of Ga., for example, Oct. - or nobody's posted an online review of shows to-date yet.  I may still go to this, but taking a date will be difficult since it is just the sonatas one after another.   

[Scion7]

Well - I'm ready for the show to begin tomorrow evening!  :-)

[(poco) Sforzando]

If the tix are just $2.00 then it's a win-win even if you stay home!

I could take an evening of the violin sonatas. And I'll bet the C minor scherzo is the encore. About ten years ago, Kristian Zimerman programmed all three of the piano sonatas for a Carnegie Hall recital, and though it was in my series, I couldn't find it in me to go. One of those sprawling early pieces is bad enough; all three would be totally indigestible.

[Scion7]

no that's on all the ticket stubs - I think it is the administration fee

They are free for the university students and staff, but I always buy mine - only $5 - it's not exactly Carnegie Hall or the Old Vic.  :-)

And I love the first two Brahms piano sonatas - the third is a little more dense/hard to get into.

[Scion7]

Every seat was filled - some, of course, by sucky students, but that's how it goes. 

Passionate performances, these gentlemen are old hands - the Adagio of the G major Sonata was particularly fine.  Money well spent.  Now, time for pizza!

[Scion7]

I could take an evening of the violin sonatas. And I'll bet the C minor scherzo is the encore.

No encore.  They left the stage after the last piece. I wanted to speak to them in the lobby but they had left already - the 'host' was one of the music prof's at the university - I chatted with him a bit and then me and my friend headed out into the rainy night ......

Btw, their album of these pieces dates from 1997 - I've heard it, and they have moved a long way from that rather formal presentation - the concert was much more lively.  And the pianist has gone grey.      Very beautiful Asian girl was the music-page-turner.

[(poco) Sforzando]

No encore.  They left the stage after the last piece. I wanted to speak to them in the lobby but they had left already - the 'host' was one of the music prof's at the university - I chatted with him a bit and then me and my friend headed out into the rainy night ......

Btw, their album of these pieces dates from 1997 - I've heard it, and they have moved a long way from that rather formal presentation - the concert was much more lively.  And the pianist has gone grey.      Very beautiful Asian girl was the music-page-turner.

Page turners are the unsung heroes of many concerts.