Concertos from the Caucasus, Volume One: Violin Concertos
In the early years of the twentieth century a first wave of composers in the Caucasus laid down the basis of their national schools by grafting the outlines of western classical music onto local folk traditions. By mid-century a second generation took up the challenge more thoroughly, their compositions confidently handling the large forms of the concert hall, though still drawing on regional idioms. The Soviet orthodoxy of the day expected its composers to abide by the rules, but the three composers heard here – two Azeris and a Georgian, all young men when they wrote the violin concertos on this album – brought something fresh and individual to the task, marrying east and west, form and freedom, tradition and originality.
Karen Bentley Pollick, violin
Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra
John McLaughlin Williams, conductor
Aleksi Machavariani (1913-1995)
Violin Concerto in D Minor (1949) (35:04)
- I. Allegro (16:00)
- II. Andante sostenuto (10:04)
- III. Allegro vivo (9:00)
AzÓ™r Rzayev (1930-2015)
Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Minor (1957) (26:55)
- I. Allegretto (12:53)
- II. Largo (6:53)
- III. Allegro (7:09)
Rauf Gadjiev (1922-1995)
Violin Concerto in D Minor (1952) (22:08)
- I. Allegro (9:28)
- II. Andante sostenuto (628)
- III. Allegro con brio (6:12)
First Modern Recordings
Pizzicato :
Immediately communicative and melodic character [of the works] makes them worth rescuing from oblivion. […] Because of their folk passion and energy as well as poetic passages, [these works] offer exciting listening approaches with an Eastern European Asian flair that is combined with great passion.
Violinist Karen Bentley Pollick presents these concertos with appropriate esprit. Technically, she succeeds in enhancing the musicality and special character of the works to such an extent that their essential characteristics become clear, ensuring that the qualities of the pieces can be experienced in modern sound technology.
With the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra and conductor John McLaughlin Williams, the soloist has an ensemble at her side that not only supports her interpretative approach, but also sets the necessary accents to emphasize the individual moods of the three pieces that can only be heard together with the orchestral landscape.
The extensive accompanying text provides an introduction to the life and work of the three composers, paying particular attention to the three concertos. The result is a worthwhile insight into forgotten works, including the technically clean realization.’
—Pizzicato
MusicWeb International :
‘[in Machavariani’s Concerto,] the soloist is pitched straight in and against the deftest of orchestration – light and refined – the solo violin negotiates a thread of expressive, terpsichorean figures, deeply lyric and romantic and full of folklore. […]
These mid-century concertos […] should appeal to those who admire the Khachaturian-Prokofiev axis with – here – a strong dose of ethnic colour and rhythms. They will certainly appreciate Karen Bentley Pollick’s fine performances with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra under John McLaughlin Williams.’
—Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International