Sonatas for violin & piano by Charlie Siem & Andrei Korobeiniko

Charlie Siem & Andrei Korobeiniko

Sonatas for violin & piano

Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917229325
Catnr: CC 72293
Release date: 01 February 2008

1 CD

Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917229325

Catalogue number
CC 72293

Release date
01 February 2008

"Andrei Korobeinikov proves an unusually sympathetic and responsive accompanist, while engineers Andrew Keener and Simon Eadon provide exemplary sound that is as undistractingly natural as the music-making itself. "

The Strad, 01-8-2008

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

Press

About the album

Although Grieg and Elgar did not physically cross paths (they neither met nor corresponded), there are enough biographical and musical parallels to beg the question as to why the (albeit indirect) relationship between them has been largely overlooked. And it is these points of contact that the program of this CD refuses to let the listener overlook. First, one has only to consider the similarity in their status not merely as ‘nationalistic composers’ but as national heroes. In addition to their status as authors of national music to rival the dominant German musical mainstream of Western music, there are various biographical parallels: they shared mutual friends of whom the English composer Frederick Delius is the most notable; Elgar received an honorary doctorate at Oxford University in 1905, Grieg received the same award a year later; during the first orchestral broadcast of Elgar’s music in 1923, the accompanying piece in the programme was Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite.

These seemingly frivolous details are less incidental than one might at first assume in as much as they demonstrate the way in which the composers collided in a similar contextual framework.

Quite apart from these historical parallels there are many mutual points of contact in the works themselves – particularly in the case of the two sonatas performed on this CD – so much that one wonders why they have not been paired before.

The completion of both sonatas coincide with a distancing of their respective authors (evidenced in their writings), from the musical nationalism they were most famous for.

De verborgen connectie tussen Elgar en Grieg
Ondanks dat Edward Grieg en Edward Elgar nooit fysiek paden hebben gekruist zijn er voldoende biografische en muzikale parallellen tussen de twee componisten. Hierdoor kan men zich afvragen waarom de relatie, hoewel indirect, tussen hen zo vaak over het hoofd wordt gezien. Met dit album, waarop werken van beide componisten uitvoerig aan bod komen, kan de luisteraar de connectie tussen de componisten niet langer ontkennen. Ten eerste zijn beide componisten niet alleen nationalistische componisten, maar ware nationale helden. Ook zijn beide componisten schrijvers van nationale muziek tegen de dominantie van Duitse muziek in de Westerse wereld. Daarnaast is er een aantal biografische parallellen: ze hadden gemeenschappelijke vrienden, onder wie de Engelse componist Frederick Delius, en ze ontvingen beiden een eredoctoraat aan de universiteit van Oxford. Tijdens de eerste orkestrale uitzending van Elgar’s muziek in 1923, werd het programma aangevuld met Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite. De belangrijkste connecties tussen de twee componisten zijn echter de gelijkenissen in hun muziek. Dit wordt met name hoorbaar in de twee sonates die op dit album staan. De melodieën en harmonieën komen in de stukken op een vergelijkbare manier aan bod, en ze hebben beiden een gebrek aan een grote, overkoepelende vorm. Beide componisten beschreven zichzelf als "miniaturisten" waarbij details in de muziek belangrijker worden geacht dan de grote ontwikkelingen.

De muziek op dit album wordt uitgevoerd door violist Charlie Siem en pianist Andrei Korobeiniko. Beiden behoren tot de meest getalenteerde musici van hun generatie. Op dit album weten ze een zeer romantische en energieke interpretatie van Elgar en Grieg neer te zetten.

Charlie Siem (geboren 1986 in London) zählt zu den begabtesten Geigern seiner Generation. Mit 4 Jahren begann er sein Studium der Violine und setzte diese an der Guildhall School of Music und Royal College of Music fort. Seine bekanntesten Lehrer dort waren Itzhak Rashkovsky und Shlomo Mintz. Mit 16 startete er seine internationale Karriere und konzertierte u.a. mit Royal Philharmonic, London Mozart Players und Israel Camerata. Sein Repertoire beinhaltet sowohl die wichtigsten Konzerte als auch Kammermusik, wie in der vorliegenden Aufnahme. Charlie Siem und sein Pianist Andrei Korobeinikov interpretieren die 2007er-Jubilare Elgar & Grieg auf ebenso energische wie romantische Weise.

Artist(s)

Charlie Siem

Charlie Siem is one of today’s foremost violinists, with such a wide-ranging diversity of cross- cultural appeal as to have played a large part in defining what it means to be a true artist of the 21st century. Born in London, to a Norwegian father and British mother, Siem began to play the violin at the age of three after hearing a broadcast of Yehudi Menuhin playing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. He received a broad and thorough education from Eton College, before completing the intellectually demanding undergraduate degree programme in Music at the University of Cambridge. From 1998 to 2004, he studied the violin with Itzhak Rashkovsky in London at the Royal College of Music, and since 2004 has been mentored by Shlomo Mintz.
Siem has appeared with many of the world’s finest orchestras and chamber ensembles, including: the Bergen Philharmonic, the Camerata Salzburg, the Czech National Symphony, the Israel Philharmonic, the London Symphony, the Moscow Philharmonic, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, MDR Leipzig, Camerata Salzburg. He has worked with top conductors including: Charles Dutoit, Dennis Russell Davies, Edward Gardner, Zubin Mehta, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sir Roger Norrington, Libor Pešek and Yuri Simonov. International festival appearances to date include: Spoleto, St. Moritz, Gstaad, Bergen, Tine@Munch, Festival Internacional de Santa Lucía, and the Windsor Festival. Siem’s regular sonata partner is renowned pianist Itamar Golan.
Charlie Siem has a varied discography and has made a number recordings, including with the London Symphony Orchestra (Warner Classics, 2011) and Münchner Rundfunkorchester (Sony Classical, 2014). Recent recordings include Between the Clouds (Signum Records, 2020) featuring works by Kreisler, Sarasate, Paganini, Elgar and Wieniawski, showcasing Siem’s versatility and virtuosity in an intimate Parisian-style ‘salon’ programme, and an album of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto and Romances (Sigum Records, 2022) with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Oleg Caetani.
A great believer in giving to worthwhile causes, Siem is an ambassador of The Prince’s Trust. He is also a Visiting Professor at Leeds College of Music in the UK, and Nanjing University of the Arts in China. He gives masterclasses around the world at top institutions such as the Royal College of Music in London, and the Accademia di Musica in Florence. Passionate about bringing classical music to new audiences around the world, in addition to his classical performance career Siem has revived the age-old violinistic tradition of composing virtuosic variations of popular themes, which he has done alongside artists including Bryan Adams, Jamie Cullum and The Who. In 2014, he wrote his first composition – Canopy, for solo violin and string orchestra – which was commissioned by the USA television station CBS Watch! and recorded with the English Chamber Orchestra. Siem has also had numerous collaborations with fashion brands including: Armani, Chanel, Dior, Dunhill, Hugo Boss and Loro Piana.
Charlie Siem plays the 1735 Guarneri del Gesù violin, known as the D’Egville.

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Andrei Korobeiniko

Andrei Korobeinikov was fortunate and honoured to perform concerts with such amazing conductors as Yuri Temirkanov, Leonard Slatkin, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Iván Fischer, Alexander Vedernikov, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Antoni Wit, Douglas Boyd, Alain Altinoglu, Michiyoshi Inoue, Okko Kamu, Taijiro Iimori, Dorian Wilson, Hobart Earle, Peter Stark, Juozas Domarkas, Gintaras Rinkevicius, Theodor Guschlbauer,Kwamé Ryan, Alexander Rudin, George Tchitchinadze,Vladimir Kiradjiev, Rossen Gergov, Kaspar Zehnder,Benjamin Ellin, Thierry Fischer, Matthias Foremny, Dmitri Jurowski, Olari Elts, Vakhtang Jordania, Vladimir Ziva,Maxim Shostakovich, Dmitri Liss, Mikhail Pletnev, Felix Korobov and others. Andrei feels himself as a soloist, but also adores performing chamber music recitals, especially with such miraculous artists as violinists Vadim Repin, Dmitri Makhtin,Regis Pasquier, Leonard Schreiber, Alina Ibragimova, cellists Alexander Kniazev, Johannes Moser, Henri Demarquette, Alexander Buzlov, Tatjana Vassiljeva, sopranos Yana Ivanilova, Sarah Pagin,'Borodin Quartet', 'Vanbrugh Quartet', pianists Boris Berezovsky, Frank Braley, Ikuyo Nakamichi, Alexander Paley. He has performed Shostakovich's piano-&-trumpet Concerto op.35 with such prominent trumpeters as Tine Thing Helseth, Sergei Nakariakov, David Guerrier, Mikhail Gaiduk, and also collaborated for Scriabin's 'Prometheus' op.60 with the St. Petersburg State Capella Choir. Among other orchestras, Andrei...

Andrei Korobeinikov was fortunate and honoured to perform concerts with such amazing conductors as Yuri Temirkanov, Leonard Slatkin, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Iván Fischer, Alexander Vedernikov, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Antoni Wit, Douglas Boyd, Alain Altinoglu, Michiyoshi Inoue, Okko Kamu, Taijiro Iimori, Dorian Wilson, Hobart Earle, Peter Stark, Juozas Domarkas, Gintaras Rinkevicius, Theodor Guschlbauer,Kwamé Ryan, Alexander Rudin, George Tchitchinadze,Vladimir Kiradjiev, Rossen Gergov, Kaspar Zehnder,Benjamin Ellin, Thierry Fischer, Matthias Foremny, Dmitri Jurowski, Olari Elts, Vakhtang Jordania, Vladimir Ziva,Maxim Shostakovich, Dmitri Liss, Mikhail Pletnev, Felix Korobov and others.
Andrei feels himself as a soloist, but also adores performing chamber music recitals, especially with such miraculous artists as violinists Vadim Repin, Dmitri Makhtin,Regis Pasquier, Leonard Schreiber, Alina Ibragimova, cellists Alexander Kniazev, Johannes Moser, Henri Demarquette, Alexander Buzlov, Tatjana Vassiljeva, sopranos Yana Ivanilova, Sarah Pagin,"Borodin Quartet", "Vanbrugh Quartet", pianists Boris Berezovsky, Frank Braley, Ikuyo Nakamichi, Alexander Paley. He has performed Shostakovich's piano-&-trumpet Concerto op.35 with such prominent trumpeters as Tine Thing Helseth, Sergei Nakariakov, David Guerrier, Mikhail Gaiduk, and also collaborated for Scriabin's "Prometheus" op.60 with the St. Petersburg State Capella Choir.
Among other orchestras, Andrei has had pleasure to perform with the Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, NHK Sypmhony Orchestra (Tokyo), Orchestre National de France, NDR Symphonieorchester, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia Lahti, Sinfonia Varsovia,Orchestre de chambre de Paris, Camerata Bern, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Saint-Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra(Moscow), Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest (Netherlands),"Kremerata Baltica" and other great orchestras.
Andrei especially appreciates possibilites for creative collaboration with prominent young musicians, such as conductors Benjamin Ellin, Ilya Gaisin, soprano Sarah Pagin, cellist Nikolay Shugaev, violinist Haik Kazazyan, violists Veit Hertenstein and Sergey Poltavskiy, pianistPavel Gintov.
During his career Andrei Korobeinikov has appeared in such relevant venues for classical music as Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Linder Auditorium in Johannesburg, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire, Sala Verdi in Milan, Sala Cecília Meireles in Rio de Janeiro, Suntory Hall, Bunkamura Orchard Hall,Sumida Triphony Hall and Hamarikyu Asahi Hall in Tokyo,Symphony Hall and Izumi Hall in Osaka, "Kitara" Concert Hall in Sapporo, Wigmore Hall in London, Konzerthaus in Berlin, Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, Teatr Wielki in Warsaw, Béla Bartók National Concert Hall in Budapest, Konserthuset in Stockholm, Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden and the Great Hall of the Saint-Petersburg Philharmony.
Andrei has performed his concerts at such festivals as La Roque d'Antheron, Festival de Radio France et Montpellier, Festival de musique de Menton and La Folle journée (France), Klarafestival (Belgium), Sommets musicaux de Gstaad (Switzerland), Young Euro Classic(Germany), White Nights, Art-November, Northern Flowers(Russia) and many others. His performances were broadcast by TV channels Arte, Mezzo, Kultura (Russia) and by such radios as BBC-3, France Musique, NDR Kultur and others.

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Composer(s)

Edvard Grieg

Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use and development of Norwegian folk music in his own compositions put the music of Norway in the international spectrum, as well as helping to develop a national identity, much as Jean Sibelius and Antonín Dvořák did in Finland and Bohemia, respectively. Grieg is regarded as simultaneously nationalistic and cosmopolitan in his orientation, for although born in Bergen and buried there, he travelled widely throughout Europe, and considered his music to express both the beauty of Norwegian rural life and the culture of Europe as a whole. He is...

Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use and development of Norwegian folk music in his own compositions put the music of Norway in the international spectrum, as well as helping to develop a national identity, much as Jean Sibelius and Antonín Dvořák did in Finland and Bohemia, respectively.
Grieg is regarded as simultaneously nationalistic and cosmopolitan in his orientation, for although born in Bergen and buried there, he travelled widely throughout Europe, and considered his music to express both the beauty of Norwegian rural life and the culture of Europe as a whole. He is the most celebrated person from the city of Bergen, with numerous statues depicting his image, and many cultural entities named after him.

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Edward Elgar

Eward Elgar was a British composer, who stood on the forefront of the revival of English music around 1900. Many of his works have entered the international concert repertoire, although there are performed more often in Britain than elsewhere.
Although Elgar is often considered as a typically English composer, he has primarily been influenced by composers on the European continent. He was contemptuous of folk music and had little respect for English Renaissance and Baroque composers. Instead he was particularly inspired by Dvorák, Händel and Brahms, and the clarity of 19th-century French composers, which resonates through his orchestrations.
Elgar was autodidact, and learned to play the organ, violin and viola at an early age within the musical family in which he was brought up. He also composed and arranged music for various ensembles. He became somewhat well-known with his overture Froissart, but only gained international recognition after composing his Enigma Variations in 1899. Currently researchers are still trying to find out which melody Elgar has hidden within the variations.
Other famous works by Elgar are the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, the oratorio The Dream of Gerontinus and the Cello Concerto.

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Press

Andrei Korobeinikov proves an unusually sympathetic and responsive accompanist, while engineers Andrew Keener and Simon Eadon provide exemplary sound that is as undistractingly natural as the music-making itself.
The Strad, 01-8-2008