Piano works by Alexei Volodin

Alexei Volodin

Piano works

Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917235425
Catnr: CC 72354
Release date: 26 February 2010

1 CD

Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917235425

Catalogue number
CC 72354

Release date
26 February 2010

"Volodin does not have any difficulty in giving color to this mulifaceted work. His superior handling of the large amount keys compels admiration."

Luister, 13-5-2013

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

Press

About the album

Alexei Volodin is a modest musician, enormously talented but absolutely no 'showman', because that has nothing to do with art, according to himself. When he reads or hears that he has played a piece perfectly he disagrees. He is not like a perfect machine or computer. A human being does not play perfectly and is not supposed to. Rather a human being is inspired, that is a far better word for his interpretations, also on this Chopin-cd. A magnificent recording of a internationally well-known pianist!

Chopin is seen as one of the great composers, although his oeuvre is for the most part comprised of music for piano, solo or music that has a piano in it.

Daniel Barenboim once said, "Like a concave mirror Chopins music combines and condenses aristocratic and individual personality, fantasy and awareness of form, Nationalidiom and abstraction of consummate art, whose value most be measured not by its dimension, but by its concentration. Chopins music combines, often in a small space, an almost unparalleled richness of harmony and melody, a beautiful blend of romantic expression and classical severity."

The works recorded here demonstrate that characterization admirably.

Pianist Alexei Volodin geeft een ontroerende interpretatie van Chopin's mooiste werken
In deze opname speelt de bekende Russische pianist Alexei Volodin een selectie van enkele van de mooiste werken van Frédéric Chopin. Volodin is een bescheiden man, die de mensen met zijn muziek wil raken en inspireren. De kwaliteit van zijn spel vindt hij belangrijker dan beroemd te zijn. 'Hij speelt Chopin met meer temperament, spontaner en opwindender, zonder dat dat ten koste gaat van de precisie en de helderheid.' Hans Quant, Luister, mei 2010.

Alexei Volodin werd in 1977 geboren in Leningrad, het latere St. Petersburg. Hij begon op zijn negende met pianolessen. In Moskou studeerde hij piano op de beroemde Gnessin muziekschool en later aan het conservatorium bij Eliso Virsaladze. Hij vervolgde zijn studie op de Intenational Piano Academy Lake Como. Volodin wordt gezien als een van de opmerkelijkste pianisten van zijn generatie. Hij heeft een gevoelige aanslag, een warme klank en briljante techniek. Alexei Volodin is een veelgevraagd pianist bij orkesten van naam.

200 Jahre nach der Geburt Frederic Chopins (01.03.1810) präsentiert Alexei Volodin seine erste Aufnahme bei CHALLENGE CLASSICS und stellt damit unter Beweis, dass er ohne jede äußere Attitüde zum musikalischen Kern der hier eingespielten Werke vorzudringen vermag und seine Zuhörer verzaubert und atemlos zurück lässt. Alexei Volodin, geboren 1977 in St. Petersburg, ist einer der herausragenden Pianisten seiner Generation und erhielt 2003 den 1. Preis beim 9. Geza Anda Concours in Zürich, dem er seinen Karrieredurchbruch verdankt. Die internationale Presse würdigt seine atemberaubende Technik, sein breitgefächertes Repertoire und feiert ihn als stilsicheren Interpreten. Inhalt: 4 Impromptus op. 29, 36, 51 & 66 | Barcarole op. 60 | Polonaise-Fantaisie op. 61 | Sonate h-Moll op. 58 Konzerte: 02. März 2010 Ansbach / 03. März.2010 Kölner Philharmonie / 02.Mai Karlsruhe / 20. Juni Essen: Klavierfestival Ruhr (Recital)

Artist(s)

Alexei Volodin

Alexei Volodin is one of the most outstanding Russian pianists of the present day. A virtuoso and deeply philosophical musician, Alexei Volodin has a performing style that is entirely his own, one where there is no room for superficial effects. His pianism stands apart for its precision and the subtle nature of his performances of works from various ages and in different styles. Alexei Volodin was born in 1977 in Leningrad. He studied under Irina Chaklina, Tatiana Zelikman and Eliso Virsaladze, in whose class he graduated from the Moscow Conservatoire and completed his postgraduate studies. In 2001 he continued his studies at the International Piano Academy Lake Como (Italy). The musician’s international career truly began to take off following his victory...

Alexei Volodin is one of the most outstanding Russian pianists of the present day. A virtuoso and deeply philosophical musician, Alexei Volodin has a performing style that is entirely his own, one where there is no room for superficial effects. His pianism stands apart for its precision and the subtle nature of his performances of works from various ages and in different styles.
Alexei Volodin was born in 1977 in Leningrad. He studied under Irina Chaklina, Tatiana Zelikman and Eliso Virsaladze, in whose class he graduated from the Moscow Conservatoire and completed his postgraduate studies. In 2001 he continued his studies at the International Piano Academy Lake Como (Italy). The musician’s international career truly began to take off following his victory at the International Géza Anda Competition in Zurich (Switzerland) in 2003.
The pianist frequently appears at the world’s most prestigious venues, among them the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), the Tonhalle (Zurich), Barbican, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Wigmore Hall (London), Lincoln Center (New York), the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and Salle Pleyel (Paris), the Palau de la Música (Barcelona), the Philharmonie and Konzerthaus Berlin, the Alte Oper (Frankfurt), the Herkulessaal and the Gasteig (Munich), the Konzerthaus (Vienna), La Scala and Sala Verdi (Milan), the Sydney Opera House (Australia) and Suntory Hall (Tokyo) among many others.
Alexei Volodin works with many highly acclaimed orchestras, among them the New York Philharmonic, the London Symphony, the Gewandhausorchester, the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala, NHK (Japan), the Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Tonhalle-Orchester in Zurich, the Orchestra of the Bayrische Rundfunk, the Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo and the Orchestre National de France under such outstanding conductors as Valery Gergiev, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Vasily Sinaisky, Mikhail Pletnev, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Chailly, David Zinman, Gerd and Marc Albrecht, Carlo Rizzi, Semyon Bychkov and Marek Janowski.
The pianist has appeared at prestigious festivals throughout the world including the Rocque d’Anthéron, La Folle Journée in Nantes and Radio France Festival, Verbier and Lucerne (Switzerland), the Ruhr Festival, Baden-Baden and Bad Kissingen (Germany), the Stars of the White Nights (St Petersburg) and the Moscow Easter Festival. He has produced recordings together with Live Classics (Germany), ABC Classics (Australia) and Challenge Records (Netherlands).
Alexei Volodin is an exclusive artist for the company Steinway and Sons.

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Composer(s)

Frédéric Chopin

Frédéric Chopin is one of the greatest composers of the Romantic piano tradition. He was a master in making the small form great. His ballades, mazurkas, polonaises, preludes, etudes and nocturnes all belong to the most popular standard works for piano ever written. As a child prodigy, Chopin grew up in a middle class family, who lived among the literati of Warsaw. When in 1830 the November Uprising broke out in Poland, the twenty year old Chopin stayed in Vienna. He became an exile and never returned to his mother country. He eventually settled in Paris. He avoided public concerts, but he did like performing in small settings, such as salons and at home for his friends. This way, Chopin built a reputation as an exceptional pianist, teacher and composer.
Chopin brought a unique synthesis between the Viennese bravado and the French/English lyric style. Even though his pieces often are technically very demanding, the focus was always on creating a lyric expression and poetic atmosphere. He invented the instrumental ballade, and brought salongenres to a higher level with his many innovations and refinements.

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Press

Volodin does not have any difficulty in giving color to this mulifaceted work. His superior handling of the large amount keys compels admiration.
Luister, 13-5-2013