Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D major Op. 35
Patricia Kopatchinskaja, violin
Igor Stravinsky: Les Noces
Nadine Koutcher, soprano,
Natalya Buklaga, mezzo-soprano
Stanislav Leontieff, tenor,
Vasiliy Korostelev, bass
Testament to Teodor Currentzis and musicAeterna’s versatility and broad musical command, this album brings together two diverse masterworks from two giants of Russian music – Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto Op. 35 and Stravinsky’s Les Noces – and presents the exhilarating fruits of their very first musical collaboration with violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja.
Known for their instinctive and ground-breaking interpretations across an extensive range of musical eras, Currentzis, Kopatchinskaja and musicAeterna have performed together several times since this first project and consistently garnered audience and critical acclaim. Spiegel Online recently wrote: “No matter whether it is Mozart or Stravinsky, there is nothing that Teodor Currentzis cannot do at present. And things get even better when the conductor works with the idiosyncratic violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja – together they make a heavenly duo.”
The album also presents a rarer Russian masterpiece: Stravinsky’s Les Noces, for solo voices, choir, pianos and percussion which celebrates a peasant wedding. Currentzis again employs the authentic Russian folkloric influences that were central to his recent interpretation of Le Sacre du printemps and which he considers fundamental to understanding Stravinsky’s music.
BBC Music Magazine
The force of personality, conviction and unanimity of intention with which the musical argument is projected completely bowled me over.
The Washington Post, Anne Midgette
Les Noces is in every way a worthy partner, sung by a chorus of native Russian speakers who, like Kopatchinskaja, find the rawness and ferocity within the music, just as Currentzis and the orchestra extend from harshness to tenderness to fortissimos that pound the ear with explosive impact. This is one of the most startling and refreshing recordings I’ve heard. Don’t miss it.
Financial Times, Richard Fairman
… recording of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto unlike any other — wildly exaggerated, sometimes almost inaudibly fragile, sometimes frenetic, alive with the tang of gut strings and period wind.
The New Yorker, Russell Platt
As usual, everything with Currentzis is extreme: tempo, dynamics, tone color, emotional contrast."
Patricia Kopatchinskaja, violin
Igor Stravinsky: Les Noces
Nadine Koutcher, soprano,
Natalya Buklaga, mezzo-soprano
Stanislav Leontieff, tenor,
Vasiliy Korostelev, bass
Testament to Teodor Currentzis and musicAeterna’s versatility and broad musical command, this album brings together two diverse masterworks from two giants of Russian music – Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto Op. 35 and Stravinsky’s Les Noces – and presents the exhilarating fruits of their very first musical collaboration with violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja.
Known for their instinctive and ground-breaking interpretations across an extensive range of musical eras, Currentzis, Kopatchinskaja and musicAeterna have performed together several times since this first project and consistently garnered audience and critical acclaim. Spiegel Online recently wrote: “No matter whether it is Mozart or Stravinsky, there is nothing that Teodor Currentzis cannot do at present. And things get even better when the conductor works with the idiosyncratic violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja – together they make a heavenly duo.”
The album also presents a rarer Russian masterpiece: Stravinsky’s Les Noces, for solo voices, choir, pianos and percussion which celebrates a peasant wedding. Currentzis again employs the authentic Russian folkloric influences that were central to his recent interpretation of Le Sacre du printemps and which he considers fundamental to understanding Stravinsky’s music.
BBC Music Magazine
The force of personality, conviction and unanimity of intention with which the musical argument is projected completely bowled me over.
The Washington Post, Anne Midgette
Les Noces is in every way a worthy partner, sung by a chorus of native Russian speakers who, like Kopatchinskaja, find the rawness and ferocity within the music, just as Currentzis and the orchestra extend from harshness to tenderness to fortissimos that pound the ear with explosive impact. This is one of the most startling and refreshing recordings I’ve heard. Don’t miss it.
Financial Times, Richard Fairman
… recording of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto unlike any other — wildly exaggerated, sometimes almost inaudibly fragile, sometimes frenetic, alive with the tang of gut strings and period wind.
The New Yorker, Russell Platt
As usual, everything with Currentzis is extreme: tempo, dynamics, tone color, emotional contrast."