Violinist Sergey Khachatryan plays the Brahms Concerto
Rugby
Concerto with the BBC Phil I found very well done by this 20-something
Armenian violinist, who won a recent (?) QEB Competition, my first
hearing of him and his playing:
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ntg4m#synopsis
A recorded live performance, not dated that I could find, of the
Shostakovich 1st Violin Concerto is at YT:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBO8EQUTphk
Per Amazon -US he has recorded both Shostakovich concerti and the
Sibelius. Anyone heard these recordings, or him live, would wish to
comment ? Thanks.
Rugby
SG
I listened to the whole first movement of Brahms - of course,
excellent violin playing (which is so hard to achieve to begin with),
but also not distinguished in any way. The approach to Brahms' work is
inflected in a small-range, fragmenting way, which creates moments of
beauty, but also ruins to a serious extent the grand form.
The concerto (partly due to the choice of a slow tempo, but not only
to that) seems long and disjointed, like a semi-boring succession of
musical miniatures, some of which lovely, some of which unrelated to
what preceds or to what follows.
My botton line, good, sensitive instrumentalist, with a lot of growth
left to achieve on an intellectual and musicianship level.
regards,
SG
Rugby
>
> My botton line, good, sensitive instrumentalist, with a lot of growth
> left to achieve on an intellectual and musicianship level.
Thanks for taking the time to listen. He is in his 20's I guess, and
what caught my ear was as slower first mov. tempo and higher level of
musicianship than I was expecting.I did like the performance much
better than you did,my view of no real matter, but you may also wish
to hear the other 2 movs, as to me the first mov. is always difficult
for any violinist to hold together ,much as the first mov. of the
piano concerti. Perhaps the choice of tempo in the first mov. reflects
a view the mov. was intended to exhibit "smell the roses" episodes as
well as heroic ones ? Certainly did not over-play the Joachim cadenza.
Regards, Rugby
Steve Emerson
<d7cd4ea8-07e2-4cea...@g1g2000vbr.googlegroups.com>,
SG <sgg...@gmail.com> wrote:
I saw him last January in a recital with his sister at the piano. As you
say, his playing was clean and in tune. He played the Brahms first
sonata with the somewhat tender first movement too rushed, much too
rushed (a mistake often made by more seasoned musicians than K,
nonetheless a bad mistake). The rest of the sonata was effective. Later
on, he played the Bach Chaconne impressively; not with great
hand-wringing depth, but with coherence and flow. The Brahms mistake,
though, supplied the lasting impression.
SE.
Rugby
The Brahms mistake,
> though, supplied the lasting impression.
>
Then I'd suggest listening to the Brahms Concerto, still up at BBC 3 I
believe, where he might be criticized for too slow at times, perhaps
responding to concerns like yours.
Rugby
SG
No doubt this Sergey is a very good violinist. I have great admiration
for somebody able to play violin well, as a couple of years of effort
brought me little more than some scratchy, impossible sounds at
kindergarten level, and a newly-found appreciation for how difficult
this instrument is. To be decent on piano is easy. (To be
extraordinary on piano is hard.) To be decent on violin is an
accomplishment, a difficult craft in itself.
I found genuine qualities in Sergey's playing, and I see it possible
that he will evolve further nicely. At least I liked how he tries to
"sing" the music, even if (at this stage in his life) a tad
detrimental to formal coherence.
regards,
SG
bassppn
I am not quite as impressed..... first, he has a real problem with the
very high notes on the E string.... he seems to have a certain lack of
control of the vibrato on sustained notes, resulting in an almost
"hysterical" sound when he forces the sound. Musically, the playing
is too fussy, so the music does not always flow logically.
SFAIAC, he is not a finished violinist, neither musically nor
technically.
BTW- the orchestra often is heavy handed, to say the least.
AB
Rugby
>
> I am not quite as impressed..
Here he is in a live Shostakovich 1st Concerto on YT:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBO8EQUTphk
Rugby
Rugby
An impressive Shostakovich 1 at any age, let alone 23 or 24 .
Rugby