Italian Journey
Giuseppe TARTINI (1692-1770)
Violin sonata in G minor Devil’s trill (1713), arr. Zandonai [13:07]
Ottorino RESPIGHI (1879-1936)
Ancient airs and dances, suite no.3 (1932) [17 :24]
Nicolo PAGANINI (1782-1840)
Moses fantasy (1818/1819) [7 :28]
Antonio BAZZINI (1818-1897)
Dance of the goblins (1852) [5:43]
Pietro MASCAGNI (1863-1945)
Cavalleria rusticana – intermezzo (1890) [3:13]
Heinrich Wilhelm ERNST (1814-1865)
Fantaisie brillante sur la marche et la romance d’Otello de Rossini (1837-1838) [13 :34]
Ennio MORRICONE (b.1928)
Nuovo Cinema Paradiso – love theme (1989) [4 :57]
Sumina Studer (violin, Tartini)
Lia Vielhaber (cello, Paganini)
Elvin Hoxha Ganiev (violin, Bazzini)
David Nebel (violin, Ernst)
Marina Seltenreich (piano)
LGT Young Soloists/Alexander Gilman
rec. 29-31 May 2015, Radio Studio I, Zurich
RCA RED SEAL 88875 131462 [63:26]
LGT, as the CD booklet helpfully informs us mere mortals for
whom even a £10 overdraft generates a stiff letter from the bank manager,
is "a leading international banking and asset management group that has
been fully controlled by the Liechtenstein Princely Family for over 80 years".
As that description might suggest, when it promotes its business it does so
in a distinctly upmarket way: it sponsors a small chamber orchestra. OK, I'll
concede that the fact that the musicians tend to perform in such centres of
conspicuous consumption as Shanghai, Moscow, Zurich, Hong Kong and Singapore
suggests that maybe pure philanthropy isn't necessarily the only motivation
for LGT's sponsorship - there's no hint of any Rattle/BPO-type
"outreach" programme here. We must nevertheless offer our gratitude
to any initiative that offers aspiring young artists the invaluable opportunity
of performing at this high level and showcasing their talents.
Like it or not, the music industry today is a cutthroat commercial business.
We can all point to distinctly sub-par performers who have enjoyed very high-profile
and lucrative careers on the basis of little more than PR hype. Conversely,
a handful of really accomplished artists have taken far too long to be recognised
- or have even gone largely unappreciated - because they weren't promoted
effectively. Thus, if it wants to appeal to a wider public through recordings,
any recently formed ensemble such as the LGT Young Soloists needs to establish
a distinct, individual identity - a "brand", if you like. Equally
important, we listeners need to be told about it. Unfortunately, however,
in this instance we are left somewhat in the dark in several respects. Although
the booklet notes explain that LGTYS was formed in 2013 by violinist Alexander
Gilman - who has, incidentally, recorded a couple of discs for Oehms Classics
- matters beyond that start to get a little vague.
Take Mr Gilman's own role, for instance. As he was born in 1982 - and
as the booklet notes tell us that the LGTYS members are aged between 13 and
22 - we may deduce that he himself does not actually play on this recording.
The frustratingly uninformative LGTYS
website refers in a rather woolly fashion to his "artistic leadership"
of the group, but, while the CD booklet's cover - and, to be honest,
common sense - may appear to suggest that he conducts it, as far as I can
see that's never explicitly confirmed either in print or in cyberspace.
Then again, his
personal website refers in passing to LGTYS violinists David Nebel and
Leo Esselson as (his own?) "students", so perhaps Mr Gilman's
primary role in LGTYS is that of a teacher and mentor. As the doyen of music
critics, Private Eye magazine's Lunchtime O'Boulez,
would say, "I think we should be told".
Moving on to the LGTYS members themselves, the CD booklet offers us individual
photographs of 17 youngsters. Eleven of them are female and six male, and
the group even includes what I take to be a photogenic sub-set of musical
Austrian siblings - 18 years old Marie-Isabel, 17 years old Clemens and 15
years old Paul Kropfitsch - forming, I suppose, a sort of 21st century version
of the von Trapps. Most LGTYS players originate from Europe's German-speaking
countries, with a handful of others coming from anywhere between the USA and
Azerbaijan. Given that their ages as listed in the booklet do range
from 22 (pensive Spanish double bass player Yamila Pedrosa Ahmed) down to
13 (self-composed Swiss violinist Emilia von Albertini), I imagine that this
is probably the ensemble’s full line-up.
Some important questions are, though, left unanswered. Seventeen members seems
a rather odd number, for instance - chamber orchestras frequently have half
as many again - so is LGTYS limited to that number or is it open to more?
Are there fixed lower and upper age limits for its membership? Does it hold
open auditions for new recruits or has each player been hand-picked? Do members
come together just for rehearsals and performances? Are those occasions confined
to academic holidays, given that more than half of them seem to be still of
secondary school age? Pointing out that we aren't given this sort of
information is not mere nit-picking, for, given that this is the ensemble's
debut CD and thus its first opportunity to introduce and promote itself to
a wide audience, a little more explicit clarity on the basic facts, both in
the booklet and on the LGTYS website, would certainly have been welcome. I
would have loved to pass on a little more about the ensemble's –
and its individual members’ - background to you, but the information
simply isn't there. Failure to provide it demonstrates surprisingly
poor marketing that thereby misses an opportunity to generate interest among
both the media and the music-loving public.
Nevertheless, the performances on this disc are strong enough on their own
to make it a useful calling card to purchasers who've been willing
to take a punt on it. Under the "Italian journey" portmanteau title,
we are presented with a somewhat mixed programme of pieces. Some tracks feature
LGTYS playing as a single body, while others highlight a particular soloist.
The ensemble demonstrates its collective skill in three pieces that together
encompass some very familiar fare (Mascagni), some slightly less well known
but very easy-on-the-ear material (Respighi) and, in a nod to today's
widely-held definition of "classical music" among the general public,
something from a film score. Interestingly, I note from his website that Alexander
Gilman has previous form in that respect, for he included some of John Williams's
music from Schindler's List on his 2010 recording of the Barber
and Korngold violin concertos (Oehms OC799).
Playing as a chamber orchestra, LGTYS is a most impressive body. It's
clear that the young players bond very closely as a team, so that one would
guess that they'd been playing together for many years - though, come
to think of it, that's probably a reasonable assumption in the case
of those Kropfitsches. High quality recording also shows off the consistently
fine and transparent balance that's been achieved between the various
instrumental voices. My only reservation is that some of the chosen pieces
aren't really best suited to a group of just 17 players. Thus, the
intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana is very well realised,
with the contribution of the lower string instruments coming through especially
effectively, but ultimately it fails to tug at our heartstrings in the way
that we're used to in the opera house. Similarly, the "love theme"
from Ennio Morricone's score to the multi-award winning film Nuovo
Cinema Paradiso - with an evocative contribution from pianist and LGTYS
co-founder Marina Seltenreich - may retain its melodic appeal in this pared-down
form, but anyone who's cried their eyes out during the movie's
cathartic final five minutes will know that its full emotional impact is only
really made when it's being belted out by the strings of a full orchestra.
LGTYS's performance of Respighi's third suite of Ancient
airs and dances is, however, an unqualified success, as the young players
successfully and attractively capture its atmosphere of faux courtliness
and refinement.
Each of the disc's four remaining tracks offers a showcase for individual
virtuosity to a young soloist. We hear a cellist - 16 years old Lia Vielhaber
- and three violinists: 18 years old Sumina Studer, Elvin Hoxha Ganiev (18)
and David Nebel (19).
Ms Studer is clearly at one with Tartini's style and delivers a rock-solid
performance of his Devil's trill sonata in an arrangement
for violin, piano and string orchestra by Riccardo Zandonai. To my ears her
account is less demonic, perhaps, than aloofly aristocratic - but it is certainly
none the worse for that and I enjoyed it immensely. If, however, it is
real string devilry that you're after, then Mr Ganiev is your man. Bazzini's
piece may depict goblins rather than Old Nick himself, but it demands almost
supernatural ability - at least to the ears of the general listener. It receives
its full due here. David Nebel exhibits complete technical assurance and displays
a full appreciation of the requisite style in his performance of Ernst's
Fantaisie brillante. I can give no higher praise than ranking this
performance right up there with Ganiev's Bazzini. Indeed, it is arguably even
more impressive because of the wider range of demands made by Ernst's piece.
The final - and youngest – featured soloist, the cellist Ms Vielhaber,
delivers a carefully crafted account of Paganini's Mosè-fantasia.
Although she begins somewhat tentatively, she quickly seems to gain confidence
and sounds fully in control once the tempo of the piece picks up.
She is clearly an artist with a great deal of potential.
This, as you will have gathered, is certainly an enjoyable disc to listen
to, even if it's difficult to envisage its target audience. It's
best accepted as a showcase for some extremely talented young musicians, several
of whom appear to have more than decent chances of a career as a professional
soloist. As such, we should be grateful to the LGT bank for investing its
time, its effort and, most of all, its money in promoting it.
Rob Maynard
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