Ludwig van Beethoven:
Concerto in D major for violin and orchestra, Op. 61

Alfred Schnittke:
Concerto No. 3 for violin and chamber orchestra

Skrzypek Vadim Gluzman podejmuje następne wyzwanie. Tym razem Koncert skrzypcowy D-dur op. 61 Ludwiga van Beethovena (1770-1827), który wytyczył nowy etap w historii kon-certu. Napisany w 1806 roku, u progu XIX wieku, stał się symfoniczną interpretacją idei kon-certu, gdzie instrument solowy i orkiestra stają na równymi partnerami. Z kolei Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) pisząc Koncert skrzypcowy nr 3 z udziałem orkiestry kameralnej stworzył zupełnie inne relacje między medium instrumentu solowego a orkiestrą. Oboje stali się przeciwnikami. Wsłuchiwanie się w realizację obu wizji idei koncertu w tak wybornym wykonaniu stanowi czystą przyjemność. Koniecznie.

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After acclaimed recordings of the great Romantic violin concertos by Brahms, Bruch and Tchaikovsky, Vadim Gluzman takes on the work that in the beginning of the 19th century mapped out a new course for the genre: Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61. With this work, Beethoven rejected the idea of a virtuoso display piece with a largely irrelevant orchestral accompaniment. Instead he presented a symphonic reinterpretation of the concerto principle, with soloist and orchestra becoming equal partners in a texture that is interwoven on many levels. Largely forgotten for several decades after the first performance in 1806, it is now considered one of the greatest violin concertos.

However innovative Beethoven was in his opus 61, he nevertheless remained true to the tradition of allowing the soloist several cadenzas. Over the years, a number of composers and great violin virtuosos have proposed their own cadenzas for the concerto, with Alfred Schnittke being one of the more unexpected names. For this recording, Gluzman has chosen to perform Schnittke's cadenzas, as a link to the second work on the disc: the composer's Concerto No. 3 for violin and chamber orchestra. To Schnittke, the relationship between soloist and orchestra is quite different from that demonstrated in Beethoven's score: 'It seems to me that this relationship is never harmonically equitable and balanced… The soloist and orchestra are in fact adversaries.' However they may be labelled, James Gaffigan and the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester nevertheless provide unstinting support to Gluzman in both scores.

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Recording: November 2017 (Schnittke); December 2019 & January 2020 (Beethoven) at the Kultur- und Kongresszentrum Luzern, Switzerland. Vadim Gluzman performs on the legendary 1690 ‘ex-Leopold Auer’ Stradivari.