The smiling seriousness of Maxim Vengerov
In the booklet accompanying his new CD (EMI), violinist Maxim Vengerov confesses that this recordings of works by Saint-Saëns, Lalo and Ravel made him “a little bit nostalgic”. A child prodigy, he had won at the age of nine the violin competition in Lublin with his performance of Saint-Saëns’ B minor concerto (opus 61). One might ask if such reminiscences are not somewhat premature for an early-middle-aged musician who strides from one concert hall to the next to the resounding applause of the music-loving world. Might it not be more appropriate for a virtuoso like Vengerov – at the height of his musical career, engaged in a non-stop programme – to focus his undivided attention solely on the future? The plain answer is, NO!
Maxim Vengerov plays Brahms sonatas
in the coming summer.
It is precisely the sweet poignancy of sensitive compositions – including the brilliant capriccios – that requires of the musician the ability to repose even when the pace is fast and furious, to contemplate the springs and fountains of his own music and of all music as such. Vengerov is endowed with the exceptional gift of making the past, the present and the unlimited future swing, sparkle and smile – whether he is giving a major concert recital, or performing a sonata with piano accompaniment, or just playing a waggish encore such as the ‘Balaleika’ étude of the Russian composer, Rodion Shchedrin. He is the personification, as it were, of a smiling seriousness.
Next summer Vengerov will be appearing together with the Turkish pianist, Fazil Say, at the Salzburg Festival. One can hardly imagine two more individualistic and at the same time amenable musicians than Maxim Vengerov and Fazil Say. Their coming together at the Festival in 2004 should surely prove a very exciting and venturesome encounter.
Peter Cossé