Out February 23: Solomiya Ivakhiv's "Ukrainian Masters"

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Violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv releases “Ukrainian Masters: Sonatas for Violin and Piano by Bortkiewicz, Kosenko and Skoryk”

Album features sonatas spanning the 20th century with pianist Steven Beck

Featuring a world premiere recording; released February 23 on Naxos

“a fabulous tone and virtuoso panache that feels just right.” — Gapplegate Classical

The Ukrainian-American violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv has made it her mission to share the music of her home country. Her latest release, “Ukrainian Masters” (Naxos 8.579146, rel. February 23, 2024) includes violin sonatas spanning 1922 to 1991 by three seminal Ukrainian composers, including a world premiere recording of Viktor Kosenko's Sonata in A minor, Op. 18. Ivakhiv is joined by the renowned pianist Steven Beck who frequently performs with the New York Philharmonic.

Each of the three composers on the new album are major figures in Ukrainian classical music and in Ivakhiv's own musical life. "I knew Kosenko's piano music growing up, but it was not popular to play Ukrainian music, as the Soviet government only promoted Russian composers. Therefore his music was not professionally recorded. I discovered the sonata after I moved to the U.S. when I was studying at Curtis and planning my recitals."

Bortkiewicz's music on the other hand was completely banned in the Soviet Union as he was a refugee and fled Ukraine via Istanbul, Belgrade, Sofia, Serbia and Vienna when Russians occupied Eastern Ukraine. "He was declared an enemy of the people as a result, and I only discovered his music with the war in Ukraine," continues the violinist. "Skoryk I did know personally, and had the opportunity to play his music for him before he passed away in 2020."

In addition to Ukrainian Masters, Ivakhiv has highlighted works from Ukrainian composers on her recordings Poems and Rhapsodies with the National Symphony of Ukraine (Centaur, 2022) and Ukraine - Journey to Freedom (NAXOS, 2016). Other album releases include Haydn + Hummel Concertos (Centaur, 2020) and Mendelssohn Concertos (Brilliant Classics, 2019).

Contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com to request a physical CD or digital copy of Ukrainian Masters.

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February 9: Album release performance and panel discussion in NYC

To celebrate the release of Ukrainian Masters, Ivakhiv and Beck will perform selections from the album at the Ukrainian Institute of America in NYC on February 9 at 7 pm. The evening will feature a conversation on "Ukrainian Composers and their Words" with Maria Sonevytsky, Professor of Music, Bard College and Peter Schmelz, Professor of Music, Johns Hopkins University. Admission includes a copy of the CD. Ticket information coming soon.

"There is absolutely no stuffiness about this playing, just a constant outpouring of joy.”
– Classical Candor

Ukrainian Masters: Sonatas for Violin and Piano by Bortkiewicz, Kosenko and Skoryk

Solomiya Ivakhiv, violin
Steven Beck, piano

Naxos 8.579146

Release date: February 23, 2024

• Read the liner notes

• View Solomiya Ivakhiv's Digital Press Kit

• Download cover art

• Request a copy of this CD

TRACKS

Viktor Kosenko: Violin Sonata in A minor, Op. 18 (1927)* 17:42
[01] I. Allegro 9:24
[02] II. Andantino semplice 8:06

Myroslav Skoryk: Violin Sonata No. 2 (1991) 14:58
[03] I. The Word: Moderato con moto 5:15
[04] II. Aria: Andante con moto 5:56
[05] III. Burlesque: Vivo 3:40

Sergei Bortkiewicz: Violin Sonata in G minor, Op. 26 (1922) 25:21
[06] I. Sostenuto – Allegro drammatico 10:22
[07] II. Andante 7:24
[08] III. Allegro vivace e con brio 7:30

*world premiere recording

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Ukrainian born violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv is a highly celebrated soloist, chamber musician and educator. She has made solo appearances with the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Lviv National Philharmonic of Ukraine, Charleston Symphony in the United States and Hunan Symphony Orchestra in China, and has performed at chamber music festivals worldwide, including Tanglewood, Newport, Nevada Chamber Music Festival and KyivFest. Her recordings have been featured on NPR’s Performance Today and have placed in the top charts on iTunes and Spotify.

Since 2010, Dr Ivakhiv has served as artistic director of the Music at the Institute (MATI) Concert Series in New York City, where her primary focus is to introduce audiences to Ukrainian classical music. She is also artistic director of the Caspian Monday Music Festival in Greensboro, Vermont. She holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and Stony Brook University, and is associate professor of violin and viola and head of strings at the University of Connecticut. In 2021, she was named Honoured (Merited) Artist of Ukraine, her native country’s highest cultural honour.

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A graduate of The Juilliard School, pianist Steven Beck made his concerto debut with the National Symphony Orchestra. His annual Christmas Eve performance of Bach’s Goldberg Variations at Bargemusic has become a New York institution. As an orchestral musician he has appeared with the New York Philharmonic and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Beck is an experienced performer of new music, having worked with Elliott Carter, Pierre Boulez, Henri Dutilleux, Charles Wuorinen, George Crumb, George Perle and Fred Lerdahl. He is a member of The Knights, the Talea Ensemble, Quattro Mani and the Da Capo Chamber Players. His discography includes George Walker’s piano sonatas for Bridge Records, and Elliott Carter’s Double Concerto on Albany Records. He is a Steinway Artist, and is on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Out Feb. 11: Violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv's "Poems and Rhapsodies"

Violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv with National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine: “Poems & Rhapsodies” on Centaur Records

February 11 release features “The Lark Ascending” by Vaughan Williams, works by Saint-Saëns and Chausson, and the American composer Kenneth Fuchs

Plus rarities by the Ukrainian composers Anatoly Kos-Anatolsky and Myroslav Skoryk

Hot on the heels of her highly acclaimed recent recordings of Mendelssohn Concertos and Haydn and Hummel Concertos, the violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv brings us a collection of programmatic works for violin and orchestra, “Poems and Rhapsodies” (Centaur CRC 3799, release date February 11, 2022).

Along with the evocative and ethereal sound of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending, the recording includes the American composer Kenneth Fuchs' American Rhapsody, and works by Camille Saint-Saëns and Ernest Chausson. Solomiya Ivakhiv also recorded rarely-heard music by her countrymen, the Ukrainian composers Myroslav Skoryk and Anatoly Kos-Anatolsky. The score for Kos-Anatolsky's Poem for Violin and Orchestra, written in 1962, was lost. In 2019, Solomiya Ivakhiv commissioned Bohdan Kryvopust to reconstruct the orchestration from an early recording.

The National Symphony of Ukraine, Volodymyr Sirenko conducting, joins Ms. Ivakhiv in the recording studio, as does the American cellist Sophie Shao, who is featured in Saint-Saëns’ La muse et le poète.

Contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com to request a physical CD or digital copy of this recording.

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Poems and Rhapsodies

Solomiya Ivakhiv, violin

National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine
Volodymyr Sirenko, conductor
with Sophie Shao, cello (on Saint-Saëns La muse et le poète)

Centaur (#CRC3799)
Release date: February 11, 2022

Read the liner notes

View Solomiya Ivakhiv's Digital Press Kit

Download cover art

Request a copy of this CD

TRACKS

Camille Saint-Saëns
[01] La muse et le poète, Op. 132 (17:24)
with Sophie Shao, cello

Ernest Chausson
[02] Poème, Op. 25 (16:43)

Ralph Vaughan Williams
[03] The Lark Ascending (16:37)

Anatoly Kos-Anatolsky
[04] Poem for Violin and Orchestra in D Minor (9:22)

Kenneth Fuchs
[05] American Rhapsody (Romance for Violin and Orchestra) (11:47)

Myroslav Skoryk
[06] Carpathian Rhapsody (6:40)

Total Time = 78:37

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Ukrainian born, American Solomiya Ivakhiv, 2021 recipient of the Merited Artist of Ukraine, is an accomplished concert violinist, chamber musician, collaborator, educator, and champion of new music. Concertizing internationally, her wide range of repertoire includes the premiere of numerous new works for violin. Dr. Ivakhiv has performed solo and chamber music at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, CBC Glenn Gould Studio, Curtis Institute Field Concert Hall, Italian Academy in New York City, Pickman Hall in Cambridge (MA), San Jose Chamber Music Society, Old First Concerts in San Francisco, Astoria Music Festival (Portland), Tchaikovsky Hall in Kyiv, Concertgebouw Mirror Hall, and at UConn’s Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts. A dedicated champion of new music, Dr. Ivakhiv has been privileged to premiere numerous new works for violin by composers Eli Marshall, David Ludwig, John B. Hedges, Bohdan Kryvopust, Yevhen Stankovych, Bruce Adolphe, David Dzubay, Leonid Hrabovsky, and Oleksandr Shchetynsky.

Audiophile Audition reviews Solomiya Ivakhiv's "Haydn & Hummel Double Concertos"

In 1761 Haydn took an appointment as Vice-Kapellmeister with Prince Paul Anton Esterhazy, among the richest men of the Hungarian-Bohemian Empire. In 1766, now serving the Prince Nicolaus, brother to the late Prince Paul, Haydn succeeded Kapellmeister Gregor Werner, and Haydn retained this post, more or less nominally until his death in 1809.  The Concerto for Piano, Violin and Orchestra seems to have been an immediate product of Haydn’s new status and position, and the music bears a festive character, given its leaning to the keyboard, which the violin both supports and adds lovely, ornamental tissue.

Recorded 15-19 November 2017, the music enjoys the immediate warmth of the two soloists, who in the cadenza sections, play as a salon duet.  Despite the fact that Haydn conceived virtually all of his keyboard works for the harpsichord, the transposition to the modern piano does not intrude upon the transparency of the textures. The opening Allegro moderato proceeds in an Italianate manner, in the Viotti style. Florid and gracious, each partner either echoes or elaborates on the other solo line, then the two blend while the orchestra supplies a transition. The scalar second subject could hardly be more simple, spread over a pedal point. The cadenza plays out like a brief, salon interlude.

The second movement, Largo, opens with the piano’s serving as an obbligato orchestral instrument, in the manner of C.P.E. Bach. A stately processional, it allows the violin the melodic statement. The keyboard will add ornaments to the sweetly flowing, melodic line. A turn to the minor mode adds a touch of Haydn pathos. The piano part combines a parlando style with arpeggios and ad libitum ornaments. The pizzicato accompaniment for both soli contributes to an intimate moment. The four-note motif late in the movement makes us think about what Beethoven would do with it. The last movement, Presto, brisk and robust, swaggers along with a deliberate halt or two and a drop in dynamic levels. The sense of rustic dance permeates the general good nature of the music. The cordial interplay of the two instruments with the orchestra, light-hearted and warmly lyrical, surely will win new and devoted auditors to this relatively novel work.

The Concerto for Piano, Violin and Orchestra, Op. 17 of Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1804) displays a congenial virtuosity of spirit from beginning to end. In traditional three-movement form, the work opens with an airy, martial Allegro con brio that permits a charming interplay between the two soli, often allowing a scalar flourish for the keyboard. The violin, too, indulges in florid passages, often taking up the piano tune to develop its lyrical possibilities.  Hummel did in fact leave his own cadenza for this movement, rather contrary to the “improvised” tradition of the period. Ivakhiv’s sweet tone proves particularly effective in her work prior to the extended pedal point that will lead to the cadenza. Pompa-Baldi leads off, his long trill’s inviting Ivakhin, and the two endear us to the lyrical melody and its roulades. Some humorous touches infiltrate the pages, perhaps in honor of Hummel’s idol, Beethoven.

The second movement, a menuet tune, takes the form of a Thema con Variazioni, among Hummel’s most favored procedures. Rather Mozartean in grace and contour, the air has the character of an operatic aria and its various permutations. There proceed six variants, with Ivakhiv’s entry supported by flourishes in the keyboard. The orchestral part confines itself mostly to a moving bass line. Some woodwind interest – oboe and flute – accepts the invitation to participate. Some horns color the long violin variation, followed by a piano variation of equal length that could easily pass for one of the many Mozart short concerted works for piano and orchestra. The French horn work deserves some note. The last movement, Rondo, exudes a playfulness that has marked the performance as a whole. Genial and inflected with tender affection, the music moves in easy colors – granted by the bassoon – until a rather disarming episode in the minor, a rare moment of Hummel gravity. We ought to recall that Hummel represents the “link,” as it were, between Beethoven and Chopin. Though the soloists do not indulge in a cadenza, their various starts-and-stops have proved energetic and compelling enough.

Excellent sonics, attributable to the well-seasoned Da-Hong Seetoo.

—Gary Lemco

Violin Channel features Solomiya Ivakhiv's CD of Mendelssohn Concertos

Brilliant Classics has announced the release of Ukrainian-born violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv‘s new album: ‘Mendelssohn‘.

Recorded with pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi, conductor Theodore Kuchar and the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra, the disc features Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in D Minor – coupled with Mendelssohn’s Concerto in D Minor for Violin, Piano and String Orchestra.

“The discovery of the orchestral version of the Double Concerto was the inspiration behind the album … it is Mendelssohn himself who edited the concerto later in his life and added percussion and wind parts – the Double concerto sounds much more complete and full with such orchestration … ” Solomiya has told The Violin Channel.

“Mendessohn is a brilliant composer and there is so much to discover.”

Take Effect Reviews Solomiya Ivakhiv's "Haydn+Hummel" CD

Double Concertos For Violin And Piano

Centaur, 2020

8/10

Listen to Double Concertos For Violin And Piano

The violin sensation Solomiya Ivakhiv is aligned with pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi, conductor Theodore Kuchar and the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra on this classical and orchestral adventure that tips it hat to the legends Franz Josef Haydn and Johann Nepomuk Hummel.

“Allegro moderato” opens the affair as Ivakhiv’s violin dances around the keys and orchestra in playful, elegant ways, and “Largo” continues the sophistication with a more subdued approach where a cinematic appeal is present.

The F Major, Hob. XVIII:6 portion exits with the lifting melodies of “Presto”, where swift violin acrobatics guide the classical setting.

The G Major, Op. 17 half offers the soaring “Allegro con brio”, where the 15 minutes glide with precise, agile instrumentation, while “Thema con Variazioni” showcases fluid piano work alongside the stirring strings. “Rondo”, one of the most exciting selections, then finds a busy and glorious place to reside.

The second disc in a series of three, Solomiya has already reworded Mendelssohn with fascinating results, and here she turns in similar, thriving results. The last installment, later this year, will be highly anticipated after seeing what the Ivakhiv has done so far with her craft.

Travels well with: Mendelssohn- Violin Concerto; Solomiya Ivakhiv- Ukraine: Journey To Freedom

Cleveland Classical reviews Solomiya Ivakhiv's "Mendelssohn Concertos" CD

While Felix Mendelssohn’s Concerto in e is played by every violinist at a certain stage in their development, not many listeners are aware of the first violin concerto Mendelssohn composed — in d minor.

His double concerto for violin and piano might be even lesser known. Ukrainian violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv has dedicated her new album Mendelssohn, released by Brilliant Classics, to rediscovering these lost gems. By her side is Italian-born pianist and Cleveland Institute of Music faculty member Antonio Pompa-Baldi. Theodore Kuchar conducts the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra.

Written in 1822, the d-minor concerto clearly belongs to the classical style book. Reminiscent of Mozart, its lyricism is pristine. The string orchestra opens the first movement resolutely. Following the primary lyrical theme, the violin enters unexpectedly, giving rise to Ivakhiv’s skillfully crafted long lines and effective nuancing.

In the second movement, the violinist illustrates numerous bittersweet moments with beautiful, soft colors. The main theme evolves in a gently rising arch of emotion. Nearing the end, the low strings produce a memorable moment of dark rumbling thunder, reminiscent of a distant Midwestern thunderstorm. Staying true to the classical nature of this piece, the darkness doesn’t last long and the violin closes lightly with a translucent harmonic.

Resembling a scherzando, the third movement introduces capricious and playful moods. The violin part is flecked with mini cadenzas weaving in and out of the ever so slightly exotic main theme. More than in any of the previous movements, this finale showcases Ivakhiv’s inherent virtuosity. Kuchar leads the orchestra with admirable precision.

The double concerto is the crowning jewel of this album with its captivating melodies and exquisite Mendelssohnian moments. Written one year later in 1823, this work foreshadows the romantic qualities Mendelssohn would develop later in his compositional life.

The piano embodies several roles throughout the work, from percussive, to an arpeggiating harp, to a choral singer. The most stunning moment in the first movement follows a violin cadenza, where Pompa-Baldi creates a harp-like backdrop of sparkles for the violin’s tender and intimate melody. Ivakhiv’s soft dynamics are nuanced and moving, though a few of the stronger long notes lack direction. The movement has a general feeling of gentle musings, followed by returning energy.

The second movement is serious and grave, embracing a vocal flavor. Above running 16th notes in the piano, the violin plays sustained lines that evoke feelings of innocence. Pompa-Baldi displays beautiful voicing throughout the track. The third movement enters with a blast of energy, showcasing the playful virtuosity of both soloists. 

The album has an appealing audio clarity, but the balances throughout favor the violin in a way that sounds slightly artificial, and also occasionally distort the chamber music connection between the soloists and the orchestra. 

This album sheds light on these early Mendelssohn works, taking a noble stand in service of their sorely needed public exposure.

American Record Guide reviews Solomiya Ivakhiv's CD of Mendelssohn Concertos

“The performances are terrific. Coordination between soloists in the Double is first rate, particularly in the outer movements. The fast movements are taken at a very fast clip, and both soloists are up to the challenge. The orchestra is also fine. A very desirable release, recommended to anyone who already has the standard Mendelssohn under his belt.”

Read the complete review at http://www.americanrecordguide.com/

EarRelevant reviews Haydn and Hummel Double Concerto CD

CD review: Precision and solid performance in double concertos by Haydn and Hummel

Giorgio Koukl | 08 APR 2020

It is curious to note the geographical region of the two composers, Haydn and Hummel, who not only share the stylistic vicinity, the national provenance being both sons of the great Austro-Hungarian empire, but both worked for the Esterhazy family in the castle of Eisenach. Haydn stayed there nearly thirty years, Hummel managed to be fired for “neglecting his duties” after only seven years.

Thus a good starting point to fully understand their music is the image of their place of provenance, this “flat and grey land” dotted by a few lakes and isolated castles of local aristocracy, land which then, as it does now, produced a high quality of wine both composers reportedly appreciated.

But there the similarity ends and we can see the older of the two composers, Franz Josef Haydn, speaking of himself as “staying isolated, without real contact with other composers of my time, forced me to become original.” Haydn was able to make only few trips abroad, like London, but despite this was one of the most popular composers of the time in all of Europe. His interest in the concerto form was quite limited, certainly nothing to compare to his huge output of symphonies or quartets, but the natural flow of musical ideas is equally astonishing in this Double Concerto as it is in his more famous works.

Johann Nepomuk Hummel’s name was chosen by his Slovak mother to honor the great Slavonic saint Johan (Jan) Nepomucenus. Born in Bratislava, now capital of the Slovak Republic, but then a sleepy province “village” near Vienna, he soon began to show exceptional musical talent and his father exploited this trying to emulate the childhood career of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

At the age of only eight years Hummel took piano lessons with Mozart and a few years after toured England with great success, attracting interest of well-known composer and pianist Muzio Clementi.

After his return to Vienna and while still studying piano with Antonio Salieri, Hummel developed his famous technical skills allowing him to play passages on piano with dexterity never heard before no matter how difficult the score was, rivaled in this only by his fellow student Ludwig van Beethoven. This pianistic capacity is well reflected in his Concerto for Violin and Piano, Op. 17, and here I admired the ease with which pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi deals with the endless cascades of sixteenth notes, remaining rhythmically perfectly steady but modelling the overall musical picture in a very convincing way.

It’s a pleasure to see a former student of Bruno Canino reacting in this musically free manner, he must have made a lot of his own personal growth and I am confident he has some very interesting developments in front of his career. Equally valid is the violin soloist Solomia Ivakhiv. What gave me the best impression is their fabulous rhythmic precision they have together. Especially in the Haydn concerto the soloists have chosen extremely slow tempi, nothing to do with the Anush Nikogosyan and Andreas Froelich rendering which is on the exact opposite side. This decision serves them well in the slow movements, but is less adequate in the quick ones. The Hummel concerto is for me far more “daring” and shows the real potential of this duo. Let’s hope for a future collaboration, maybe in some 20th century repertoire?

The conductor Theodore Kuchar, well known for his Naxos series with Kiev symphony orchestra, delivers with mathematical precision what is requested, quite easy in Haydn, where the orchestra is reduced to a simple underlying carpet, but far more challenging in Hummel. Here, unfortunately, the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra is a little behind its otherwise immaculate reputation. Maybe it’s the forcedly reduced rehearsing and recording time, maybe it’s the unfortunate sonic image delivered by the sound engineer, but this orchestra is surely able to do better. Passages like the slow movement of Hummel, a series of variations, but without any indication of speed change, have some abrupt tempo fluctuations, probably a sign of no time to correct this. I would have wished Haydn, Hummel and the two soloists the grace of a first class orchestra, they would have deserved it.

For the relative repertoire rarity and for the genuine musical craftsmanship of the soloists this CD is easily recommended.

WTJU reviews Solomiya Ivakhiv's CD "Haydn + Hummel: Double Concertos"

This is something unusual — a recording series spread across different labels. Violinist Solmiya Ivakhiv and pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi wanted to record the double concertos of Haydn and Mendelssohn.

While preparing, they discovered two other neglected works. Johann Nepomuk Hummel, a contemporary of Haydn, had also written a double concerto for violin and piano. And Mendelssohn at age 13 had composed a seldom-performed violin concerto in D major.

There was enough material for two CDs. The Mendelssohn works were released on Brilliant Classics. The paired Haydn and Hummel concertos were released on Centaur.

Theodor Kuchar conducts the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra on both releases. As expected, the sound quality is fairly consistent across the two releases, as are the performances.

Ivakhiv and Pompa-Baldi bring the right measure of bravado and sensitivity to these works. These two artists seem to speak the same language, making their exchanges all the more engaging. Both play with crystalline clarity that is well-suited to these works.

Haydn’s Concerto for Violin, Piano, and Orchestra in F major is probably the best-known of the four works. Ivakhiv and Pompa-Baldi deliver performances that epitomize the elegant beauty of the score.

Hummel’s music leans more towards the Romantic era. His Concerto for Piano and Violin in G major is one of the influences for Mendelssohn’s early violin concerto. Hummel dedicated the concerto to Count Rasoumovsky, a talented amateur violinist and benefactor of Beethoven.

Hummel’s concerto has a fuller orchestral sound, with a more urgent sense of drama than Haydn’s. The solo passages, especially the piano’s, also seem more technically challenging.

Mendelessohn’s double concerto was written when he was fourteen. Ivakhiv and Pompa-Baldi discovered a revision Mendelssohn made late in life, expanding the string orchestra to a full symphony orchestra. This is the version they perform.

It’s an exciting work, and if you’re only familiar with the original version, an illuminating one. Mendelssohn makes the climaxes stronger, and the dynamic contrasts greater.

Mendelssohn’s D minor violin concerto is a good but not great work. His influences — Hummel, Kreutzer, and Weber — aren’t fully integrated. This gives the work a bit of a patchwork quality to it — still pretty darned good for a tween. Ivakhiv’s innate musicianship brings out the structure of the music, making the solo part more than just runs up and down the instrument.

Four concertos, two different labels, one set of performers. This is a great series, and I hope Ivakhiv and Pompa-Baldi find more to record.

Haydn and Hummel: Double ConcertosFranz Joseph Haydn: Concerto for Violin and Piano in F major. HOb. XVIII:6Johann Nepomuk Hummel: Concerto for Piano and Violin in G major, Op. 17Centaur 

Felix Mendelssohn: ConcertosConcerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra in D minorConcerto for Violin and Orchestra in D minorBrilliant Classics

Solomiya Ivakhiv, violin; Antonio Pompa-Baldi, pianoSlovak National Symphony Orchestra; Theodore Kuchar, conductor

Solomiya Ivakhiv releases new CD "Haydn + Hummel: Double Concertos for Violin and Piano"

"Haydn + Hummel: Double Concertos for Violin and Piano "

Violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv’s new album with pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi, conductor Theodore Kuchar, and Slovak National Symphony Orchestra

Released April 17, 2020 on Centaur Records

Solomiya Ivakhiv wins Curtis Institute of Music 2019 Alumni Award - recognizing outstanding and long-term service to and involvement in Curtis, as well as outstanding achievement in or contribution to the music profession

The violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv, praised for her “superlative and consummate artistry” (Fanfare) teams up once again with pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi and the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra, Theodore Kuchar conducting, for an album of double concertos by Haydn and Hummel. Released by Centaur Records (CRC3742) on April 17, 2020.

This CD features two fine examples of classical-era double concertos: Franz Josef Haydn's Concerto for Violin, Piano, and Strings in F major and Johann Nepomuk Hummel's Concerto for Violin, Piano, and Orchestra in G major. The modern view of the concerto genre is dominated by the great nineteenth and twentieth-century staples that showcase a single soloist, but from the invention of the concerto in the late seventeenth century until some way into the 1800s, composers frequently wrote for different combinations of multiple soloists. The two works on this disc remind us of the fruitful possibilities afforded by the double concerto medium.

Haydn's Concerto for Violin, Piano, and Strings in F major, Hob. XVIII:6, dates from 1766, when the composer was in his mid-thirties. In 1761 he had been appointed Vice-Kapellmeister to the wealthy and musical Esterházy family, where he would remain for the rest of his professional life. It was a prestigious position, which gave him the opportunity to work with a community of virtuoso musicians. As is typical for eighteenth-century concertos, the work is in three movements, fast-slow-fast, the expansive first two movements capped by a much shorter finale that punches above its weight with sheer energy and rhythmic zest.

A protégé of Mozart and later Haydn, pianistic rival and then friend of Beethoven, Johann Nepomuk Hummel went on to become the most influential piano pedagogue of the first half of the nineteenth century. A number of later nineteenth-century composers were influenced almost as much by Hummel as by the giants of the classical period: he had a major impact on the piano writing of Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Chopin, among others. Hummel wrote almost a dozen concertos across his career - the Concerto for Violin, Piano, and Orchestra in G major, Op. 17, composed c. 1805, was his third concerto but the first to which he assigned an opus number.

This is the second CD in a series of three recordings for violin and orchestra by Solomiya Ivakhiv. The first CD of the series, "Mendelssohn Concertos", (Brilliant Classics 95733, released Nov. 2019) features two rarely-heard, early Mendelssohn gems: the Concerto in D minor for Violin and Strings, and the Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra. “…Ivakhiv, along with Antonio Pompa-Baldi on keys and Theodore Kuchar conducting the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra, interpret the classics sublimely with their respective talents,” says Take Effect Reviews.

The third recording, "Poems and Rhapsodies", will be released late in 2020 on the Centaur label. The featured work on the album is American Rhapsody for violin and orchestra by the Grammy-winning American composer Kenneth Fuchs. The album also features The Lark Ascending by Vaughan Williams, Poème Symphonique by Ernest Chausson and works by Camille Saint-Saëns, Myroslav Skoryk and Anatol Kos-Anatolsky. Performers include cellist Sophie Shao and the National Symphony Of Ukraine led by Volodymyr Sirenko.

Contact ClassicalCommunications@gmail.com to request a physical or digital copy of this recording.

Haydn + Hummel

Double Concertos for Violin and Piano

Solomiya Ivakhiv, violin

Antonio Pompa-Baldi , piano

Theodore Kuchar, conductor

Slovak National Symphony Orchestra

Centaur CRC3742

U.S. release date: April 17, 2020

TRACKS

Haydn: Concerto for Violin, Piano, and Orchestra in F Major

1. Allegro moderato – 7:23

2. Largo – 9:32

3. Presto– 4:05

Hummel: Concerto for Violin, Piano, and Orchestra in G Major

4. Allegro con brio – 15:11

5. Theme and Variations: Andante con moto – 11:17

6. Rondo – 8:50

Violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv (so-low-MEE-ya ee-VA-keev) has earned a reputation for performing with “distinctive charm and subtle profundity” (Daily Freeman, New York) and a “crystal clear and noble sound” (Culture and Life, Ukraine). Known for her work as a soloist and chamber musician, Solomiya Ivakhiv has performed in prestigious venues from Carnegie Hall in New York to Tchaikovsky Hall in Kyiv, and many places in between. She has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the Istanbul State Symphony, Charleston Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, and the Hunan Symphony Orchestra in China, among others, and has been a featured chamber performer at festivals from Tanglewood to Verbier. 

Ms. Ivakhiv is Artistic Director of Music at the Institute (MATI) at the Ukranian Institute of America in New York City since 2010. Her debut solo album, "Ukraine: Journey to Freedom – A Century of Classical Music for Violin and Piano", with pianist Angelina Gadeliya, (Labor Records, released Feb. 2016) was featured in the Top 5 New Classical Releases on the iTunes billboard.

Ms. Ivakhiv is Assistant Professor of Violin and Viola and Head of Strings at the University of Connecticut and Professor of Violin at Longy School of Music of Bard College. She graduated with honors from Curtis Institute of Music, and studied with Joseph Silverstein, Pamela Frank and the late Rafael Druian. She received her Master of Music degree from M. Lysenko Music Academy in Lviv, Ukraine, studying with Oresta Kohut, and holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University, where she studied with Pamela Frank and Philip Setzer.

Italian pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi is a prize winner at the Cleveland International Piano Competition, Marguerite Long Competition in Paris, France, and Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Mr. Pompa-Baldi appears regularly at the world’s major concert venues including New York’s Carnegie Hall, Paris’s Salle Pleyel, Milan’s Sala Verdi, Shanghai’s Grand Theatre, and Boston’s Symphony Hall. A Steinway artist, Mr. Pompa-Baldi is on the piano faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music and serves regularly on the juries of major piano competitions such as Cleveland, Grieg (Bergen), Minneapolis (E-Competition), Hilton Head, San Jose, Lang Lang (Shenzhen), and BNDES Rio de Janeiro. He is an honorary guest professor at many institutions, including the China National Conservatory in Beijing.

The award-winning conductor Theodore Kuchar is the most recorded conductor of his generation appearing on over 130 albums for the Naxos, Brilliant Classics, Ondine, Marco Polo and Toccata Classics labels. He has served as the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of two of Europe’s leading orchestras, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine and the Janácek Philharmonic Orchestra (formerly the Czech Radio Orchestra) while also serving as the Principal Conductor of the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra and Slovak Sinfonietta. In the 2011-12 season, he commenced his tenure as the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Orquesta Sinfonica de Venezuela; prior to that, he served as the Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra in Brisbane, Australia.

The Slovak National Symphony Orchestra was developed on the foundation of the Slovak Sinfonietta Žilina and is one of the best known professional orchestras in Eastern Europe, holding a very important position in Slovak musical life. It was founded in 1974 as the only “Classical period” chamber orchestra in Slovakia and today is regarded as one of the country’s finest orchestras. The orchestra has performed in prestigious international venues including the Musikverein and Konzerthaus, Vienna; the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; the Philharmonie, Konzerthaus, and Komische Oper in Berlin; the Mozarteum Salzburg, and the Tonhalle Zürich, among others. They have given concerts in almost every country of Europe, Japan, China, South Korea, Brazil, Canada, and the USA, appearing on numerous recordings on the Brilliant Classics, Naxos and Marco Polo labels, among many others.

TransCentury Media reviews Solomiya Ivakhiv's Mendelssohn CD

Mendelssohn’s success in the concerto form is much clearer: his two piano concertos and E minor violin concerto are repertoire standards and quite deserving of the admiration they receive. But even though Mendelssohn was a child prodigy almost on Mozart’s level (and considered on Mozart’s level in his own time), these concertos did not simply spring into being, any more than a piano concerto such as Mozart’s No. 9, K. 271 (“Jeunehomme”) appeared without predecessors. If it is intriguing to hear Boieldieu’s piano concerto to realize the direction in which he did not develop, it is even more interesting to hear early Mendelssohn concertos for the light they shed on the direction in which he did go.

A new Brilliant Classics CD featuring Solomiya Ivakhiv, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, and the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Theodor Kuchar, offers a rare and most welcome chance to explore two Mendelssohn concertos that are almost never heard in concert, and only rarely in recordings. The D minor violin concerto dates to 1822, when Mendelssohn was all of 13 – he really was a prodigy – and the concerto for violin and piano was written only a year later. Both are remarkably assured works, and in both there is already the easy melodiousness for which Mendelssohn was known. These pieces date to the same time as his String Symphonies, which show equal assurance and similar qualities of engaging tunes and well-crafted developments.

The heart of the violin concerto is its central movement, which is more expressive than its Andante tempo indication might lead one to expect. And as in the later E minor concerto, Mendelssohn here has the finale begin attacca after the slow movement’s conclusion. Ivakhiv does not overstate the concerto’s importance or overplay it in any way: it is basically a concerto strongly indebted to those of Mozart, but with some Mendelssohnian characteristics, and Ivakhiv and Kuchar present it with just the right light touch.

The violin-and-piano work has grander ambitions, and in it Mendelssohn somewhat overreached, based on his command of individual instruments and the orchestra at this time. The piece lasts a full 40 minutes and does not really sustain at that length. Here the first movement is the primary focus – it takes up half the work’s total length – but, again, it is the lyrical and often quite lovely second movement that is really the concerto’s heart. Yet there is a strange element to it: the highly affecting middle portion of the movement is for violin and piano alone, without accompaniment, and it almost sounds as if Mendelssohn meandered into chamber music as this section continues – until he eventually resumes the orchestral portion. Later composers were to do something similar, as Tchaikovsky did in his Piano Concerto No. 2, but in this Mendelssohn concerto there is a combination of creativity and awkwardness that is one of the few ways in which the composer’s youth seems retrospectively evident. Again, soloists and conductor approach the music with care and perform it with fine balance and without making too much – or too little – of the material. These concertos are not works of genius, but they are works of genius-in-development, and that in itself is more than enough reason to hear them.

Insider Interview with violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv

In November of 2019, the violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv releases a recording of “Mendelssohn Concertos” on Brilliant Classics (95733). In this Insider Interview we spoke to Ms. Ivakhiv about how she started playing violin, the inspiration behind recording these particular concertos and more.

How old were you when you started playing the violin?  Tell us some of your first memories of your interest in music.

According to my mother, who is a piano teacher, I sang in tune since I was 2 years old. Mom says I would repeat melodies upon hearing. At the age of 6, my parents sent me to audition at the Special Music School for Children with Extraordinary Abilities in Lviv (that is the name of the school dedicated to training very young musicians).

I thought I was auditioning to enroll as a piano student. But the auditioning committee decided the violin will be a better fit for me, so I was assigned to this beautiful string instrument. At first, my mother was upset and wanted me to switch to piano, but then decided to let me try the violin. It was a lucky coincidence and I can’t imagine my life without the violin.

Your education path was fairly unusual: raised in the Ukraine, undergraduate studies at Curtis, earned your master’s degree at the Music Academy in Lviv in Ukraine, and back to the US for your doctorate at Stony Brook University.  What differences are there between European and American pedagogy methods? What takeaways do you have from studying in these two diverse cultures?

My parents are both educators and wanted me to be exposed to both European and American schooling systems. (I also think they wanted me to have an excuse to come and visit them when I was coming to the Conservatory to take exams.)

I am very grateful for my education at Curtis and consider myself American trained. Studying with the luminaries such as late Joseph Silverstein, late Rafael Druian, Pamela Frank and Philip Setzer shaped me as a musician and made me who I am today. Also, at Curtiswe were exposed to phenomenal faculty (Gary Graffman, Ida Kavafian, Otto Werner-Mueller to name a few) as well as supremely talented fellow students. The whole atmosphere made the education at Curtis priceless, learning equally from both faculty and guest artists, as well as our peers.

My parents instilled in my brother and I the importance of higher education and reaching our furthest potentia. My father has a Doctorate and he was thrilled when the opportunity came up for me to pursue a doctorate at Stony Brook. Pamela Frank brought this idea to me and I was thrilled to continue my studies with her. It was a great way to continue my education and further my experience – it’s where I met and studied with Philip Setzer, Gilbert Kalish, Ani Kavafian and Colin Carr. Coming from a small boutique conservatory (Curtis) to Stony Brook was a shock at first. I was not used to a large campus and felt lost and out of place. But it prepared me for the University life I lead now. The Stony Brook experience was priceless and I am very grateful for it!

You lead a dual life as a concert violinist and a college professor.  How do these two aspects of your career inform one another?

I enjoy teaching very much and learn so much from my students.  I feel a strong responsibility to share the knowledge I gained from my teachers and pass it on to a new generations.

I demonstrate while teaching and try to apply what I preach into my own playing. My students appreciate the fact that I am a performing artist and they often attend my concerts. My students are also aware that performing is like breathing to me. It is a way to express both myself and the ideas and feelings the composers intended to be shared. I will admit it does get challenging at times combining performing and teaching on the scale I do. But I do like a challenge…and both are very important to me.

For your latest CD, you recorded Felix Mendelssohn’s double concerto for violin and piano in its later arrangement by the composer, with winds and timpani added to the original string orchestra version. How did you discover this arrangement, and why did you choose it over the original?

I performed the Double Concerto a number of times over the course of the past few years. I love the work! But for all of these performances I played with the string orchestra, not the full orchestra. I only learned about the existence of the full orchestra version two years ago from my colleague, the conductor Theodore Kuchar. Ted is known for finding treasures and obscure and forgotten works.  Somehow he came across the score of the full orchestra version and brought it to my attention. After doing some research, I was able to find only 3 recordings of the full orchestra. Perhaps there are more now, but at the time there were only three. So making a record with the orchestra version seemed very appealing. It does sound much fuller and richer with the full orchestra. It is a beautiful piece and I love performing it!

The other work on your new CD is an early violin concerto by Felix Mendelssohn. What drew you to this work? 

I was looking for pieces written for solo violin and chamber orchestra because I wanted to have a few pieces in my repertoire that I could perform with my students in run-out concerts. Maestro Kuchar brought that piece to my attention and suggested I make an album with this violin concerto and the double concerto on it.

Inviting Antonio Pompa-Baldi to be a part of the project was suggested by Ted as well, since Antonio and Ted have collaborated many times. A few years back Iplayed chamber music with Antonio, and I remember admiring his musicianship and talent very much. I think the three of us had a good chemistry while working on the album.

This Mendelssohn album, along with your next, forthcoming recording of works by Haydn and Hummel is part of your Singles and Doubles project. Tell us how you came up with this project, and how both of these albums figure in to it.

Ted Kuchar, again, was the source – he suggested the Hummel and Haydn Concertos to me. Ted has a talent of finding the pieces that are not overplayed and will be fresh and interesting to the listener. The combination of the instrumentation: solo violin, solo piano and orchestra was very appealing to me.

Lately I had been playing other double concertos with Dutch cellist Joachim Eijlander and American cellist Sophie Shao, and I must admit it is nice to collaborate with another instrument in concert and make music with another soloist on stage (besides the orchestra and conductor). Antonio, Ted and I recorded Haydn and Hummel on the same trip as Mendelssohn Concertos, and the Haydn and Hummel Album will be released on Centaur in spring 2020.

Take Effect blog reviews Solomiya Ivakhiv "Mendelssohn Concertos"

MENDELSSOHN

Mendelssohn Concertos

Brilliant Concerts, 2019

8/10

Listen to Violin Concerto

Spearheaded by violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv, this installment features Mendelssohn’s ‘other’ Violin Concerto and the Double Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra.

Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra in D minor MWVo3 starts with “Allegro”, where string acrobatics in the elegant yet adventurous opening keeps our attention for entire 9+ minutes of sweeping melody, and “Andante” follows with a calmer setting of graceful beauty. “Allegro” then ends this portion with plenty of skilled interplay between the instruments as swift playing aligns with a strong orchestral backdrop.

The 2nd portion of the disc, Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra MWVo4 starts with “Allegro”, where nearly 20 minutes of lush, cinematic sounds dance around the respective instruments with intimacy and allure, while “Adagio” trims the volume back to quaint, lovely setting where twinkling keys add much to the formula. “Allegro Molto” ends this chapter with skittering piano on the quick paced and emotionally forceful exit.

Amazingly, these pieces were penned by Mendelssohn when he was just an early teenager, and Ivakhiv, along with Antonio Pompa-Baldi on keys and Theodore Kuchar conducting the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra, interpret the classics sublimely with their respective talents.

Travels well with: Solomiya Ivakhiv- Ukraine: Journey To Freedom; Joseph Silverstein- Roman Carnival

Violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv’s new Mendelssohn album is released on November 1, 2019 on Brilliant Classics

Recording features Mendelssohn’s “Other” Violin Concerto and the Double Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra

"pyrotechnic mastery of trills, stops and chromatic motion...performed with impeccable skill and verve" - Times Herald

The violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv, praised for her “superlative and consummate artistry” (Fanfare) shares her passion for the music of Felix Mendelssohn in a radiant new recording. Ms. Ivakhiv’s performances of two rarely-heard gems: the Concerto in D minor for Violin and Strings, and the Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra are released in the United States on Brilliant Classics (95733) on November 1, 2019.

These are two striking examples of the precocious talent of the young Felix Mendelssohn. Written in his early teens, the D minor Violin Concerto (1822) and the Concerto for Violin, Piano and Strings (1823) display wit, charm, sentiment and skill beyond his years. Joining Solomiya Ivakhiv for the double concerto is the award-winning pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi, and both works feature the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra, Theodore Kuchar conducting.

"Many people are familiar with Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, but hardly anyone gets to hear this earlier concerto in D minor," said Ms. Ivakhiv. "Though it was written when Mendelssohn was just a teenager, it is clearly the work of a mature composer."

The Violin Concerto draws on Classical era compositional techniques, but it is also influenced by French innovations in violin writing developed in Mendelssohn’s own time. There is much dazzling writing, but also some deeply expressive modulations which convey an emotional maturity far beyond what one could expect from a 13-year-old composer.

Written less than a year later, the Double Concerto is an even more polished work, full of memorable melody. Mendelssohn originally composed the work for string orchestra; Ms. Ivakhiv and Mr. Pompa-Baldi chose to play his later, more colorful score with winds and timpani added. "I am delighted that I have found the perfect 'doubles' partner in Antonio," said Solomiya of the pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi. "Our musical chemistry was evident from the first time we played together. It was a priviledge to record the Mendelssohn Double Concerto with him." The detailed liner notes by Alain Frogley illuminate the history and musicology of these works in depth.

This is the first recording of Solomiya Ivakhiv’s “Singles and Doubles” project. Her next CD, "Concertos for Violin, Piano and Orchestra by Haydn and Hummel", will be released on the Centaur label in early 2020. As with the Mendelssohn album, performers include pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi and the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra led by Theodore Kuchar.

The third recording of Solomiya Ivakhiv’s “Singles and Doubles” project, "Poems and Rhapsodies", will be released late in 2020 on the Centaur label. The featured work on the album is American Rhapsody for violin and orchestra by the Grammy-winning American composer Kenneth Fuchs. The album also features The Lark Ascending by Vaughan Williams, Poème Symphonique by Ernest Chausson and works by Camille Saint-Saëns, Myroslav Skoryk and Anatol Kos-Anatolsky. Performers include cellist Sophie Shao and the National Symphony Of Ukraine led by Volodymyr Sirenko.

“Mendelssohn Concertos”

Solomiya Ivakhiv, violin

Antonio Pompa-Baldi , piano

Theodore Kuchar, conductor

Slovak National Symphony Orchestra

Brilliant Classics 95733

U.S. release date: November 1, 2019

Purchase on Amazon

TRACKS

Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra in D minor MWVo3 (1822)

1. Allegro – 9:40

2. Andante – 11:11

3. Allegro – 4:41

Concerto for Violin, Piano, and Orchestra MWVo4 (1823)

4. Allegro – 19:25

5. Adagio – 11:02

4. Allegro molto – 10:09