On December 7^th, the famous violinist Maxim Vengerov took to the stage of the National Centre for the Performing Arts to perform many classic works by such famous composers as Beethoven, Schubert, Maurice Ravel and Paganini for the Chinese audience, bringing a perfect end to the NCPA International Violin Maestros 2016.

Maxim Vengerov bringing a perfect end to the NCPA International Violin Maestros 2016

Photo by WANG Xiaojing

As a well-known top musician, Grammy award-winner Maxim Vengerov has been praised as one of the greatest string players in today’s world. Vengerov showed his talent even in his childhood. In his youth, he was regarded as ‘the most promising violinist’ in the world.

Besides being a soloist, another frequently-mentioned identity of Vengerov is that of conductor. He was appointed as the first principal conductor by the Gstaad Festival Orchestra in 2010. He will conduct Eugene Onegin for the first time in December 2017.

The debut of Vengerov at the National Centre for the Performing Arts was his first solo concert in Beijing. He previously cooperated with Chinese musicians and symphony orchestras in Shanghai, performing such Chinese songs as The Butterfly Lovers, The Wandering Songstress and Song of the Newsboy. He has a deep feeling for Chinese music, and The Butterfly Lovers is one of his favorite songs. He even learned some performance skills of the Erhu. He taught The Butterfly Lovers to foreign students when he held classes in Switzerland. They were very fond of the Chinese cultural elements contained in the melody. “China exports its musical culture to the west, and now western musicians can explore Chinese music as well,” said Vengerov.

The sonata Duet fully showed the harmonious beauty between the violin and piano Photo by WANG Xiaojing

 

The pieces arranged for the evening's concert were diversified. Two sonatas of Beethoven and Schubert in the first half revealed Vengerov’s accurate interpretation of classic works and his extremely individual annotation method. Schubert completed his Violin and Piano Sonata in A major in 1817. By that time, he had accumulated very mature experience in writing sonatas. Vengerov had a very tacit musical understanding with his partner, Pianist Vag Papian. The sonata known as the Duet fully showed the harmonious beauty between the violin and piano, and the charming chords and rhythm revealed the characteristic emotions of Schubert's work. Vengerov’s energy changed slightly when he performed Beethoven’s Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 7 in C minor. With the development of the rhythm and the progression of feelings, the rich layers brought by the comparison between bold and gentle gave the whole sonata a very fluent coherence through his performance.

The audience could experience Vengerov’s different sides through his wonderful playing skills

Photo by WANG Xiaojing

Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 in G major performed in the second half is one of Vengerov’s favorite works. The dialogue between piano and violin is mysterious and colorful, totally different from the melodies and images of the first half. The audience was delighted with Ernst’s The Last Rose of Summer and Paganini’s Cantabile and Liebeslied and Liebesfreunde (adapted by Kreisler). The audience could experience all of Vengerov’s different sides through his wonderful playing skills and lyrical vibrato performance.