18-03-2015  St David's Hall, Cardiff
Sibelius Violin Concerto 

Vadim Repin, Philharmonia Orchestra, Vladimir Ashkenazy

"One is frequently gratified in performances of the Violin Concerto if the player can simply get round the notes, but Vadim Repin did considerably more than that. He consistently managed to introduce new and well-considered insights and subtleties which were far removed from sheer virtuosity – although there was plenty of that too, especially in his sparkling account of the final movement. Earlier there had been moments when the flow of the music seemed to hang fire, with soloist and conductor seeming to wait on each other, but that was probably the result of Sibelius’s score itself, with the abridgement of the original and even more virtuosic writing toned down. In the context of an all-Sibelius programme there seemed to be no obvious candidate for a solo violin encore, and quite rightly Repin did not give us one. He had already given us plenty of good solid meat beforehand."

Paul Corfield Godfrey

8 May, Echternach, Recital with Andrei Korobeinikov, Debussy Sonata, Prokofiev Sonata No1, Beethoven 'Kreutzer' Sonata

Die Augen schließen und genießen

Kammermusikabend mit Vadim Repin beim Echternacher Festival
Der berühmte Geiger Yehudi Menuhin hat über ihn gesagt: „Er ist ganz einfach der beste und perfekteste Geiger, den zu hören ich jemals die Chance hatte.“ Gemeint war damit der russische Geiger Vadim Repin, den das Echternacher Festival zu seinem zweiten Konzert der aktuellen Spielzeit eingeladen hatte.

Virtuose Kreutzersonate
Der durch seinen großen Kollegen geadelte hat nach wie vor einen exzellenten Ruf. Das konnte man am großen Publikumsinteresse ablesen, dass diese Reputation zu recht besteht, konnte man im Echternacher Trifolion erleben. Gipfelwerke der Literatur (für Violine und Klavier) nannte der Musikwissenschaftler Dr. Martin Möller die Werke, die Repin zusammen mit seinem jungen Partner Andreï Korobeinikov für das Gastspiel an der Sauer ausgewählt hatten. Über die Sonate in A-Dur, Opus 47, von Ludwig van Beethoven, der so genannten „Kreutzersonate“ war noch zwei Jahre nach der Uraufführung zu lesen: „Nur zwei Virtuosen, denen nichts zu schwer ist, können vollen und reichen Genuss an diesem Werk haben.“ Nun, Repin und Korobeinikov taten mehr. Sie sorgten dafür, dass nicht nur sie selber, sondern auch ihre Zuhörer diese Sonate in vollen Zügen genießen konnten.

Farbenreicher Debussy
Als dies geschah, war das Publikum jedoch auch schon bestens vorbereitet, denn Beethovens Werk erklang nach der Pause. Vorher hatten die beiden Russen schon mit Claude Debussys g-Moll Sonate und mit der Sonate Nr. 1 in f-Moll von Sergej Prokofiew den großen Saal des Trifolions in ihren Bann gezogen. Welch‘ einen Farbenreichtum entwickelte Repin bei Debussys dreisätzigem Opus. Wahrhaft beseelt breiteten sich die Gedanken des auf den Tod erkrankten Komponisten aus. Freilich wäre das nicht geglückt, hätte Repin nicht in Korobeinikov einen perfekten Partner an seiner Seite gehabt. Bessere Sachwalter hätte Debussy sich nicht wünschen können.

Traumhafter Prokofiew
Nicht minder tief tauchten die Musiker bei Prokofiews Opus 80 in die Gefühlswelt des Schöpfers dieser Sonate ein und nahmen die Konzertbesucher mit. Natürlich mit ganz anderem Zungenschlag. Zwischen der Entstehung der beiden Kompositionen liegen immerhin 30 Jahre und 2.500 Kilometer. Die Zuwendung von Repin und Korobeinikov jedoch war die Gleiche. Mit fast schon sichtbarer Zärtlichkeit nahmen sie sich ganz besonders des dritten Satzes, einem, im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes traumhaften Notturno an. Hier konnte man eigentlich nur noch die Augen schließen und sich der Musik ergeben. Ein großer Abend.

Gerhard Kluth

10-03-2013, New York, Shostakovich VC1, Vadim Repin, London Phil. Orch., Vladimir Jurowski

A stunning performance of Shostakovich’s first violin concerto

Vadim Repin did as good a job imaginable in this outstanding performance, reining in any implied triumphalism with a deeply equivocal reading that nonetheless expressed the workings-out of a profound inner debate. Persuasive in the opening Nocturne, he used his prodigious technical command to subtle changes in line and emotion, over a backdrop of void darkness provided by Jurowski. There was teamwork between soloist and conductor even in this most combative of concerti, especially in woodwind lines that not only matched or challenged the emotional sense of the violin line, but somehow managed to ape its tone too. Aggression was never far away, though, and Jurowski found it for the Scherzo, contrasting – but not too much – with Repin’s hyped-up grotesquerie. The Passacaglia had its requisite grandiosity, faux or otherwise, though Jurowski again elicited playing of eloquence nearly as great as Repin’s. Repin here as much as everywhere else seemed to live this concerto more than play it, his violin’s tone growing so powerful that it almost sounded amplified. Tortured intensity gave way to fracture for the coda, then to a pace on the verge of reckless for the Burlesca finale. Dancing, as Repin amply demonstrated here, need neither be joyous nor ironic: it can be both threatened and ambivalent.

Repin showed quite what possibilities there are in contemporary string playing in his excellent performance, shading his vibrato in and out at suggestive moments and to perfect degrees.

David Allen

8-05-2012

4-05-2012, Metz, MacMillan VC, Bizet-Waxman Carmen Fantasy
Vadim Repin, Orch. National de Lorraine, Jacques Mercier

Vadim Repin : le train d’enfer d’un super-virtuose

Repin fit un « bœuf » avec Jacques Mercier à la tête de l’ONL, dans le Concerto de James Mac Millan (2009). Et là, on touchait à une autre dimension du soliste : sa technique funambulesque. Au détriment de la profondeur du sentiment ? Le compositeur laisse assez peu de place à la berceuse rythmée à l’écossaise et au souvenir lointain d’une ballade irlandaise, au bénéfice d’une virtuosité imbattable et qui ferait trembler les plus vaillants concertistes ! Car, toute la partie solistique – qu’il gardait sous les yeux bien qu’il la connût par cœur – fut menée comme un « cent mètres haies » violonistique, avec ses grimpées acrobatiques aux aigus, à l’image d’une course effrénée de la corde sol à la corde mi… et au-delà. Le chef avait fait appel aux biceps de l’orchestre dont les cuivres et les percussions annoncèrent la couleur dès l’introduction, fille adultérine de celle du Concerto de Ravel (!), et qui nous assène ses premiers accords aux décibels en surmultipliée. Toute la partition est truffée d’explosifs du même genre. Plus que spectaculaire, la surexpressivité déborde, allant jusqu’à la surexcitation, voire à l’extraversion. Depuis sa fière Albion, le compositeur, non sans vanité, a quand même piqué dans le néo-classicisme du XX e siècle et dans le laboratoire atonal tout en trempant dans la tonalité. Intelligemment écrite tout de même, l’œuvre leva les crépitants bravos, qui se renouvelèrent dans les variations sur Carmen de Waxman, superbement jouée par Repin que l’on découvrait dans le registre de la fantaisie.

Georges MASSON

21-04-2012

Spanish Premiere of the MacMillan Violin Concerto in Valladolid 20&21 April 2012

Vadim Repin - Orch Sinf.Castilla y Leon - Vasily Petrenko

Having missed the London Premiere of the MacMillan violin concerto in 2010, I had to go to the Spanish Premiere and hear it two nights in a row in Valladolid (it’s only one hour North of Madrid). The Auditorio Miguel Delibes built in 2007 has a seating capacity of over 1700, and it was nearly full on both nights.
First impression was the energy coming out of the music. I can guarantee you won’t fall asleep at this concert! I was impressed by the young but experienced conductor, Vasily Petrenko, whose left hand I found most expressive at shaping the music for the orchestra. This concerto demands soloist and conductor in excellent ‘athletico’ physical condition , and a violin ready for all the virtuosic challenges MacMillan put into this music he wrote for Vadim Repin: use of the whole fingerboard, high register, harmonics, double stops , left hand pizzicato etc..

Listen to the London interview with MacMillan and the interview with Vadim Repin about this concerto. You might also find interesting the range of percussion instruments used in this concerto.
See here the scoring and the Composer's notes.

In the first movement, ‘Dance’ the violin solo is involved straight away. ‘Strepitoso, extrovert, crazily to explosive’ are some of the MacMillan’s directions on the score.
The second movement, Larghetto ‘semplice ma con amore’, has more adjectives like ‘capriccioso, pleading, delicato, playfully and virtuosic’ to describe just what you hear.
I found the ‘estatico’ warm passage very beautiful and the ‘semplice, child like folksy dancing’ struck a chord as the tune came to me. MacMillan says it’s a tune from childhood. It’s known to Irish people as “Sì Bheag sì Mhor”
The third movement starts ‘ben marcato e ritmico’ with male voices saying German words “Eins, zwei, drei, vier… meine mutter tanz mit mir” (one, two, three, four, my mother is dancing with me) and later female voices continue with “Fünf, sechs, sieben...bist du hinter das blaue Glas gegangen?” (five, six, seven, did you go behind the blue glass?)
When I asked James MacMillan about the significance of these words in the music, he answered he did not know really, it just came to him like a dream. This last movement goes on ‘sempre precipitoso, continuous, forward moving’ etc… as noted in the score. As well as the violin cadenza, I enjoyed the powerful barking brass and percussions as the orchestra rose to a final booming chord.
The audience was not disappointed and quickly acknowledged this Spanish Premiere with warm applause. Then Vadim Repin performed his favourite Paganini encore (‘Il carnevale di Venezia’) on both nights.

On the way out I was talking with a couple of people who had driven all the way from Barcelona (6 hours away) for this occasion. That’s dedication to music! They loved the concerto as well as the Rachmaninov Symphony (No2) in the second half of the concert.
I am glad I did not miss this exciting programme and wonderful performance by Vadim Repin.

29-03-2012

Montreal, Prokofiev VC 2, Repin, Montreal Symphony Orch., Nagano, 29-03-2012

Kent Nagano et l'OSM: le monde sans fin des nuances

(Québec) L'Orchestre symphonique de Montréal réunissait plus de 90 instrumentistes sous la direction de Kent Nagano à Louis-Fréchette mercredi soir. Mais c'est moins par leur nombre que par l'ampleur de l'échelle dynamique déployée sur scène que les exécutants et leur chef ont impressionné.

Avec l'entrée en scène du très habile et très musical Vadim Repin dans le 2e de Prokofiev, on assiste à la transformation du concerto en véritable dialogue. Le violoniste semble s'amuser à lancer continuellement des messages à ses partenaires, comme pour leur rappeler de mettre en évidence un détail, leur faire sentir un changement de tempo ou, en somme, leur faire saisir la folle variété des idées que le compositeur cherche à exprimer. Kent Nagano, d'un geste précis, ajuste à tout moment le relief de l'orchestre, de sorte que la sonorité du violon, belle, riche et soignée jusque dans l'extrême aigu, se découpe parfaitement au-dessus de la mêlée.

Richard Boisvert

20-03-2012

Boston Recital - Vadim Repin/ItamarGolan - 18 March 2012

Repin and Golan prove equal partners with evening of inspired music-making

Russian violinist Vadim Repin and his keyboard counterpart, Itamar Golan, turned out a substantial program Sunday evening at Jordan Hall, a presentation of Maestro Artist Management.

Repin has the name, and it was his reputation that filled the hall with a largely Russian audience, which was clearly aware of his prodigious showmanship. But he was matched onstage by the intense and talented Golan. The repertory—sonatas by Janáček, Ravel and Grieg, Chausson’s Poème, Op. 25, and the Ravel Tzigane—largely focused on music-making, and not violin pyrotechnics—added to the collaborative feeling.

Janáček’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, written in 1914, mirrors the turmoil the composer was experiencing in his war-torn homeland. Beautiful melodies appear wistfully, then disappear in a cacophony of crashing chords and slurred phrases. In the first movement, marked Con moto, Repin and Golan were in two separate musical worlds. Golan, seemingly the more astute chamber musician, appeared more comfortable. Repin played like a concerto artist: some pizzicato accents were off the beat, as if he were waiting for an orchestra to catch up with him. An alluring melody up the scale in the violin in the fourth movement characterized the turbulent work. Repin carved it gracefully out of nowhere; just as quickly, it vanished, with an arpeggiated figure of intensity from the pianist.

Ravel’s Violin Sonata in G Major suited the players better. The work is a blues, with the unusual progression from G major to B-flat then to F-natural, but not in an orderly fashion. Pitches alter from the violin to the piano left hand, then to the right hand, in an sequence that creates the feel of the blues, but with the tension of atonality. Here, especially in the Moderato second movement, Repin showed his stuff, as slurring accents transformed quickly into martelé passages to accent the staccato interludes. In the third movement Perpetuum mobile, Repin sketched out a sax-like line that Golan could interact with, particularly in the right hand, with chords that retraced earlier ideas. Interaction was intense, and carefully executed.
The Grieg Sonata, Opus 13, no. 2, also in G major, has its own roots origins, but in Nordic folk material, not American blues. Repin played this and the entire second half of the program from memory, and seemed more at ease. A Lento opening gives this sonata an introspective feel: Repin, standing stock-still on the stage, delivered it with a sure tone. He has all the fingering techniques of great violinists, but it’s his bowing that sets him apart: consistent and confident, with even tension maintained from frog to tip. For this sonata, that created a firm baseline for Golan to introduce the contrapuntal material, some piano, some with almost overwhelming forte.

Chausson’s Poème, Opus 25, perhaps his greatest work, was written for orchestra, but its piano reduction loses little in translation. It is built around the violinist’s sweeping melodic fantasies, but Golan’s capturing of orchestral colors—pedaled expertly, and showing a prodigious left-hand—brought it to life. With Ravel’s Tzigane, it was Repin’s turn to shape the music, capping the evening with a display of double pizzicato showmanship.
Keith Powers