The “wonder violinist from Novosibirsk” who still sincerely loves music for itself
Maxim Vengerov’s violin recital at the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall on March 30 is expected to be one of the highlights of the Budapest Spring Festival between March 16 and April 1, 2007. It will be the Russian virtuoso violinist’s third appearance at the Budapest Spring Festival and his fourth in Budapest. This time, Vengerov will play Mozart’s Adagio in E major, Beethoven’s Violin Sonata in C minor, Prokofiev’s Violin Sonata in F minor and Ten Preludes by Shostakovich-Tziganov.
Maxim Vengerov was born into a family of musicians in 1974, in Novosibirsk in Siberia and was a true infant prodigy. He began playing the violin at the age of four and half, and gave his first recital just a few months after that. Instructed by Galina Tourchaninova and later by the legendary professor Zakhar Bron, he went on to win first prize in the Junior Wieniawski Competition in Poland when he was ten years old. Despite his tender years, he was appearing as a soloist with orchestras such as the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic and the USSR State Symphony Orchestra. Vengerov began recording CDs in the mid-90s and his virtuosity was soon honoured by a flood of prizes, including the Gramophone Awards in the "Best Record of the Year" and the "Best Concerto Recording" categories, later also garnering two Grammy nominations. Since 2000, he has been a professor of violin at the University of Music Saarland, Germany, and now his own students are regular prize winners. Vengerov has been continuously widening his musical experience: first he experimented with conducting, and since 2003 he has also taken up the viola. His real instrument, however, is a “Kreutzer” Stradivarius violin made in 1727. Vengerov now lives in Israel and has taken Israeli citizenship.
The virtuoso violinist has so far recorded 32 CDs, 4 LPs and 4 DVDs. They include an extraordinary range of 25 concerti, while his repertoire is even more abundant. He regularly performs works by Bach, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Lalo, Mozart, Saint-Sains, and he is considered to be one of the best interpreters of Shostakovich. He has been performing for 25 years and in quite a few of them giving as many as 120 performances. He is a regular guest at all of the world’s major concert halls, accompanied by the best-known major orchestras and eminent conductors. Vengerov maintains particularly close ties with Daniel Barenboim, his “musical uncle”. Ha also frequently gives concerts with the popular Zubin Mehta, and is much attached to Mstislav Rostropovich as well.
In 1997 Vengerov was the first classical musician to be appointed Envoy for Music by UNICEF. In this role Vengerov has met and performed for child soldiers in Uganda, disadvantaged children in Harlem, drug addicted children in Thailand, as well as for children on both sides of the Kosovo ethnic divide. This work has afforded him the opportunity both to inspire children worldwide and to inspire others to raise funds for them. At his concerts, Vengerov always dedicates a few moments to commemorate the victims of terrorism or the tsunami.
Wherever he performs, whether in the United States or Australia, he always has a reception that puts pop-stars to shame. Still, even as the world’s most sought-after violinist, Vengerov has remained a charming person who respects and honours his fellow musicians, the audience and, most of all, music. He is known for his technical perfection, unique virtuosity and the originality of his musical performances. Vengerov gives an individual interpretation of rhythm: he speeds it up and then slows it down, bringing certain sounds closer in time, while distancing others. He keeps his music in constant motion; there is not a single moment without tension in his playing. The virtuoso can shift moods in just a second, changing delicate softness to a sweeping passion in no time. Vengerov is always patient to his admirers, who – after receiving his autograph - in turn forgive him for the delay in starting the concerts.
