MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto in e, op. 641. Concerto for Violin and Piano in d, MWV 0 41,2. Capriccio brillant in b, op. 222 • Jonathan Cohler, cond; 1Ilya Kaler (vn); 2Rasa Vitkauskaite (pn); Budapest Ferenc Erkel CO • ONGAKU 024-132 (77:01)

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy brought his grandfather’s work of Enlightenment erudition into his compositions. He was in a key position for the campaign to rediscover Bach. He built bridges not just between cultures, but between the past and the present. Back then, a musician was often both a performer and a composer. New music was on the menu in concert venues and Bach’s return made a sensation. On March 11, 1829, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, just 20 years old, revived Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, and with it he prepared the turn from old to new for centuries to come.

Ongaku Records has released a full album of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, with violinist Ilya Kaler, pianist Rasa Vitkauskaite, and the Budapest Ferenc Erkel Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Jonathan Cohler. This release marks a new legacy. It is like a monument in sound to the fading culture of the art of the violin and music-making. Ilya Kaler is one of the very last representatives of the Soviet violin musical tradition, especially of its golden period. He has enjoyed the teaching of the best mentors and musicians, such as Leonid Kogan and Viktor Tretiakov. He also studied with Abram Shtern, who was principal violinist of the National Opera and Ballet Theatre in Kyiv and a leading figure in the Soviet musical scene. He loved klezmer and traditional Jewish music. In fact, Abram Shtern had a klezmer band, and together with his colleagues the band played at weddings and funerals. They performed a lot and were loved and unreplaceable. In the Soviet Union, they were probably the only klezmer band that played the old traditional songs regularly in public, each time making new arrangements and modifying them. They were brave enough to go jazzy, ignoring the danger (jazz was a forbidden genre in the USSR).

Ilya Kaler is the only violinist who has won gold medals at all three of the most renowned violin competitions: the Paganini in 1981, the Sibelius in 1985, and the Tchaikovsky in 1986. Kaler has mastered the art of violin playing as exemplified by the golden “Russian School,” which is slowly about to become a relic of the past. In the Concerto No. 2 in E Minor, op. 64, one of the most popular violin concertos, Kaler’s phrasings and vibrato are role models of excellent taste. His violin sings from the bottom of its heart. Every single measure has a conception, he devises the bow speed with the precision of a surgeon, and the combination of his mastery and fresh approach is a cause for admiration. The Double Concerto in D Minor, MWV 0 4, for violin and piano is a rare example of a Romantic concerto grosso. The Romantic concerto differs mainly from Classical and Baroque concertos in having a clear, lasting separation between the tutti and the solo parts. The cultural background of the change is the social shift from the wish to be part of the majority to the Romantic choice of challenging society, to be excluded and to suffer love alone. In this concerto we hear how Mendelssohn combines the Baroque form of the concerto grosso, where all the participants are equal, and fills it with Romantic orchestration and time-relevant dynamics. The D-Minor Concerto shows how the Enlightenment found its reflection in music. Rasa Vitkauskaite plays in a sensitive, virtuoso style without any hints to lower one’s sights. She shifts roles between soloist and chamber music partner with elegance and is always at the right time and place. She feels the music and the style in a natural and genuine way. Her performance of the Capriccio brilliant is marvelous. Although it is a rarely played concert piece, it could easily replace a similar piece by Chopin and even Liszt. The Budapest Ferenc Erkel Chamber Orchestra sounds homogenic, responsive, and well balanced. Maestro Jonathan Cohler seems to have a clear vision and the ability to bring that vision to a point throughout the entire album. It is doubtless a success!

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy was certainly a genius as a composer, but he also brought the spirit of the Enlightenment into the form of music. His work with Bach and his dedication to ancient music saved those genres, especially at a time when society needed to restore the highest good of humanity after enduring times of wars, despair, and illness. I am convinced that redemption lies in enlightenment. Looking back, Jews always seem to be working on the matter—think of Freud, Mendelssohn, Spinoza, and even Joshua from Nazareth (Jesus). Is redemption a Jewish task? Maybe to a certain extent, but one single thing is clear: It can be reached. Hana Gubenko

 

The Ideal Kind of Musical Partnership: An Interview with Ilya Kaler
By Jacqueline Kharouf

Violinist Ilya Kaler’s latest album is a celebration of Mendelssohn’s ingenuity and compositional prowess. Like Mendelssohn, Kaler earned much acclaim in his youth. Kaler is the only violinist to have won gold at three international violin competitions: the Tchaikovsky Competition (in 1986), the Sibelius Competition (in 1985), and the Paganini Competition (in 1981). He has performed as a soloist and concertmaster for both American and European orchestras, including the orchestras of Moscow, Montreal, Berlin Radio, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore, and he has collaborated with many conductors, such as Dmitry Kitaenko, Mariss Jansons, and Jerzy Semkow. In addition to his solo performances and his work as a recording artist, Kaler is a member of the Tempest Trio with cellist Amit Peled and pianist Alan Goldstein. Kaler is also frequently a jury member of international violin competitions, such as the International Tchaikovsky Competition, the Sibelius International Violin Competition, the Henri Marteau International Competition, and the International Music Competition in Harbin, China. Kaler is a regular faculty member of the Cleveland Institute of Music.

I asked Kaler about his work in his latest recording for Ongaku, as well as his collaborative relationship both with conductor Jonathan Cohler and Double Concerto partner, pianist Rasa Vitkauskaite.

Each violin concerto seems to be such a large part of every violinist’s development, especially when he or she first begins to study. I wonder if you could tell me a little about your relationship with the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. When did you first give a public performance of this concerto and how has your approach (or appreciation or understanding) for this seminal concerto changed over time?

The concerto is, of course, one of the most precious jewels in the crown of violin repertoire. The first time I performed it was at the tender age of 12 in one of the provincial cities of the Soviet Union. I also played it regularly as a part of my recitals with piano (there used to be a tradition of performing some concertos with piano accompaniment—something that's completely disappeared today).

I guess there were some changes in my approach to the piece, in some part, because of the later access, thanks to the Bärenreiter and Henle editions, to the original text, something that was not possible in the past. I also had a chance to acquaint myself with the first version of the concerto which was quite a fascinating journey for me. Some changes in my interpretation naturally occurred simply because of me getting older and, perhaps, more mature. Things like that always find a way into one’s playing, especially on the emotional level. I guess my present approach could be characterized as more “classicist” than explicitly Romantic.

And then to follow-up that question, I wonder if you could tell me a bit more about how you crafted your performance of the Mendelssohn for this album. How did your work with Jonathan Cohler influence your approach to this recording? Was this recording project an opportunity to reconnect with this cornerstone of the violin repertoire?

Yes, every collaboration with Jonathan is our musical reunion as well as personal. Jonathan is a fantastic musician with an absolutely encyclopedic knowledge of the given score and the background of a piece and a composer. His diligence with the text, sound quality, balance and ensemble issues are unique. Every sojourn with him is also a tremendous learning experience for me and a true artistic celebration. This particular project was no exception. He is especially uncompromising about tempi, tempo relations and clarity of articulation, and polyphony.

While reading the excellent album notes for this album (written by Jonathan Cohler), I was struck not only by the true genius of Mendelssohn (and his status as a child prodigy), but also by the context of his history and the unfortunate antisemitism that he faced. I kept going back to re-read the quote from Goethe’s letter about Mendelssohn’s exceptionalism despite his Jewish heritage. I wondered at my own ignorance of Mendelssohn’s legacy. On one hand, we have Mozart, this poster-child Wunderkind, who is still lauded and renowned, but on the other hand, we have Mendelssohn, who was even more skilled and intelligent than Mozart at comparable ages. Why is Mendelssohn rather less known and, perhaps in some ways, less appreciated than composers like Mozart or Beethoven? Do you think that the reason Mendelssohn is still somewhat unknown today is the result of this antisemitism still echoing from the past?

This is, of course, a very complex and complicated topic. Antisemitism was very common (and, unfortunately, still is) in Europe of those days, even among the most educated and brilliant cultural figures. However, I do not think that antisemitism is a reason for underappreciation of Mendelssohn. He was a true Renaissance man who, besides being a great composer, was concerned with music education (opening the Conservatory in Leipzig), apparently was an outstanding conductor and pianist. To some extent, you are right, he was almost more significant than Mozart who has been almost mythologized.

Mendelssohn, although he lived in the beginning of what we call the Romantic Era, steadfastly followed his classical instincts in music, and, in that sense, was rather conservative (like Brahms later). He was perceived a bit out of his time by people like Berlioz, Meyerbeer, Wagner, Liszt and such. There could be a combination of all those things.

I was tremendously interested by Cohler’s work to restore, or recontextualize, Mendelssohn’s Double Concerto in D Minor. Again, the history of how the original manuscript was divided and then reunited is quite fascinating. As Cohler explains, “Remarkably, to date it appears that this recording is only the second extant recording including the full orchestration!” It is an incredible Double Concerto, with huge themes and plenty of opportunities for the two soloists to demonstrate their skills and stamina. I wonder if you could speak a little about the crafting of your performance both with Cohler and with pianist Rasa Vitkauskaite. With only one other recording of the Double Concerto with full orchestration, how did Cohler keep the soloists and orchestra in line in terms of realizing the full vision of this performance? Why was it so important to reunite the soloists-and-strings portion of the score with the wind-brass-timpani portion, especially for this recording?

As far as logistics and preparation for the recording of the Double Concerto I can only repeat what I wrote above. Playing with Rasa Vitkauskaite, a brilliant pianist from Lithuania, is always a joy and musical feast. Hers is a rare combination of brilliant digital technique, and natural musicality balanced by very sharp intellectual insight and incredible gift as an ensemble partner. I think this version of the concerto gives its full due to this definitely underrated masterpiece. Including timpani and winds completely changes the scope of the work, turning it from a rather lightweight bonbon for two instruments into a little symphony with two soloists.

Mendelssohn really turns up the speed on this Double Concerto, but you and Vitkauskaite seem to match each other so seamlessly. Vitkauskaite matches your sound so well, especially on those incredible fast notes for the Allegro molto (which is my favorite movement of the whole album). How did your collaboration with Vitkauskaite develop in terms of crafting your performance together?

You would be surprised, but we barely rehearsed the piece before the recording. We performed together quite a bit before but in a completely different repertoire.

In addition to Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, and his Double Concerto, this album also features his Capriccio brillant, which closes out the album and features Vitkauskaite as a soloist. Her work on this piece, as well as the Double Concerto, is so compelling. Had you worked with Vitkauskaite previously or were you involved in terms of selecting her as a performance partner for this album?

Rasa performed with Jonathan quite a bit and Jonathan recommended her for our partnership.

Your sound on this album is gorgeous. I particularly love that you allow the subtler sound of the violin—evident in quieter moments, especially within the concerto—to draw in the listener. Such a decision regarding sound quality and sound production must surely also require some close collaboration with the orchestra and conductor. I wonder if you could tell me a little bit about the particular or deliberate tonal choices in this performance and throughout the album. How important was this collaboration in terms of how you thought about or achieved the final shape and sound of the performance?

This project was unique in a sense because of the close collaboration with Jonathan and Rasa. It was really a give-and-take experience, and I believe we all were learning from each other in the process. Yes, of course, we discussed certain details as far as sound color, dynamics etc., but many things we did on the spot, just following each other, sometimes reacting spontaneously. This is the ideal kind of musical partnership, which is very rare. I made a lot of recordings in the past, some of them with very fine conductors. There were rehearsals and the recording session but never such close, intimate collaboration and free discussion of our individual ideas. Jonathan was, of course, the uniting voice in all of it.

From reading over your biography and the biographical information of Jonathan Cohler (who is also featured in another interview in this issue) it seems that Cohler has also been a longtime collaborator and recording partner (both of the recording and in terms of creating and releasing recordings on his label Ongaku). I wonder if you would tell me more about your work together both during this particular recording and in previous work. In researching for this interview, I learned that Cohler was a guest faculty member at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where you also serve as a professor. Is this where you first met?

I met Jonathan in the early 1990s at the Newport Music Festival, RI. We played a few chamber works together. We became good friends and performed many times since. I made a solo disc for the Ongaku Label as well as the Messiaen Quartet for the End of Time and Theme and Variations for violin and piano with wonderful Boston musicians Janice Weber, piano, and Andrew Mark, cello. Jonathan is also an expert in recording technology and collaborated closely with sound engineers during our sessions.

Not only have you built an illustrious career as a soloist, chamber musician, and recording artist, your work with conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Dmitry Kitaenko, Mariss Jansons, and Jerzy Semkow—as well as Jonathan Cohler—demonstrate your leading presence in the echelon of classical music performed today. I’m curious to know more about how you view your own success and what more you hope to contribute to classical music performance and recording. What is next for your performance and recording work? Will you record more Mendelssohn with Ongaku?

I never really thought of my career as anything exceptional but always enjoyed the diversity of being a violin soloist, chamber musician, teacher, and even orchestral musician. I would say that the career I have is one that makes me a happy man.

As far as the new projects—Jonathan, Rasa and I just finished the recording of our next CD on Ongaku—Clarinet Trios by Ives, Khachaturian, Schoenfield and Bartók. It was an exciting (and exhausting) experience—the scores are very complex and full of incredible detail. My hope is that the recording will be a success—looking forward to its release. No other Mendelssohn plans for now though.