César Cui - Suites Nos. 1 & 3; Suite Concertante (Takako Nishizaki; Kenneth Schermerhorn)

Information

Composer: César Cui

• (01) Suite concertante for violin & orchestra, Op. 25
• (05) Suite Miniatures (Suite No. 1), Op. 20
• (11) Petite Suite (Suite No. 3) "In modo populari", Op. 43

Takako Nishizaki, violin (1-4)
Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
Kenneth Schermerhorn, conductor

Date: 1984
Label: Marco Polo
http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.220308

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Review

Cui, a member of the original Russian 'Five', was a dedicated encourager of the other members of the group (and indeed of all living Russian composers) to aim at less imitation of the West; and instead to write, without inhibition, more obviously independent Russian-style music. Nevertheless, he seemed to exempt himself from the encouragement, tending to write his own music in a pretty well accepted western European mould.

Quite often this apparent dichotomy is referred to disparagingly as a betrayal of his own principles. Yet surely there was no betrayal here. He thought Russian composers should write Russian music, true; but with a French father and a Lithuanian mother, he was not himself Russian at all, and so obviously not a Russian composer. Therefore he felt free to write exactly what he wanted.

This record declares that what he wanted to write was music of total charm; it declares, too, that he managed to do this with total success. The Suite concertante, for example: could not this be found by many to be one of the most immediately enjoyable sequences of music for solo violin and orchestra they have ever heard; a competitor with Lalo, say? And the Suite miniature: perhaps a competitor with all those Bizet suites? There is, too, the suite In modo populari: well, oddly this seems less popular in style than the other music. But less enjoyable? This can only be decided for each listener by himself.

The enjoyability of all the music is helped along greatly by the quality of its performance. Takako Nishizaki is among the most winning of soloists; and the quality of the Hong Kong Philharmonic is one of the newer wonders to add to all those older wonders of one of the most astonishing cities on earth. More mundanely, the recording is of broadly similar quality: well toned, well balanced, and among the best available. Marco Polo himself never heard anything like this; but that was certainly his loss.

-- Gramophone

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César Cui (18 January [O.S. 6 January] 1835 – 13 March 1918) was a Russian composer and music critic of French and Lithuanian descent. He was a member of group "The Five", although Cui's works are not so nationalistic as those of the other members. As a writer on music, Cui contributed almost 800 articles between 1864 and 1918 to various newspapers and other publications in Russia and Europe. As an officer of the Imperial Russian Army he rose to the rank of Engineer-General (compared to full General), taught fortifications in Russian military academies and wrote a number of monographs on the subject.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A9sar_Cui

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Takako Nishizaki (born 14 April 1944) is a Japanese violinist. She was the first student to complete the Suzuki Method course, at age nine. Nishizaki came to the United States from Japan in 1962. She first studied with Broadus Erle at Yale University, and later with Joseph Fuchs at the Juilliard School. Some of Nishizaki's recordings with Slovak Philharmonic under Kenneth Jean by Naxos Records of famous violin concertos are highly ranked by The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music. Nishizaki is married to the Naxos label owner Klaus Heymann, and teaches violin in Hong Kong.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takako_Nishizaki

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Kenneth Schermerhorn (November 20, 1929 – April 18, 2005) was an American composer and orchestra conductor, best known for his association with the Nashville Symphony. Schermerhorn studied with Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood and later serve as assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic. Schermerhorn was music director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (1963-1965) and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (1968-1983). Schermerhorn was music director of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra from 1983 to his death, and was widely credited with raising the level of excellence of the arts in Nashville.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Schermerhorn

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