Various Composers - Russian Soul (LGT Young Soloists)

Information

1. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Andante cantabile
2. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Valse-Scherzo, Op. 34 (arr. Paul Struck)
3. Anton Arensky - Little Ballade, Op. 12 No. 1 (arr. Paul Struck)
4. Mikhail Glinka, Mily Balakirev - The Lark (arr. Paul Struck)
5. Anton Arensky - Variations on a Theme of Tchaikovsky, Op. 35a
6. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Mélodie, Op. 42 No. 3 (arr. Paul Struck)
7. Serge Koussevitzky - Valse miniature, Op. 1 No. 2
8. Sergei Rachmaninov - Vocalise Op. 34 No. 14
9. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov - Serenade, Op. 37 (arr. Paul Struck)
10. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Efrem Zimbalist - The Golden Cockerel Fantasy (arr. Paul Struck)
11. Sergei Rachmaninov - Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43: Var. 18 (arr. Paul Struck)

LGT Young Soloists

Alexander Gilman, artistic director

Date: 2017

Label: RCA

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Review

The LGT Young Soloists are essentially a very high-class youth string orchestra, many of the players already having starry CVs. Most of the eleven tracks on this CD are arranged by Paul Struck, and feature one or more of the players as soloist while the rest provide orchestral accompaniment. The soloists all share a richness of sound, caught close up in a resonant acoustic. Clearly they take the ‘soul’ part of Russian Soul to heart (as it were).

Together they make an impressive ensemble, as they demonstrate in Arensky’s Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky, matching tonal beauty to careful, sensitive phrasing, and relishing the exuberance of its up-tempo outbursts. Of the solo performers, 18-year-old Elena Kawazu stands out in Efrem Zimbalist’s arrangement of themes from Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Golden Cockerel; she is a seriously fine violinist dispatching the pyrotechnics with high-octane technical accomplishment and enormous panache. There is virtuosity elsewhere, with 20-year-old violinist David Nebel giving a debonair account of Tchaikovsky’s Valse-scherzo op.34 – but this is not just a showcase for the dazzling. Some of the finest playing here is gentle, particularly from two 19-year-old violists: Silas Zschocke gives a rich, soulful account of Tchaikovsky’s Andante cantabile, and Benedetta Bucci demonstrates impressive sustained melodic playing in an elegant, fluent performance of Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise, imbued with tragedy.

-- Tim Homfray, The Strad

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Violinist Alexander Gilman and pianist Marina Seltenreich partnered with LGT Private Banking in 2013 to unite top-class young soloists in one ensemble. The result is "LGT Young Soloists", a string ensemble which is made up of highly gifted young soloists from age 14 to 23 who come from more than 15 nations. The members of the LGT Young Soloists play about 30 concerts every year and have won more than 80 prizes. Only two years after they were founded, the ensemble were the world’s first youth orchestra to record for Sony Music/RCA. Their discography now already includes four albums.
https://www.lgtyoungsoloists.com/

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