MAXIM VENGEROV AT THE CORN EXCHANGE
The highest paid violinist in action Maxim Vengerov
Well done the Corn Exchange. It may be makeshift in many ways, and it is certainly not Carnegie Hall, but our native organisers have scooped the pool with Maxim Vengerov in performance - well before his 2023 London engagements at far grander venues .
For Vengerov is not only the most highly regarded violinist on the planet today, he is also the. highest paid. With the Roumanian State Orchestra as robust stalwart background, he swept all before him on his first appearance in Cambridge. This was no ordinary concert. It was a an event to remember for the times we live though at the end of 2022. Memorable and melodic, the players in the orchestra and the dazzling soloist,made a massive impact on an appreciative audience.
Who could not think of brave, battling Ukraine when the orchestra struck up with the Karelia Suite, Sibelius’ own defiant message to his countrymen for all Finland to stand up against their eastern aggressor. Russia on manoeuvres again back in the early twentieth century, here was music to stir every patriotic heart. There were no compromises back then as now.. Every single able bodied man in Finland was conscripted to fight an implacable and hugely superior Russian force. The Roumanians, who have seen their share of oppression, gave it the full on treatment.
And as if to underline the defiant musical theme, when Maxim Vengerov did appear on stage he had chosen to play the world premiere of a work by a living Ukrainian composer, Alexey Shor , the Symphonic Prelude. His technique sublime and his timing predictably perfect here was a piece of music to bring the real world in to the concert hall. He followed it by another Shor masterpiece, Seascapes for Violin and Orchestra. Shor might be one of the most prolific - and popular - composers alive today and the audience in Cambridge learned why. The combination of these two young (fish) musical geniuses, was not just a delight but unique .
The second half was a true showcase for the virtuoso Solist, with Prokofiev’s first Violin Concerto, all he talent and connotation of this the world’s finest player, was synthesised into one quintessential work. A piece and a player to remember.
The concert finished with Romeo and Juliet fantasy by Tchaikovsky, Conductor Sergey Smbatyan rinsed every note of sonicperception from this well known piece, a fabulous finale for a concert full of meaning and purpose.
It might not be one of the greatest concert halls in the world, or even in East Anglia, but these players transcended our rustic Corn Exchange which - by the end transformed into a magical space, with its acoustic far from orindary, into a magical musical experieince
Alexey Shor the Ukrainian composer for our times.
