Nemanja Radulović BAÏKA

More than a violinist, Nemanja Radulović is a fully rounded artist who breathes new life into everything he plays, as can be seen from his Deutsche Grammophon discography (which ranges from core repertoire for violin and orchestra with the concertos of Bach and Tchaikovsky to Journey East, a collection of shorter works and perhaps his most personal album so far, dedicated to his mother). A musician who plays with the utmost passion and sensitivity, he appeals to all kinds of audiences, not just habitual concert-goers but also those with little or no experience of classical music.

“If I have a mission as an artist,” he says, “it’s that I want to share the things I love with all my heart with everyone!” This is why he loves creating moving musical narratives that transport listeners, taking them on distant journeys of the imagination. There’s always a story behind his vision of the works he performs.

Radulović has already looked eastward for some of his Yellow Label recordings. Journey East evoked the classical past of Central and Eastern Europe with works by Brahms, Dvořák, Shostakovich – composers inspired by traditional music and Slavic folk songs. After this album, the violinist turned to the eternal Bach, creating versions of the Violin Concerto in A minor and the Double Violin Concerto that offer a Bach of our times, and also including a viola concerto by Johann Christian Bach. Next came an album of standard repertoire: Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto and Rococo Variations (world premiere recording of new arrangement). And now, with Baïka, which means “story” or “tale” in Serbian, he’s once again exploring the music of Eastern Europe and beyond.  

His performance style is impossible to reduce to a simple formula. He is open to all influences, notably that of the HIP movement, but has no qualms about giving free rein to a form of modernity when performing the kind of virtuoso showpieces that are sadly still seen as somehow second-rate repertoire. He also takes delight in new arrangements of existing works – extrapolations of the originals that can reveal entirely new worlds. When putting together a programme, he is more than willing to be inspired by meetings with other musicians, well aware that such meetings can generate new stories. Such was the case when it came to the making of Baïka.

The seeds for this album were sown during the first tour that Radulović undertook with Sascha Goetzel and the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, on which Bruch’s First Violin Concerto and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade were among the works performed. During the tour, the violinist used to sit in the auditorium for the second half of each concert and became increasingly captivated by Scheherazade’s solo violin part, which represents the voice of the sultan’s eponymous young bride as she spins her fantastical tales. With the idea of taking that line and expanding on it, Radulović asked his Serbian composer friend Aleksandar Sedlar to develop it into a piece for solo violin and his ensemble Double Sens. The resulting suite – to which the violinist contributed by helping to write the solo part – is a worthy successor to the kind of late nineteenth-century bravura violin works composed by Sarasate and Wieniawski, among others.

Since that first tour, violinist, conductor and orchestra have continued to work together on a regular basis, and they all met up in Istanbul to record the Khachaturian Violin Concerto for Baïka. The concerto dates from the Soviet era and reflects modern Armenia, rather than the fairy-tale east conjured by Scheherazade.

Nemanja Radulović has a soft spot for the Armenian-born Khachaturian, whose celebrated Sabre Dance he recorded for Journey East. For Baïka he chose not only the Violin Concerto, but also the composer’s Trio for clarinet, violin and piano. The key role played by the clarinet in both works makes them companion pieces. Here again Radulović was keen to record with musicians he already knew well and whose talents he hugely respected: clarinetist Andreas Ottensamer and pianist Laure Favre-Kahn.

The album closes with Aleksandar Sedlar’s Savcho 3, a work studded with folk tunes from the shores of the Black Sea. Sedlar created the work by taking an excerpt from his Concerto for saxophone and orchestra and adapting it for solo violin and Double Sens. Baïka is, then, an album rich in colour and texture, as Radulović’s violin is heard with full orchestra, then with string ensemble and piano, and finally in two chamber pieces. The locations in which it was recorded – Berlin, Belgrade and Istanbul – add to the idea of the eastern travels involved in its making.

Mari & Momo Kodama / Sarah & Deborah Nemtanu MARTINU Double Concertos for Violin & Piano

Bohuslav Martinů’s distinctive musical voice, which infuses the great Czech tradition with modern idioms, is showcased in this captivating survey of his concertante works, performed by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille conducted by Lawrence Foster. 

The Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra is a lively and rhythmic tour de force. Breezily energetic and relentless, it is full of jazzy inflections and high speed fireworks, pausing only in the tranquillity of the slow movement for moments of serene calm. By contrast, the Concerto for Two Violins and Orchestra is a warm, lyrical work in the Romantic tradition. With its intricate and interweaving solo lines, expansive melodies and dance-like syncopations it’s an engaging work of considerable charm which deserves a wider audience. The Rhapsody-Concerto for Viola and Orchestra is a dreamily nostalgic work whose simple melodies, radiant lyricism and soaring viola line make it one of the 20th century’s most performed viola concertos.

Camille Thomas / Orchestre National de Lille / Alexandre Bloch SAINT-SAËNS - OFFENBACH

Deutsche Grammophon is delighted to announce that Camille Thomas, among the most charismatic of young classical artists, has signed to the yellow label. The 28-year-old Franco-Belgian musician becomes the first ever female cellist to join Deutsche Grammophon’s artist roster. Her DG debut album, Enchantée, set for release in autumn 2017, will present fresh interpretations of works for cello and orchestra by Saint-Saëns and Offenbach, some of the most beautiful in the repertoire. Recorded with the Orchestre National de Lille and conductor Alexandre Bloch, it will also include bonus tracks featuring guest appearances by violinist Nemanja Radulović and tenor Rolando Villazón. Thomas’s choice of repertoire stems from her passion for French culture and the music of the Romantic period. As well as appealing to her existing fans in France and Germany, the elegance and intensity of her music-making are sure to captivate a global audience.

“It is a great honour to be invited to record for Deutsche Grammophon,” comments Camille Thomas. “To work with the company is like a dream come true for me. I fell in love with Berlin when I moved there from Paris to study and have developed a deep affection for Germany in the decade since. There is something truly special for me about recording for Deutsche Grammophon, sharing in its unrivalled tradition, exploring exciting projects and working with other members of its great family of artists. I look forward to building new audiences for cello in partnership with the yellow label.”

Camille Thomas was born in Paris in 1988. She began playing cello at the age of four and subsequently studied in her native city with Marcel Bardon. Her musical horizons broadened after she left school and enrolled to study with Stephan Forck at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. Thomas completed her training with Frans Helmerson at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne. Her international breakthrough came in 2014 when she was nominated for a “Newcomer of the Year” award at France’s prestigious Victoires de la Musique Classique and went on to be named winner of that year’s New Talent competition sponsored by the European Broadcasting Union. Thomas’s first album, A Century of Russian Colours, was released to critical acclaim in 2013 and was followed three years later by a fine second album, Reminiscences, awarded a CHOC by French magazine Classica, among other plaudits. In February 2016 she appeared on Arte’s Stars of Tomorrow, hosted by Rolando Villazón, and she was recently named as winner of the 2016 “Young Soloist of the Year” category in RTBF’s C’est du Belge awards, chosen in collaboration with Paris Match.

Nemanja Radulović TCHAIKOVSKY Violin Concerto - Rococo Variations

After his exciting journey into the musical tradition of Eastern Europe (Journey East) and the Baroque sound-scapes of J.S. Bach (Bach), Nemanja Radulovic now turns his attention to the Russian master of the Romantic era, Tchaikovsky, excelling as violinist and (in an arrangement of the famed Rococo-Variations for viola and string ensemble) a violist.
Bringing together Tchaikovsky’s two most important works for solo strings and orchestra is bringing together the two most relevant poles of his life – Belgrade and Paris: The Rococo Variations are linked to the first part of his life, when he was a student in Belgrade before the Balkan war. At this time Nemanja not only used to play the violin, but also viola and sometimes the cello. Playing an arranged viola version of the Rococo variations which originally were composed for cello, takes him back to his musical childhood in Belgrade.

Yvan Cassar, who worked with Nemanja on Journey East has now produced compelling arrangements for strings and piano of the Rococo Variations. They provide a lightness and an energy that are perfectly suited for the neoclassical sound of Tchaikovsky’s music.

The Rococo Variations were recorded in Belgrade with ensemble Double Sens (French for: “double direction” & “double meaning”). The group reflects perfectly Nemanja’s dual past between Paris and Belgrade as it includes his former student-friends for Serbia, and his friends from the Conservatoire de Paris (including 2 members of the Fontanarosa family).

The Tchaikovsky concerto is linked to Nemanja’s arrival in Paris. He began to work on the concerto with his Conservatoire de Paris’ teacher Patrice Fontanarosa. Since then, this piece has been the concerto Nemanja has played most often during his career opening the doors to the great concert halls of the world like in Paris, London or Tokyo.

The concerto was recorded in Istanbul with the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra and Sascha Goetzel, with which Nemanja feels he finds the freedom and mutual sprit to develop and express what is fundamentally important to him in the respective work.
2018 marks the 125th anniversary of the death of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893).

Nemanja Radulović LES 5 SAISONS

Nemanja Radulović’s performance of The Four Seasons comes as much from the heart as it does from the printed page. He often toys with rhythms and tempos, dynamics are taken to such extremes that at times the music become just audible, and mood swings from pensiveness to mercurial vivacity happen in the twinkling of an eye.
You could hardly quibble at the technical brilliance he brings to the music, ‘Summer’ being an example of his left-hand alacrity as he drives tempos forwards at a breathless pace. Then, just when you expect rhythms to be highly stressed in the finale of ‘Autumn’, the performance becomes soft-grained. For my library I would always opt for safety with the excellent Andrew Manze and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra (Warner), but with the 15 members of Double Sens playing with admirable unity, Radulović certainly captures the attention.
Aleksandar Sedlar’s Spring in Japan portrays the great earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, and the work moves from the sounds of popular music to suggest the agony of the event. A smaller string group, The Devil’s Trills, ably conjures up the appropriate sounds. Up-front recorded balance gives suitable priority to Radulović. (David Denton)

Nemanja Radulović CARNETS DE VOYAGE

. . . [an] exhilarating album that crosses musical boundaries as if they don't exist . . . [Radulovic has] exceptional talent, real charisma and serious youth appeal. This young man plays the fiddle brilliantly . . . [the album] allows Nemanja to display his musical range, with everything from a vivid arrangement of the "Sabre Dance" to traditional Serbian stuff that's utterly compelling at Nemanja's extraordinairy pace. There are also more soulful tracks, like a fine arrangement by his in-house guru, Yvan Cassar, of John Williams's "Schindler's List" theme. It's one heck of a visiting card, and not to be missed. (Record Review / David Mellor, Daily Mail (London) / 01. February 2015)

 

Radulovic balances virtuoso posturing, famous film melodies and traditional tunes with unapologetic flair . . . The overall feeling is light but enjoyable . . . he has a warm, full-bodied tone and the technique to master each of the pieces on this disc. He moves between styles quite naturally. Dvorák's chanson "Songs My Mother Taught Me" is breathy, and then soaring and vibrato rich; a rapid-fire Serbian folk tune is dispatched at speed but with no loss of rhythmic swing . . . the accompanying forces are varied (the cimbalom is a welcome inclusion) and elegantly deployed. This is a well-realised recording project. (Record Review / Tim Woodall, The Strad (Harrow, UK) / 01. July 2015)

Nemanja Radulović BACH

Asked why he has chosen to tackle music by Bach for his new album, the violinist Nemanja Radulović might almost hesitate before answering, so self-evident does his reply appear to him and so natural is the affinity that he feels for Bach. For him, the present recording is the logical successor to his two previous releases: in the wake of Vivaldi and his project The Five Seasons, he continues his personal exploration of the Baroque repertory with his ensemble Double Sens; and, like Journey East, this recording, too, represents a reflection on his own particular roots – in this case, his musical roots. The three words that recur here with leitmotivic regularity are: roots, loyalties and families. 

Roots. It all started with Bach. As with so many other musicians, Bach remains bound up with Nemanja Radulović’s earliest musical memories as a violinist, for even as a boy in Belgrade, he was already working on this repertory, in particular the Sonatas and Partitas, movements from which he has included in the present CD. Here pride of place goes to the Chaconne, which is the piece he prefers above all – alongside the Beethoven Violin Concerto, he adds by way of an explanation. The concertos, too, were a part of Radulović ’s repertory before he moved with his family to France. On the present release he is partnered by Tijana Milošević in the Double Violin Concerto BWV 1043. She was already appearing with him in this work while they were students at the Belgrade Conservatory. Nemanja also worked on the Viola Concerto in C minor attributed for a time to Johann Christian Bach – he learnt to play both the viola and the cello while he was still living in Belgrade, but he had to put them to one side when he entered the Paris Conservatoire in order to concentrate on the violin. This is the first time that Nemanja Radulović has returned to the viola for the purposes of a recording.

Patricia Petibon / Susan Manoff LA BELLE EXCENTRIQUE

The compact disc as a physical object, whether the music is classical or pop, is of interest to very few people nowadays. One response from musicians has been an adjustment to the new climate of downloadable single tracks and bite-sized clips that don’t suffer from being part of a shuffle. Patricia Petibon’s new disc does exactly the opposite. Her program happens to contain nearly thirty tracks, but they all go together as a single performance, and they need to be heard in the order in which she presents them. The program is at its core a song recital, but Petibon and pianist Susan Manoff have invited some off-the-cuff participation from a second pianist, a second vocalist, an accordion player and a percussionist. The structure is something of an after-dinner talent show, with relentless high spirits to start, a passing moment halfway through when everybody gets a little soupy and sentimental as the Pernod kicks in, a strategic regrouping for a few big numbers, and one sad song too many at the end to send everybody to the pile of coats on the bed. At times, there’s a deliberately amateurish quality. The second vocalist is Olivier Py, who is not quite a singer (he is quite a director, having mounted a production of Berg’s Lulu for Petibon), and the percussion parts give the illusion of improvisations that non-musicians might toss in from the sidelines. 

There are a few of the French repertoire’s greatest hits, by Fauré and Poulenc, but most of the music is unfamiliar. There’s a good deal of Satie, including two of the zippy Sports et Divertissements (piano only, without the sardonic words). If Petibon is perfectly capable of singing two un-ironic love songs, she nonetheless might separate them with a Satie can-can. But Satie can also have a side that is quietly aghast, and his brief “Désespoir agréable” makes a perfect piano transition into the set of downcast numbers that begins with Fauré’s “Spleen.” There is a particularly clever transition where Satie’s “Grande Ritournelle” for piano four-hands at first seems to be a gussied-up version of Poulenc’s song “Les gars qui vont à la fête,” but it is the real thing, and the real Poulenc song follows. Among the discoveries are Reynaldo Hahn’s “Pholoé,” a rare song about aging, and the music of Léo Ferré, who turns out to be right up there with Michel Legrand. 

Petibon is having such a good time managing to be loose and crazy even though this is a studio production that she disarms criticism. She can be dirty without being sleazy in the duets with Py. She can drip crocodile tears at the end of “Les gars” but then sing Poulenc’s “Voyage à Paris” without mocking it and deliver two of those quietly devastating Poulenc songs, “Hier” and “Aux Officiers de la Garde Blanche,” with equilibrium. It’s perhaps worth noting that a tiny Manuel Rosenthal song about a zoo elephant who wets his pants has been turned into something impossibly grand by the full company here, and it is funny. But Régine Crespin used to stop the show with this number by underplaying it. Times change, and I love this album. Twice, by the time Rosenthal songs came up, I felt that one piece too many had all that extra percussion. And then twice, just as I do when the cantina tune keeps coming back in Milhaud’s Le Boeuf sur le Toit, I succumbed unreservedly with a giggle. Madoff, among many virtues, totally gets the deadpan, unreadable quality of Satie’s accompaniments, and the idiomatic English translations of Susannah Howe and James Harding add immeasurably to the considerable enjoyment of this release. (William R. Braun)