Valery Klimov (Valeri Alexandrovich Klimov) is
a Russian violinist and teacher born (in Kiev) on October 16, 1931. He is known for having won the very first
International Tchaikovsky Violin Competition (in March, 1958), the best known violin
competition in the world. He was 26
years old. That was the same competition
at which Van Cliburn (the American piano player) won first prize in the piano
division, subsequently becoming popular and famous. That year, Russian composer Dmitri
Shostakovich was the chairman. Klimov’s
first teacher was his father. He later
studied at the Odessa Conservatory and later still at the Moscow Conservatory
with David Oistrakh. As far as I was
able to determine, Klimov did not perform outside Russia until 1967. Quite possibly his first concert outside the
Soviet Union was in London, England. Although
he has toured around the world, his career has mostly been spent in
Russia. He has been teaching at the
Moscow Conservatory for a long time and has received many official awards. Among his many pupils are Elena Denisova,
Hisaya Sato, Alice Waten, Fiona Ziegler, Evgeny Grach, Rachel Schmidt, and
Alena Tsoi. Here is a YouTube video with
Klimov playing the Khachaturian concerto.
Among other things, it gives you a chance to hear the excellent
acoustics of the Sydney Opera House.
Vanya
Milanova is a Bulgarian violinist, teacher, painter, and author born on January
12, 1954. According to at least one
source, she was the first female violinist to record, in 1985, at age 31, the
complete (24) Caprices for solo violin by Nicolo Paganini. That sounds rather unusual but it just might
be true. (see comment below) I didn’t bother to confirm it
by checking further. Surprisingly, she is the first Bulgarian violinist about whom I have written and that is highly unusual too. Milanova is also
known for having a huge repertoire. Her
career has taken her around the world several times and she has performed with
most of the world’s great orchestras and with some of the leading conductors of
her generation in over fifty countries. Although
her discography is not extensive, there are quite a few YouTube files of her
live performances. Milanova took third
prize in the 1973 Paganini Violin Competition (in Genoa, Italy) and third prize
in the 1974 Tchaikovsky Competition (the same one where the late Eugene Fodor
took second prize.) She was known as a
child prodigy - her main teachers were Peter Arnaudov (State Music Academy) in
Bulgaria and Yfrah Neaman (Guildhall School of Music) in England. Her 2016 autobiography is titled Wit and
Wisdom of a Violinist but is presently out of print. Many of her abstract paintings can be seen on
her Facebook page. Milanova has taught
at Bilkent University in Turkey, among other schools. Here are two YouTube files of her
performances, including the complete recording of the Paganini Caprices.
Sergei Stadler is a Russian violinist, teacher, and conductor born (in
Saint Petersburg) on May 20, 1962. Although
he took first prize (alongside Viktoria Mullova) in the famous Tchaikovsky
Competition (in 1982) and the Grand Prize in the Jacques Thibaud Competition
(in 1980 – one source has it as 1979), he is not as well-known as one might
expect. (Please see comment below.) However, he has developed a very
successful career in Russia and Europe, having played in most of the important
concert venues. He is also an opera
conductor. Stadler actually began his
music studies in piano, taking lessons from his parents, although his father
was a professional violinist. He entered
the Saint Petersburg Conservatory at age 12.
He studied violin with Boris Sergeyev in Leningrad (Saint
Petersburg.) He also later studied with
Mikhail Vaiman, Victor Tretyakov, Leonid Kogan, and David Oistrakh. From 1984 to 1989 he taught at the Saint
Petersburg Conservatory. In his career
as a teacher, he has conducted master classes in Europe and the far east. He has also founded several performing
organizations - the Hermitage Music Academy, and the New Saint Petersburg
Symphony are among them. He has about 30
CDs to his credit – one source says 50 – including one with all Beethoven
Sonatas, accompanied by his sister Julia.
Here is one video of his on YouTube.
Emmy Verhey is a Dutch violinist born (in Amsterdam) on March 13,
1949. She is known for having placed
very highly in the 1966 Tchaikovsky Competition. She was only 17 years old. Although she also began concertizing at a
very young age, she kept studying with various teachers. Her first teacher (at age 7) was her father
(Gerard Verhey) but she soon (one year later) began her lessons with one of the
top Hungarian violin pedagogues – Oskar Back.
She later studied with Herman Krebbers, Wolfgang Schneiderhan, and David
Oistrakh. She made her debut on December
7, 1961, playing the Havanaise by Saint Saens.
She was 12 years old. On September
3, 1962, she played the Tchaikovsky concerto.
She was 13 years old. Her career
has mostly been spent in Europe, particularly the Netherlands. Verhey has an extensive discography (more
than 55 CDs) and has collaborated with some of the world’s top artists; Yehudi
Menuhin, David Oistrakh, Mariss Jansons, Bernard Haitink, Neville Marriner, and
Janos Starker are among them. She began
teaching at the Conservatory in Ultrecht in 1983 and retired from there in
2002. According to one source, Verhey
was also the concertmaster of the Ultrecht Symphony Orchestra for 8 years –
possibly from 1977 to 1985. (Ultrecht is
about 20 miles southeast of Amsterdam.) Verhey
has also performed chamber music extensively with a variety of artists. She has frequently brought attention to
little-known composers such as Arthur Laurie, Othmar Schoek, Alphonse
Diepenbrock, Charles Avison, Theo Loevendie, and Chris Duindam. In 1991, she co-founded the Camerata Antonio
Lucio with whom she made several recordings.
Among the violins she has played
are the Earl Spencer Stradivarius from 1723 (or 1712 – accounts vary - now
being played by Nicola Benedetti) and an Andrea Guarneri from 1676. Verhey will play a final public concert
(after which she is retiring from concertizing) on November 29, 2015. The program includes Schubert’s Trout
Quintet, Schubert’s String trio (the one in B flat), a violin sonata by Tristan
Keuris, and another violin sonata by Theo Loevendie. YouTube has many videos of her playing. Here is one featuring the well-known Rondo
Capriccioso.
Akiko
Suwanai is a Japanese violinist and teacher born (in Tokyo) on February 7,
1972. Suwanai won the Tchaikovsky violin
competition at age 18 (1990) and is well-known for playing one of Heifetz’ old
violins, the Dolphin Stradivarius of 1714. She initially studied in Tokyo with Toshiya
Eto. Eventually she moved to the U.S
where she studied with Dorothy DeLay and Cho Liang Lin at Juilliard. Then she moved to Berlin to study with Uwe
Martin Haiberg at the Advanced School of Art (the University of Art.) Suwanai has since solidly established her
career, gaining praise from critics and audiences throughout the world. She frequently tours with top orchestras, but
mostly in Europe. She soloed with the
New York Philharmonic on November 20, 1997, playing the Mendelssohn concerto –
the one in e minor. Suwanai first
performed with the Berlin Philharmonic on September 12, 2000, playing Ravel’s
Tzigane. She was 28 years old. Charles Dutoit was on the podium. She opened the Shanghai Spring International
Music Festival in 2009, being the first Japanese violinist invited to do
so. She has recorded with the Academy of
St Martin in the Fields, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Chamber Orchestra
of Europe, among others. Suwanai also
teaches master classes occasionally. As
far as I know, Suwanai presently has her home base in Paris. Paris, New York, Berlin, Rome, and London are
probably the most popular cities for concert violinists to work from. Here is a YouTube video of her playing (in
the orchestra) with a few other musicians at the Louvre. And another is here at the same concert,
playing the double concerto by Bach.
Among her collaborators at the concert are Manrico Padovani, Sergey
Khachatryan, Viviane Hagner, Hyun-su Shin, Manuela Janke, Steven Isserlis, and
Arabella Steinbacher. There are many
other videos of Suwanai in concert on YouTube.
The photo is courtesy of Leslie Kee.
Eugene Fodor died young, at age sixty, on a Saturday in late February, 2011. Perhaps he wanted it this way – the end of what was to have been a great life, from beginning to end. Eugene Fodor was a great violinist who somehow lost control of himself and his career. You can read about it here among many other places. With his credentials, he could have gone anywhere and he did, but only for a time. Many doors were closed on him for reasons which are not completely understandable – was he black-listed, did his agents let him down, did he antagonize conductors or orchestra managers, did composers not want him playing their works, or was he just simply irresponsible and difficult and not able to cope with the pressures of concert life? Only those close to him know. Ever so slowly, though his playing remained brilliant, his engagements got less frequent and less sparkling. Margalit Fox, in her magnificent New York Times obituary, quotes Susan Davis (Fodor’s widow): “Last year, in despair over his career, he stopped playing the violin entirely. It was too painful for him. He felt like his career had been ripped from him, and he didn’t have the great venues to play in anymore. and it just crushed him.” Ripped from him by whom? Fate? The same Fate that brought Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Bizet, Van Gogh, Franz Clement, Joseph Hassid, Guila Bustabo, Toscha Seidel, and Michael Rabin down? Mozart would have to be the prime example of someone whose unimaginable genius and earthly rewards were as far apart as could be, whose economic status did not come even a little close to matching what he gave the world. His must have been a frustration beyond imagining. It’s as if Fate says “this far and no farther.” Did Fodor have enemies? Why were the big, important orchestras not calling him? Only those closest to him know the answer. Fodor had drug and alcohol addiction problems on and off. Apparently, even close friends and family could not intervene for his benefit. Should they blame themselves for not doing more? Why? There have been other concert violinists with the same problems and they did not just give up. Their careers did not suffer. Henryk Szeryng comes to mind – it is common knowledge that he drank quite heavily, even right before concerts. It is rumored that Nigel Kennedy has had drug problems, too, and he seems to be doing just fine. Other concert artists have gone into decline, accepted it, and just moved on, playing music festivals far and wide, founding chamber orchestras, taking up conducting, taking up full-time teaching, starting private academies and so on. (They are too numerous to mention. It happens, even in the natural course of getting old.) For some reason, Fodor could not bring himself to do any of those things. Only those closest to him know why. According to some sources, he got ill last summer and seemingly, just decided to die.
Viktoria Mullova is a Russian violinist born on November 27, 1959 (Heifetz was 58 years old.) She has been successful in her concert career since before she defected from the Soviet Union twenty six years ago (1983.) Mullova is very much at ease in her extroverted style and likes wearing brightly colored outfits for her appearances. She is also well-known for having had several lovers, Claudio Abbado among them. She began her violin studies at age four. She then studied at Moscow's Central Music School; afterward at the Moscow Conservatory with Leonid Kogan. In 1980, she took first prize in the Sibelius Competition (Helsinki), and the gold medal in the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1982. Her discography is fairly extensive but does not include the Bruch concerto nor the Lalo Symphonie Espagnol. Mullova has played the Jules Falk Stradivarius (1723) for many years and a Guadagnini from 1750 as well. There are many videos posted on YouTube showing her playing in recital and with orchestra.
Eugene Fodor (Eugene Nicholas Fodor, Jr.) was an American violinist born on March 5, 1950 (Perlman was about 5 years old.) His career was somewhat uneven and enigmatic. He first took up the violin when he was five and initially studied with Harold Wippler, concertmaster of the Denver Symphony for a number of years. At 10, he made his orchestral debut with that orchestra (playing Bruch's first concerto) and continued his studies with Wippler for another five years. At 15, he enrolled at Juilliard (New York) where he studied with Ivan Galamian. He also soloed with the Detroit Symphony at age 15. Josef Gingold was his teacher at Indiana University a short time later. By this time, he was already concertizing. He was then a student of Jascha Heifetz at USC. It has been reported that Heifetz dismissed Fodor from his class after Fodor refused to get a haircut to Heifetz' specifications (short.) He was also winning several competitions along the way, including the Merriweather Post Competition in Washington D.C. After picking up first prize in the Paganini Competition in Italy in 1972 at age 22, Fodor became famous. As if this weren’t enough, two years later (1974), he won a Silver Medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (no Gold Medal was awarded that year.) Ironically, even with these competition wins and dozens of successful concert tours under his belt, he was never a guest soloist with some of the best American orchestras – Boston, Chicago, and New York, among others. Speculation that Isaac Stern was somehow instrumental in shutting him off from certain venues prevails until this day. Fodor had at least 40 concertos and more than 40 violin Sonatas in his repertoire, in addition to countless miscellaneous works for violin and piano or unaccompanied violin. YouTube has a few videos of his playing. He also recorded several major works for the RCA, Sony, and Grazioso labels, among others. Fodor married (Susan Davis, with whom he had three children) in 1978 and divorced in 1985 (some sources say 1986.) He married her again in November of 2010. He was said to have a difficult personality. Fodor is known for having been selected to play Paganini’s violin (the Guarnerius Cannone of 1743, worth about $40 million) in a San Francisco recital in 1999, on the eve of Paganini’s birthday. (Other violinists who have been granted this honor are Camillo Sivori, Bronislaw Huberman, Salvatore Accardo, Ruggiero Ricci, Leonid Kogan, Dmitri Berlinsky, and Regina Carter) The recital received great as well as cool reviews. He is also known for having been arrested (in Massachussetts) for drug possession in 1989. His latest prize was the European Soloist award in 1999. Some time in 2010, he stopped playing the violin altogether. Fodor died on February 26, 2011, at age 60. His 1736 Guarnerius is now for sale in Europe - on the private market.
