Tchaikovsky, Schnittke & Babajanian: Works for Piano Trio Vadim Gluzman, Johannes Moser & Yevgeny Sudbin

• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 - 1893): Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50, TH 117:
• 1 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50, TH 117: I. Pezzo elegiaco 17:47
• 2 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50, TH 117: II. Tema. Andante con moto 01:02
• 3 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50, TH 117: IIa. Var. 1 00:55
• 4 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50, TH 117: IIb. Var. 2, Più mosso 00:35
• 5 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50, TH 117: IIc. Var. 3, Allegro moderato 00:58
• 6 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50, TH 117: IId. Var. 4, L'istesso tempo 01:14
• 7 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50, TH 117: IIe. Var. 5, L'istesso tempo 00:44
• 8 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50, TH 117: IIf. Var. 6, Tempo di valse 02:27
• 9 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50, TH 117: IIg. Var. 7, Allegro moderato 01:20
• 10 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50, TH 117: IIh. Var. 8, Fuga. Allegro moderato 02:30
• 11 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50, TH 117: IIi. Var. 9, Andante flebile, ma non tanto 03:11
• 12 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50, TH 117: IIj. Var. 10, Tempo di mazurka. Con brio 01:51
• 13 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50, TH 117: IIk. Var. 11, Moderato 02:15
• 14 Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50, TH 117: IIl. Var. 12 - Coda 11:11
• Piano Trio in F-Sharp Minor:
• 15 Piano Trio in F-Sharp Minor: I. Largo - Allegro espressivo 08:37
• 16 Piano Trio in F-Sharp Minor: II. Andante 06:54
• 17 Piano Trio in F-Sharp Minor: III. Allegro vivace 05:48
• Life with an Idiot:
• 18 Life with an Idiot: Tango (Arr. Y. Sudbin for Piano Trio) 02:21
• Total Runtime 01:11:40

Info for Tchaikovsky, Schnittke & Babajanian: Works for Piano Trio

In Russian chamber music, a rather special tradition evolved around the piano trio, with a number of composers turning to the genre to write ‘instrumental requiems’. First out was Tchaikovskywith his Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 50, ‘à la mémoired’un grand artiste’, and he was followed by composers such as Rachmaninov, Arenskyand Shostakovich. In the case of Tchaikovsky’s trio, the ‘grand artiste’ was the pianist Nikolai Rubinstein, and Tchaikovsky chose the trio genre as he felt that a piece for solo piano would be too lightweight and one with orchestral accompaniment would be too showy. The work is in two movements, a Pezzoelegiaco(‘elegiac piece’) and a set of variations, and it begins with the cello playing a moving lament which sets the tone for the entire first movement. The theme returns at the end of the second movement in the form of an impassioned funeral march.

Seventy years later, when the Armenian composer and pianist Arno Babajanian(1921—83) wrote his Piano Trio in F sharp minor, he didn’t give it any subtitle, but there’s a grandeur and breadth of scale which rivals Tchaikovsky’s work –and the second movement is thoroughly elegiac in character. The trio is Babajanian’sbest-known work, composed in the Romantic style of Rachmaninov, but also rooted in Armenian folk music, melodically as well as rhythmically. Performing the two works are Vadim Gluzmanand Yevgeny Sudbin, both with Russian roots, joined by cellist Johannes Moser, and the three close the disc with Sudbin’sarrangement of a brief Tangoby Alfred Schnittke.

"Dazzling violin, sensual cello, dynamic piano – the piano trio is one of the most delightful chamber music combinations."

Vadim Gluzman, violin
Johannes Moser, cello
Yevgeny Sudbin, piano

Vadim Gluzman
Universally recognized among today’s top performing artists, Vadim Gluzman brings to life the glorious violinistic tradition of the 19th and 20th centuries. Gluzman’s wide repertoire embraces new music and his performances are heard around the world through live broadcasts and a striking catalogue of award-winning recordings exclusively for the BIS label.

The Israeli violinist appears regularly with major orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus, London Symphony, Orchestre de Paris, Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Royal Concertgebouw. Gluzman has enjoyed collaborations with many of today’s leading conductors, including Semyon Bychkov, Riccardo Chailly, Sir Andrew Davis, Christoph von Dohnányi, Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Hannu Lintu, Tugan Sokhiev, Michael Tilson Thomas, Jukka-Pekka Saraste. His festival appearances include performances at Lockenhaus, Ravinia, Tanglewood, and Verbier, as well as the North Shore Chamber Music Festival in Chicago, founded by Gluzman and pianist Angela Yoffe, his wife and recital partner.

Highlights of his 2019-20 season include performances with Orchestre de Paris under Tugan Sokhiev and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, concerts with the BBC Philharmonic, Detroit and Houston Symphony Orchestras, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, HR Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Lucerne Symphony, Dresden Philharmonic, Iceland Symphony, Staatskapelle Weimar, and Orchestre National de Lyon. He will lead performances with the Moscow Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra and the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra in Columbus, Ohio, where he serves as Creative Partner and Principal Guest Artist.

Also this season, Mr. Gluzman will give the world premiere performances of a new violin concerto by Erkki-Sven Tüür with the HR Frankfurt Radio Symphony under Andris Poga, Joshua Roman’s Double Concerto with the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, conducted by David Danzmayr, Moritz Eggert’s Mir mit Dir commissioned by the Kronberg Academy to celebrate Beethoven’s 250th anniversary year, as well as UK premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina’s Triple Concerto with BBC Philharmonic under Omer Meir Wellber. He has given live and recorded premieres of other works by Sofia Gubaidulina, as well as Giya Kancheli, Elena Firsova, Pēteris Vasks, Michael Daugherty, and most recently Lera Auerbach.

Vadim Gluzman’s latest CD for the BIS label features Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D major with the Lucerne Symphony conducted by James Gaffigan and includes the composer’s Sonata No.1 for Violin and Piano, performed with pianist Angela Yoffe. Accolades for his extensive discography include the Diapason d’Or of the Year, Gramophone’s Editor’s Choice, Classica magazine’s Choc de Classica award, and Disc of the Month by The Strad, BBC Music Magazine, ClassicFM, and others.

Born in the former Soviet Union in 1973, Gluzman began violin studies at age 7. He studied with Roman Šnē in Latvia and Zakhar Bron in Russia before moving to Israel in 1990, where he became a student of Yair Kless. In the United States, he studied with Arkady Fomin in Dallas and at the Juilliard School with Dorothy DeLay and Masao Kawasaki. Early in his career, Gluzman enjoyed the encouragement and mentorship of Isaac Stern which continued until Stern’s passing in 2001.

Mr. Gluzman serves as Distinguished Artist in Residence at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and teaches at the Keshet Eilon International Music Center in Israel. He performs on the legendary 1690 ‘ex-Leopold Auer’ Stradivari on extended loan to him through the generosity of the Stradivari Society of Chicago.

Johannes Moser
Hailed by Gramophone Magazine as "one of the finest among the astonishing gallery of young virtuoso cellists", German-Canadian cellist Johannes Moser has performed with the world’s leading orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, BBC Philharmonic at the Proms, London Symphony, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Tokyo NHK Symphony, Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras with conductors of the highest level including Riccardo Muti, Lorin Maazel, Mariss Jansons, Valery Gergiev, Zubin Mehta, Vladimir Jurowski, Franz Welser-Möst, Christian Thielemann, Pierre Boulez, Paavo Jarvi, Semyon Bychkov, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Gustavo Dudamel.

His recordings include the concertos by Dvořák, Lalo, Elgar, Lutosławski, Dutilleux and Tchaikovsky, which have gained him the prestigious Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik and the Diapason d'Or and Gramophone commented “[Lutosławski and Dutilleux Cello Concertos]…Anyone coming afresh to these masterly works… should now investigate this new release ahead of all others…”. In August 2019 his latest release featured the works of Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn with Alasdair Beatson, Piano.

In the 2019/20 season, highlights include two world premieres of Cello Concertos by Andrew Norman with the Los Angeles Philharmonic with Gustavo Dudamel and Bernd Richard Deutsch’s with the Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich conducted by Yutaka Sado to include performances in Vienna (Musikverein), Grafenegg Festival, the Festspielhaus St. Polten and additional performances with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony. Johannes will also return to the London Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony and Boston Symphony Orchestras as well as to the George Enescu Festival with the Oslo Philharmonic. He will also perform at the season opening concerts of both the Ulster Orchestra (Elgar’s Cello Concerto conducted by Daniele Rustioni) and the Orquesta Sinfonica de Galacia with (Saints-Saens Cello Concerto Conducted by Dima Slobodeniouk). European touring will include with the Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen, Württembergische Kammerorchester Heilbronn (Play-direct) and Metamorphosen Berlin.

A dedicated chamber musician, Johannes has performed with Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Jonathan Biss, James Ehnes, Vadim Gluzman, Leonidas Kavakos, Midori, Menahem Pressler and Yevgeny Sudbin. Johannes is also a regular at festivals including the Verbier, Schleswig-Holstein, Gstaad and Kissinger festivals, the Mehta Chamber Music Festival, and the Colorado, Seattle and Brevard music festivals.

Renowned for his efforts to expand the reach of the classical genre, as well as his passionate focus on new music, Johannes has recently been heavily involved in commissioning works by Julia Wolfe, Ellen Reid, Thomas Agerfeld Olesen, Johannes Kalitzke, Jelena Firsowa and Andrew Norman. In 2011 he premiered Magnetar for electric cello by Enrico Chapela with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, and in the following season he continued this relationship with the orchestra performing Michel van der Aa's cello concerto Up-close. Throughout his career, Johannes has been committed to reaching out to all audiences, from kindergarten to college and beyond. He combines most of his concert engagements with masterclasses, school visits and preconcert lectures.

Born into a musical family in 1979, Johannes began studying the cello at the age of eight and became a student of Professor David Geringas in 1997. He was the top prize winner at the 2002 Tchaikovsky Competition, in addition to being awarded the Special Prize for his interpretation of the Rococo Variations. In 2014 he was awarded with the prestigious Brahms prize.

A voracious reader of everything from Kafka to Collins, and an avid outdoorsman, Johannes Moser is a keen hiker and mountain biker in what little spare time he has.

Yevgeny Sudbin
has been hailed by The Telegraph as “potentially one of the greatest pianists of the 21st century”. As BIS Records’ only exclusive artist, all of Yevgeny’s recordings have met with critical acclaim and are regularly featured as CD of the Month by BBC Music Magazine or Editor’s Choice by Gramophone. His Scriabin recording was awarded CD of the Year by The Telegraph and received the MIDEM Classical Award for Best Solo Instrument Recording at Cannes. It was described by Gramophone as “a disc in a million” while the International Record Review stated that Yevgeny’s Rachmaninov recording “confirms him as one of the most important pianistic talents of our time”. His 10th anniversary disc of Scarlatti Sonatas was received with equal rapture and not only hit No. 1 in the Classical Music Charts but was also nominated for the Gramophone Classical Music Award. Yevgeny was also nominated as Gramophone Artist of the Year in 2016.

Yevgeny performs regularly in many of the world's finest venues and concert series, both in recital and with orchestra, including Tonhalle Zurich; Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall (International Piano Series) and Wigmore Hall (London Pianoforte Series) in London; Concertgebouw (Meesterpianisten, Amsterdam); Avery Fisher Hall (New York) and Davies Symphony Hall (San Francisco). Recent engagements and tours have included orchestras such as New Zealand Symphony, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, Lucerne Symphony, Czech Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. His performance of Rachmaninov's Concerto No.1 at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall was described by The Telegraph as ‘sublime.’

Yevgeny has collaborated with some of the world’s most influential conductors, such as Neeme Järvi, Charles Dutoit, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Osmo Vänskä, Hannu Lintu, Tugan Sokhiev, Mark Wigglesworth, Andrew Litton, Dmitri Slobodeniouk and Vassily Sinaisky. His love of chamber music has led him to collaborate with many other musicians including Alexander Chaushian, Ilya Gringolts, Hilary Hahn, Julia Fischer, the Chilingirian Quartet and many others. Appearances at festivals include Aspen, Mostly Mozart, Tivoli, Nohant, La Roque d'Antheron, Menton and Verbier.

Yevgeny lives in London with his wife and three young children and, in his spare time, he is an avid photographer.

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