Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto Julia Fischer & Russian National Orchestra

Julia Fischer
Born in 1983 in Munich, Germany, Julia Fischer is among the top violin soloists performing for audiences around the globe. Reviewers have described her as “not a talent, but a full-fledged phenomenal violinist,” have said “she takes your breath away,” is “worthy of a hailstorm of superlatives,” and has a “winning blend of steely assurance and unabashed lyricism”. Julia Fischer has worked with such internationally acclaimed conductors as Lorin Maazel, Christoph Eschenbach, Yehudi Menuhin, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Bernhard Klee, Asher Fish, Marek Janowski, Jeffrey Tate, Simone Young, Herbert Blomstedt, Yakov Kreizberg, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Neville Marriner, David Zinman, Michael Tilson Thomas, Mikhail Jurowski and with a variety of top German, American, British, Polish, French, Italian, Swiss, Dutch, Norwegian, Russian, Japanese, Czech and Slovakian orchestras. Julia Fischer has performed in most European countries, the United States, Brasil and Japan; in concerts broadcast on TV and radio in every major European country, as well as on many US, Japanese and Australian radio stations. In 2003 Julia Fischer – already for six years present in US concert halls at that time – appeared with the New York Philharmonic unter the baton of Lorin Maazel playing the Sibelius Violin concerto in New York’s Lincoln Center as well as the Mendelssohn Violin concerto in Vail, Collorado. Her 2003 Carnegie Hall debut received standing ovations for her performance of Brahms Double concerto with Lorin Maazel, Ha–Na Chang and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Julia Fischer has been on orchestral tours with Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Herbert Blomstedt and the Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Dresden Philharmonic. Her chamber music partners include Christoph Eschenbach, Jean–Yves Thibaudet, Daniel Müller–Schott, Tabea Zimmermann, Gustav Rivinius, Lars Vogt, Oliver Schnyder and Milana Chernyavska. In fall 2004 the label PentaTone released Julia Fischer’s first CD: Russian violin concertos with Yakov Kreizberg and the Russian National Orchestra. It received ravishing reviews, climbed into to the top five bestselling classical records in Germany within a few days and received an “Editor’s Choice” from “Gramophone” in January 2005. Julia Fischer began her studies before her fourth birthday, when she received her first violin lesson from Helge Thelen; a few months later she started studying the piano with her mother Viera Fischer. Julia Fischer began her formal violin education at the Leopold Mozart Conservatory in Augsburg, under the tutelage of Lydia Dubrowskaya. At the age of nine Julia Fischer was admitted to the Munich Academy of Music, where she continues to work with Ana Chumachenco. Among the most prestigious competitions that Julia Fischer has won are the International Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition under Yehudi Menuhin’s supervision, where she won both the first prize and the special prize for best Bach solo work performance in 1995 and the Eighth Eurovision Competition for Young Instrumentalists in 1996, which was broadcast in 22 countries from Lisbon. In 1997 Julia Fischer was awarded the “Prix d‘Espoir” by the Foundation of European Industry. Her active repertoire spans from Bach to Penderecki, from Vivaldi to Shostakovitch, containing over 40 works with orchestra and about 60 works of chamber music. Julia Fischer’s instrument is of Italian origin made by Jean Baptiste (Giovanni Battista) Guadagnini in 1750.

Yakov Kreizberg
During the last decade Russian-born American conductor Yakov Kreizberg has established a superb international reputation in the opera house and on the concert podium. Appointed Chief Conductor & Artistic Advisor of the Netherlands Philharmonic and Netherlands Chamber Orchestras as from September 2003, he is also Principal Guest Conductor to the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. From 1995 to 2000 he was Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and he relinquished the post of Generalmusikdirector of the Komische Oper Berlin at the end of the 2000/01 season. Yakov Kreizberg's guest conducting engagements include the following world-class orchestras: Berlin and Munich Philharmonics, Philharmonia, LSO, BBC Symphony, Concertgebouw, Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Orchestre de Paris, Czech Philharmonic, Santa Cecilia, Philadelphia, New York Philharmonic, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Detroit and the Minnesota Orchestras. His highly successful work in the opera house has included three critically acclaimed productions at Glyndebourne as well as productions for Royal Opera House Covent Garden, English National Opera, Lyric Opera Chicago and Canadian Opera.

Russian National Orchestra
The Russian National Orchestra has been in demand throughout the music world ever since its 1990 Moscow première. Following the orchestra's 1996 début at the BBC Proms in London, the Evening Standard wrote: 'They played with such captivating beauty that the audience gave an involuntary sigh of pleasure.' In 2004, they were described as 'a living symbol of the best in Russian art,' (Miami Herald), and 'as close to perfect as one could hope for,' (Trinity Mirror). The first Russian orchestra to perform at the Vatican and in Israel, the RNO maintains an active international tour schedule, appearing in Europe, Asia and the Americas. The orchestra is a frequent guest at major festivals, and since 1999 has given an annual concert series in the USA. Popular with radio audiences world-wide, RNO concerts are regularly aired by National Public Radio in the United States and the European Broadcasting Union. Gramophone magazine called the first RNO CD (1991) 'an awe-inspiring experience; should human beings be able to play like this?', and listed it as the best recording of Tchaikovsky's Pathétique in history. Since then, the orchestra has made more than 50 recordings for Deutsche Grammophon and PentaTone Classics, with conductors who include RNO Founder and Artistic Director Mikhail Pletnev, Vladimir Jurowski, Mstislav Rostropovich, Kent Nagano, Alexander Vedernikov and Paavo Berglund. The orchestra signed a new multi-disc agreement with PentaTone Classics in 2003. One of the first results of this collaboration – a recording of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf and Beintus' Wolf Tracks, conducted by Kent Nagano – was the winner of a 2004 Grammy Award, making the RNO the first Russian orchestra ever to win the recording industry's highest honour. Unique among the principal Russian ensembles, the RNO is independent of the government and has developed its own path-breaking structure. Artistic policy is shaped and guided by the RNO RNO Conductor Collegium, a group of internationally renowned conductors who share the podium leadership. Another RNO innovation is Cultural Allies, an ongoing programme encompassing exchanges between artists in Russia and the west, and the commissioning of new works. The Russian National Orchestra is supported by private funding and is governed by a distinguished multinational board of trustees. Affiliated organizations include the Russian National Orchestra Trust (UK), the Russian Arts Foundation and American Council of the RNO.

This album contains no booklet.