October 1, 2012 – Timothy Judd, Suzuki Violin Lessons

Here are some inspiring clips featuring the great Russian violinist, Maxim Vengerov.

In the first video, Vengerov performs the Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius (1865-1957). The Chicago Symphony accompanies, conducted by Daniel Barenboim. The concerto is followed by two encores: The Sarabanda from J.S. Bach’s Partita No. 2 for Solo Violin (0:35:31) and Eugene Ysaye’s Ballad (0:40:06).

Polish violinist and composer Henryk Wieniawski (1835-1880) contributed greatly to the development of the violin. Here, Vengerov talks about Wieniawski and plays the dazzling Variations, Op. 15:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9vkzqSc4fA

The final clip is a movie entitled Playing by Heart that features Vengerov’s life as a concert violinist. At 4:20 you will briefly hear some of the Vivaldi A Minor Concerto from Suzuki Book 4:

Latest Listeners’ Club Posts

Mozart’s Symphony No. 27 in G Major: Salzburg Sunshine April 19, 2024

Symphony No. 27 in G Major, K. 199 is sunny, youthful music of the 17-year-old Mozart. Completed in April of 1773, it is among a group of four symphonies Mozart wrote after returning home to Salzburg following his second trip to Italy. (His opera, Lucio Silla, was being performed in Milan). Two months later, Mozart and his father would set […]

Stravinsky’s Concerto in E-flat, “Dumbarton Oaks”: A Sparkling Neoclassical Dialogue April 17, 2024

The riot-inducing 1913 premiere of Igor Stravinsky’s primal ballet score, The Rite of Spring, changed the course of 20th century music. Yet, ultimately, it was an artistic one-off. The final, cacophonous notes of the Sacrificial Dance faded away, and soon, with the 1920 ballet score for Pulcinella, Stravinsky’s style took another sharp and […]

Brahms’ Trio in E-flat Major for Horn, Violin, and Piano: Music of Nature April 15, 2024

In May of 1865, following the death of his beloved mother Christiane three months earlier, Johannes Brahms retreated to the picturesque seclusion of Baden-Baden in Germany’s Black Forest. It was here that Brahms composed his Trio in E-flat Major for Horn, Violin, and Piano, Op. 40. He worked in a room which, in his words, “looks out on thre […]

Michael Torke’s “Unseen” (No. 5): A Shifting Kaleidoscope April 12, 2024

Last month, we listened to the first single from Unseen, the newest work of American composer Michael Torke. The piece, scored for orchestra, unfolds in nine brief movements, and continues in the direction of Torke’s recent groove-based chamber works, Being (2020), Psalms and Canticles (2021), and Time (2022). The complete album for Unseen […]

Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture: A Witty Musical “Thank You” April 10, 2024

In 1879, the University of Breslau in Prussia (now Wrocław, Poland) awarded Johannes Brahms an honorary doctorate in philosophy. The acclaimed composer, who never attended college, had little use for academic titles. When Cambridge University attempted to bestow a similar honor three years earlier, Brahms declined, forgoing lionization and […]

Handel’s Sonata in D Major, HWV 371: Music Ripe for Reuse April 8, 2024

After 300 years, the music of Handel continues to draw us in with richly expressive melodies and a vivid sense of drama. Both are apparent in the Sonata in D Major, HWV 371 for violin and basso continuo. In the opening of the first movement (Affettuoso), the violin line appears to outline an ascending D major triad, only to arrive on an E, […]

Remembering Kalevi Kiviniemi: Organ Music of Jean Sibelius April 5, 2024

Kalevi Kiviniemi, the renowned Finnish concert organist, passed away on April 3 at his home in Lahti after suffering a heart attack. He was 65. Kiviniemi’s international career blossomed in the late 1980s, with recitals throughout Europe, the United States, Asia, and Australia. He was at home among the world’s greatest organs, and performed […]