Arcadi Volodos

Arcadi Volodos

Arcadi Volodos (originally Russian Аркадий Аркадьевич Володось / Arkadi Arkadjewitsch Wolodos , scientific transliteration Arkadij Arkad'evič Volodos' ; born February 24, 1972 in Leningrad ) is a Russian pianist .

Life

As the child of a pair of singers, Volodos first received singing lessons and then piano lessons at the age of eight. As a teenager he devoted himself to conducting and led the orchestra of the Petersburg Conservatory .

It was not until 1987, at the age of 15, that he decided to become a pianist and began studying at the Moscow Conservatory with Galina Yegiasarowa and Dmitri Bashkirow . After concerts in Russia he appeared in New York in 1991 as part of the New Names series .

After completing his studies in Moscow, he went to the Paris Conservatory for a year in 1993 and studied with Jacques Rouvier ; then to Dmitri Bashkirow at the Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid .

After several years of successful concerts, Volodos made his international breakthrough in 1996 with his debut at Wigmore Hall and in 1997 with the CD with piano transcriptions published by Thomas Frost at Sony .

His Carnegie Hall debut in 1998 was recorded and has been released on CD.

Repertoire and reception

The virtuoso transcriptions of works by Mozart , Georges Bizet , Franz Liszt , Sergei Rachmaninoff and other composers represent one side of his artistic talent. The arrangements were based on those of Vladimir Horowitz and enriched them with a few variants. He reconstructed the famous Carmen Variations by ear, and he also added the second rhapsody by Franz Liszt , which was arranged by Horowitz .

These virtuoso pieces, which also include Feinberg's arrangement of the Scherzo from the Pathétique and György Cziffra's arrangement of the Flight of the Bumblebee by Rimski-Korsakow , show a unique skill, speed and effortless virtuosity. Even in the most difficult passages, such as Liszt's later adaptation of the wedding march, his playing remains relaxed and relaxed and shows no signs of exertion.

His virtuoso paraphrase on Mozart's Rondo alla turca (Turkish March) from the Piano Sonata No. 11 has achieved a very high level of awareness, is now also played by other pianists and has been further adapted for the organ by the organist Cameron Carpenter .

Another side of Volodos that has been recognizable in recent years is his sonic and lyrical attitude. Despite his astonishing technical talent, he is not a pianist limited to brilliance or circus pianist. The recordings of Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto and Rachmaninov's third , which are known as typical virtuoso concerts , confirm this impression.

In recent years, German romanticism has played a growing role for him. The recordings of the sonatas in E major D 157 and G major D 894 by Franz Schubert demonstrate his confidence in finding the right tone and the romantic, intimate character of this music.

Volodos rejects piano competitions because their athletic element contradicts the principle of music. Many see him as one of the most talented pianists of his generation. The recordings are milestones in the music world because of its outstanding technology and sophisticated interpretations. Vladimir Horowitz's artistic influence shows up occasionally. So he always falls back on the bravura pieces of his role model for his encores.

Still internationally active as a concert pianist, Volodos takes his time with studio recordings.

In 2003 Volodos received the ECHO Klassik . In 2014 he was again awarded this prize in the Soloist Recording of the Year category for Volodos plays Mompou .

At the beginning of April 2017, SONY Classical released another CD with late works by Johannes Brahms . "With this album Arcadi Volodos sets new standards of Brahms interpretation and proves himself to be a magical sound magician with unobtrusive virtuosity", says Hans Ackermann in " kulturradio ". The recording was awarded the French music prize Diapason d'or de l'année in 2017 .

Although Brahms's late piano pieces have always been regarded as “self-talk at the piano” ( Eduard Hanslick ), as a “personal diary” (according to Brahms himself) and as “lullabies of my pain” (Brahms on op. 117), Arcadi Volodos would like to use them Do not allow pieces to be interpreted as being too specific and biographical: “Joy, love, passion or even melancholy - all of this can also be found in the lives of great composers. But in music these states reach a higher, more refined, sublimated state. "

Volodos plays these works on a Steinway concert grand that was chosen and preferred by him and is over twenty years old. With its round, fundamental, warm and yet transparent sound, it supports the sound aesthetics and sensuality of the pianist. Volodos “knows ... how to impressively make the balance between exuberance and bitterness audible. Nothing seems overdrawn, but from a single source, ”wrote the music magazine Rondo on April 8, 2017.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Biographical information from: Ingo Harden, Gregor Willmes PianistenProfile 600 performers: Their biography, their style, their recordings, Arcadi Volodos, p. 757, Bärenreiter, Kassel 2008
2. ↑ ^{a b} Biographical information from: Ingo Harden, Gregor Willmes PianistenProfile 600 performers: Their biography, their style, their recordings, Arcadi Volodos, p. 758, Bärenreiter, Kassel 2008
3. ↑ Echoklassik.de Klassik Prize Winner 2014 ( Memento from January 21, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on October 26, 2014
4. ↑ ^{a b} kulturradio rbb, CD OF THE WEEK | 04/24 - 30.04.2017, Volodos plays Brahms , kulturradio rbb ( Memento from April 28, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
5. ↑ Palmarès 2017 of the "Diapason d'or" de l'année. France Musique , November 22, 2017, accessed November 23, 2017 (French). 
6. ↑ Guido Fischer: Review: Johannes Brahms - Volodos Plays Brahms. In: Rondo. April 8, 2017 . 

Web links

• Volodos' website
• Interview with Arcadi Volodos about virtuosity ( memento from March 25, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) in: crescendo , March 19, 2007