Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5, K. 219 & Sinfonia Concertante, K. 364 Mikhail Pochekin, Ivan Pochekin, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791): Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major, K. 219 "Turkish" (Cadenzas by Robert Levin):
• 1 Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major, K. 219 "Turkish" (Cadenzas by Robert Levin): I. Allegro aperto 09:11
• 2 Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major, K. 219 "Turkish" (Cadenzas by Robert Levin): II. Adagio 09:47
• 3 Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major, K. 219 "Turkish" (Cadenzas by Robert Levin): III. Rondeau. Tempo di menuetto 08:50
• Sinfonia Concertante in E-Flat Major, K. 364:
• 4 Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante in E-Flat Major, K. 364: I. Allegro maestoso 13:44
• 5 Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante in E-Flat Major, K. 364: II. Andante 09:41
• 6 Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante in E-Flat Major, K. 364: III. Presto 06:30
• Total Runtime 57:43

Info for Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5, K. 219 & Sinfonia Concertante, K. 364

Although Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s first instrument was the piano, even as a child he revealed himself to be a highly gifted violinist. In this domain too he was encouraged by his father Leopold, well-known violin teacher in his own right and author of a violin method widely respected at the time. Even when Wolfgang was already 21, father Leopold reaffirmed his son’s violinistic talent, on 8 October 1777. ‘You don’t realize how good you are on the violin when you put your mind to it, playing with character, conviction and spirit, just as if you were the best violinist in Europe.’ That letter was written in the period between 1773 and 1779, when Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed numerous works requiring string soloists. From April to December of 1775 alone, the 19-year-old penned 5 violin concertos, in an unbroken process as it were. At that time Mozart was employed as concertmaster by the archbishop’s court in Salzburg, where instrumental music was highly prized. He had, however, previously got to know the Italian tradition and art of the violin in situ, frequenting students of the famous Giuseppe Tartini there, such as Pietro Nardini and Gaetano Pugnani. On several occasions during his three journeys to Italy, he also met the Bohemian composer Josef Myslivecek, who cultivated the violin concerto genre intensively. Synthesizing the influence of Italian masters with that of Joseph Haydn, Johann Christian Bach and French violinists, Mozart composed his own concertos, which sparkle with vitality but are at the same time both intimate and graceful.

"The A-Major Violin Concerto and the Sinfonia Concertante by Mozart certainly belong to the works by Mozart that are particularly gladly heard and played. When the Pochekin brothers now present these two works, they do not offer, at least at first glance, a particularly attention-grabbing release. So the interpretations together with the agile and attentive chamber orchestra from Stuttgart are of the finest and leave nothing to be desired. But neither do they offer the news par excellence. With a lean chamber-music approach and playing focused on the statement without frippery, they rather offer a finely balanced yet lively view of the works.

The special feature here arises from the chosen cadenzas, which are by pianist Robert Levin. Last prominently recorded probably by Gidon Kremer and Nikolaus Harnoncourt in the eighties, they offer a more than welcome rehearing here. Levin modeled these cadenzas after those written and handed down by Mozart himself for his piano concertos. Since cadenzas were originally intended to be improvised by the performer in concert, musical history has seen a progression towards stylistic elements of the time of the particular soloist. Levin now took up Mozart’s ideas from the piano concertos, and thus stylistically and idiomatically appropriated his compositional technique. As a recognized connoisseur of Mozart’s music, he has succeeded in this in a special way. In doing so, he has offered several versions and possible combinations in each case, so that the improvisational character is still possible today, as each interpreter has a certain amount of freedom here.

In addition to the immersion in time, Levin thus also offers an overall concept that can only be partially understood with only two recorded works. These cadenzas may ultimately be more enriching for the expert than for a listener less attentive to subtleties. In any case, the recordings show successful performances of the works." (Uwe Krusch, pizzicato.lu)

Mikhail Pochekin, violin & direction (tracks 1-6)
Ivan Pochekin, viola (tracks 4-6)
Stuttgarter Kammerorchester

Mikhail Pochekin
is one of the most distinguished violinists of his generation.

His expressive and bright artistic charisma helped him to earn the love of the audience and has been recognized by international critics and many of the world’s finest orchestras. So in recent years he has had the privilege of performing, among others, with the Mariinsky Theater Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra, Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, Tatarstan National Symphony Orchestra or Ural Philharmonic.

Mikhail has appeared at numerous venues worldwide. Solo performances have taken him several times to the renowned festivals and concert halls such as the Mariinski Theater Concert Hall in St. Petersburg, Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, Schloss Elmau in Bavaria, Fundación Juan March in Madrid, Kronberg Academy Festival, the Great Hall of Moscow State Conservatory, Festival Schubertiada de Vilabertrán, Grosser Saal der Stiftung Mozarteum, The Concordia International Festival of Contemporary Music named after Sofia Gubaidulina, Cultural Center "Gasteig" in Munich or Festival «Tchaikovsky Homeland».

Mikhail is also a constant participant of the “Stars of the 21st Century” project organized by the Moscow Philharmonic Society.

He has collaborated with eminent conductors including Vasily Sinaisky, Heinz Holliger, Yuri Simonov, Ilmar Lapinsch, Kevin Griffiths, Valery Poliansky, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Dimitris Botinis, Mei-Ann Chen, Alexander Sladkovsky, Mikhail Agrest, Gavriel Heine or Bojan Sudjic.

Mikhail is a passionate and committed chamber musician who performs frequently with artists like Wen-Sinn Yang, Kian Soltani, Benedict Klöckner, Alexander Ramm, Petrit Çeku, Rainer Schmidt, Ana Chumachenco, Kiveli Doerken, Yuri Favorin or Arseny Tarasevich-Nikolaev.

Special mention should be made of his duet with his brother, violinist and violist Ivan Pochekin. In 2018, label Melodiya released their debut album entitled “The Unity of Opposites”, which included works for two violins as well as for violin and viola.

And in 2019, the german label Solo Musica released the album "6 Sonatas & Partitas BWV 1001-1006" for violin solo by J.S. Bach.

The album has been highly praised by the international press – among others by “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (reviews by Harald Eggebrecht and Reinhard Brembeck) and The Strad (recommendation and review by Julian Haylock)

Mikhail was born to a musical family: his father is a violin maker, his mother is a violin teacher, and his older brother is a violinist and violist. Thus, the sounds of the violin accompanied Mikhail from his early childhood.

He received his first lesson from G.S. Turchaninova at the age of five and continued his studies with Ana Chumachenco, Viktor Tretiakov and Rainer Schmidt, at the music academies of Cologne, Munich and Basel, the “Reina Sofia” school of music in Madrid and also at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. Great artistic influence on him had the masterclasses and lessons with Christian Tetzlaff.

Already at a young age, he won the prizes of prestigious international competitions, among them Premio Rodolfo Lipizer, Pablo Sarasate International Violin Competition, Concorso Ruggiero Ricci, or Jasha Heifetz International Violin Competition.

In 2008, he was awarded the Pablo Sarasate National Prize in Spain, after which he received an invitation from the Royal Conservatory of Madrid to give a concert on the famous violin by Antonio Stradivarius "Ex Boissier", which once belonged to the famous spanish violinist.

The next projects highlights include engagements among others with the Moscow State symphony orchestra,, State symphony orchestra of Russia "Evgeny Svetlanov" (conductor - Valentin Uryupin), Kammerphilharmonie Landshut (conductor - Maximilian Hornung), as well as Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen and Neubrandenburger Philharmonie (conductor - Sebastian Tewinkel). Together with these two last orchestras, in addition to concert performances, CD recordings are also planned.

Ivan Pochekin
is one of the most brilliant violinists of the Russian school in his generation. He rose to stardom in 2005 after winning the 3rd Niccolò Paganini International Violin Competition in Moscow. Ivan Pochekin has performed under the baton of such eminent conductors as Valery Gergiev, Mikhail Pletnev, Vladimir Spivakov, Vladimir Jurowski, Alexander Sladkovsky, Yuri Simonov, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Gintaras Rinkevičius, Mark Gorenstein, Friedrich Haider, Mladen Tarbuck, Sergei Skripka, Dmitry Liss, Ignat Solzhenitsyn, Jan Latham-Koenig, Fabio Mastrangelo, and Charles Olivieri-Munroe.

Ivan has participated in various festivals, among them “The Musical Kremlin,” the Moscow Easter Festival, "La Folle Journée" in Nantes, and "Pianoscope" in Beauvais. In 2008 and 2013, on Denis Matsuev’s invitation, he performed in the "Crescendo" Festival in Kaliningrad and Pskov and the “Stars on Lake Baikal” Festival in Irkutsk. In September 2014, the violinist was honored to play the legendary ex-Paganini violin by Carlo Bergonzi, provided courtesy of Maxim Viktorov’s family, during the Grand Festival of the Russian National Orchestra when he, the Russian National Orchestra and maestro Pletnev performed Niccolò Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 2.

Over the years, Ivan Pochekin has collaborated with the Yevgeny Svetlanov State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia, the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, the Moscow Philharmonic Academic Symphony Orchestra, the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, the Tchaikovsky Great Symphony Orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra, the Republic of Tatarstan’s State Symphony Orchestra, the Urals Philharmonic Orchestra, the State Academic Chamber Orchestra of Russia, the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, the Republic of Korea Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, the Sofia Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Oviedo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Deutsches Kammerorchester, and the Basel Symphony Orchestra.

In 2006, the violinist recorded music by Niccolò Paganini and Ernest Chausson on a debut CD sponsored by the Violin Art Foundation. In the same year, "PhilArtis" Vienna in Austria released an album entitled “Chanson Russe” with Ivan’s recordings of works by Sergei Prokofiev, Karol Szymanowski, Peter Tchaikovsky, Igor Stravinsky and Aram Khachaturian.

In August 2011, Ivan Pochekin signed a contract with "Naxos" Records, an internationally famous classical music label, to record two albums of music by Niccolò Paganini, including his Violin Concertos No. 5 and 6 and several virtuoso violin pieces. The albums were released to receive highly enthusiastic critical acclaim.

Booklet for Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5, K. 219 & Sinfonia Concertante, K. 364