Schnittke: A Paganini for violin solo

Enjoy the intimacy and virtuosity of the debut recording by Russian violinist Stanislav (Stass) Pronin. This engaging new release of solo violin works truly exposes the world to this exciting new talent.

Pronin also exhibits his concentration and prowess by performing both parts on the Prokofiev Sonata for Two Violins.

Despite his young age, Stanislav Pronin has already established himself as one of the most brilliant violinists of his generation.

Born in Moscow, Mr. Pronin can trace his musical lineage to the great school of Odessa trained violinists. His first teacher was his grandfather, Veniamin Pronin, who was a professor of violin at the Odessa Conservatory and a pupil of the renowned pedagogue Pyotr Stoliarsky, teacher of David Oistrakh and Nathan Milstein. Among his grandfather’s close friends and colleagues were violinist Leonid Kogan, pianist Emil Gilels and the great Russian composer Dmitry Shostakovich.

Mr. Pronin maintains a busy performance and recording schedule. His performances range from solos with orchestras to solo and chamber recitals worldwide. He has performed in many music festivals and concert venues, including Carnegie Hall and the Miller Theatre in New York City, Dekelboum Hall in Washington, D.C., the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Canada, Rathaussaal Forchheim in Nuremberg, Germany, the Perlman Theatre in Philadelphia and many others. He has frequently performed on television and radio in the United States, Canada, Europe and Israel, including live broadcasts of the Interlochen Public Radio Station and the WFMT Chicago Classical Radio station. He has performed under the baton of many eminent conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Ronald Zollman, Sigiswald Kuijken, John Adams and Leonard Slatkin. Mr. Pronin is also an avid chamber musician, and has engaged in chamber music with internationally-renowned musicians such as Jaime Laredo, James Campbell, Mark Kaplan, Orion String Quartet, Victor Danchenko, Anton Nel, Julian Milkis, Emille Naoumoff and Lera Auerbach.

Mr. Pronin is the recipient of multiple awards from the American String Teachers Association, America-Israel Cultural Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts and Classical Artists Development Foundation. He performs on a Nicola Bergonzi violin from 1785, and the ex-Ysaÿe, ex-Flesch Voirin bow, generously on loan from a private sponsor from Michigan.

Unlike the piano, the king of instruments, only a small percentage of works has been written for solo violin. As everyone knows, a piano recital is a recital for solo piano. A violin recital, however, is usually a duet for violin and piano. Since the violin is mainly a singlemelody- instrument, it is always a special challenge for the violinist to study the solo works, simply because most of them comprise both the melodic line and the accompaniment normally given to the piano.....

Although it was a tradition in classical music for centuries that performer and composer were one and the same person, this custom sadly faded in the twentieth century. But we are fortunate in having some of the greatest masters of the violin, including Kreisler, Heifetz and Milstein, who composed or arranged many pieces for their instrument.

Although Kreisler composed few solo pieces except his cadenzas for a number of violin concertos, his Recitative and Scherzo-Caprice is surely one of the most popular pieces among all those famous Viennese desserts. And the Paganiniana by Milstein, so cleverly based on variations by Paganini, forms a violin master's tribute to the all-time iconic violinist.

On this recording I have also included two modern pieces for solo violin. These works by Berio and Schnittke are no conventional 'easy-listening'. But like all great modern art, they give us a new vision, allowing us to create new sound imagery from the violin.

Ning Feng