Saint-Saëns: Le carnaval des animaux: Le Cygne (The Swan)

It has often been said that music is a universal language; it is not, though, universally understood as a mother tongue, it is only universally spoken thus. So one must always attempt to hear it like something new, not quite familiar with a tourist's perception. Let's travel, then, and imagine some interesting encounters, where a German Brahms would understand a French Saint-Saëns as much as a Russian Glière, where a Belgian Jongen would make himself understood to an Austrian Kreisler as much as to a British Elgar, and where a trombonist and a pianist would understand themselves mutually. The listener, then, will have the creative opportunity to impart these familiar and less familiar sounds with significance while surrendering to the sheer pleasure of their beauty.

A live concert from Francesco Libetta's home town.

Alexey Stadler was born into a family of musicians in 1991 in St. Petersburg and studied at the Rimsky-Korsakov Musical College in his native city. In 2003 he won First Prize at the Glazunov International Competition in Paris, and has also received the National Awards for “Young Talent” (2008, 2009), “Hope of Russia” (2008), and the A. Petrov Award (2008).

In October 2008, Stadler played the Russian premiere performance of Norwegian Composer H. Sommero's "Concertino for Cello" with the Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra in the Grand Philharmonic Hall, St.Petersburg. Also in 2008, Stadler recorded Rachmaninov’s Sonata on a cello made by A. Jacout that belonged to Emperor Nicholas the Second.