Artist Led, Creatively Driven
YSAŸE
Natalia Lomeiko, violin
Yuri Zhislin, violin*
Iván Martín, piano
Release Date: February 6th 2025
ORC100429
YSAŸE
Eugène Ysaÿe (1858-1931)
1. Au rouet, Op. 13
2. Poème élégiaque, Op. 12
3. Extase, Op. 21
4. Amitié, Op. 26*
5. Mazurka No. 3 “Lointain passé”, Op. 11
6. Rêve d’enfant, Op. 14
7. Grande valse de concert, Op. 3
Natalia Lomeiko, violin
Yuri Zhislin, violin*
Iván Martín, piano
‘Surely no more complete a man has ever been known to make a career of violin playing’. Such were the words of Yehudi Menuhin about renowned Belgian violinist, composer and conductor Eugène Ysaÿe (1858-1931), often nicknamed as the King of the violin and justly celebrated as one of the greatest violin virtuosos of his time.
Having studied with Henryk Wieniawski and Henri Vieuxtemps, he went on to teach an array of violinists, including Josef Gingold, Nathan Milstein, George Enescu and Jacques Thibaud, and had an enormous influence on a whole generation of musicians. Ysaÿe was in fact the first truly modern violinist, not only due to his impressive tonal range, but also his use of technique as a means to enhance expression. The adventurous use of rubato he employed, as well as his pioneering exploration of the possibilities of vibrato as an expressive tool demonstrate how he used all the virtuosity at his disposal not for show, but to intensify the expression of the music he was performing.
Ysaÿe’s exceptional talent led to an illustrious international career, with multiple tours of Europe and the USA, but also resulted in many composers, such as Debussy, César Franck, Saint-Saëns and Ernest Chausson, dedicating works to the extraordinary virtuoso. Beyond his performance accolades, Ysaÿe was also a composer, often finding inspiration in poetry, literature and life itself. His crowning achievement was the publication of the Six sonatas for solo violin Op. 27, each dedicated to one of his contemporary violinists, which are still widely performed today. However, well before they were composed in 1923, Ysaÿe had produced quite a few other works, most of which have unfortunately gradually disappeared from concert programmes. It is precisely these somewhat neglected works that this album seeks to bring back in the spotlight and to give them the place in history that they truly deserve.
Looking at them chronologically, first comes Grande Valse de Concert Op. 3, which Ysaÿe composed during a tour of Norway in 1882. A beautifully crafted waltz with a strong feeling of nostalgia, similar to Tchaikovsky’s Valse sentimentale, which incidentally was written the same year, and a good amount of brilliance and virtuosity, with a slight nod, at times, to Wieniawski’s two polonaises.
Perhaps the most historically significant work of this album, Poème élégiaque Op. 12 was composed in 1892-93 and dedicated to Gabriel Fauré. This is a work that truly established Ysaÿe’s voice as a composer, displaying a deep sense of melancholy that would come to define his musical expression. Here the G string is tuned down to an F, lending a dark viola-like sonority to the violin’s lower register. The work seems to have had a particular impact on Ernest Chausson, serving as the example for his famous Poème which he would write three years later, with considerable help from Ysaÿe, and indeed, the similarities between the two works are strikingly obvious.
At around the same time, during a particularly long tour, Ysaÿe dedicated Rêve d’enfant Op. 14 – a child’s dream, to his son Antoine. The work is a delicate lullaby which he wrote in a single night after finding out Antoine had been ill with scarlet fever. This is one of only two of his compositions that Ysaÿe recorded in the early recording era, owing to the piece’s relatively short length, leaving us today with a rare historical gem.
Also in 1893, Ysaÿe composed three mazurkas, Deux mazurkas de salon Op. 10 and Lointain passé Op. 11 – distant past. Short in length, but packed with charm and virtuosity in equal measure, all three are overflowing with nostalgia, evident even from their titles. A year later, Ysaÿe composed Au rouet Op. 13 – at the spinning wheel, based on his earlier work Scène au rouet, and dedicated it to his student Maud Delstanche. This is a poème, which was a form he so enjoyed writing in, due to the freedom it allowed him.
Extase Op. 21 – ecstasy, which showcases a further refinement of the poème, was composed in 1921 and dedicated to the then 30-year-old violinist Mischa Elman, who Ysaÿe appeared in joint recitals within the USA. The work explores intense yearning and almost unbearable emotions, which seem autobiographical and served as a musical outlet for Ysaÿe’s complex feelings for Jeanette Dincin, a violinist and student of his, who he ended up marrying in 1927, following the death of his first wife.
The fourth and final poème of this album is Amitié Op. 26 – friendship, composed in 1927 for two violins and orchestra. The violins’ melodic lines strongly resemble birdsong here and Ysaÿe often pushes the boundaries of tonality while maintaining a strong sense of lyricism, which is so true to his style.
Listening to these gems of the violin repertoire, one thing becomes immediately apparent: Ysaÿe developed a very personal style in composition, which seems to be utterly inseparable from his distinctive playing style. In short, just as his playing was characterised by an intense expressiveness and unmatched virtuosity, so too were his compositions, and one can only hope that, by shining a spotlight on this unique repertoire, this album will help reinstate its place in concert programmes in years to come.
Markella Vandoros
Natalia Lomeiko
Violin
Born into a family of musicians in Novosibirsk, and settling in New Zealand in 1996, Natalia has established herself internationally as a versatile performing artist. Since her debut with the Novosibirsk Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of seven, Natalia has performed as a soloist with many orchestras, such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Lord Menuhin, Philharmonia, Singapore Symphony, New Zealand Symphony, Auckland Philharmonia, Christchurch Symphony, Tokyo Royal Philharmonic, Moscow Philharmonic and numerous others.
Natalia has collaborated with several distinguished conductors including Lionel Bringuier, Matthias Bamert, Arvo Volmer, Olari Elts, Vladimir Verbitsky, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Eckehard Stier, Dmitri Slobodenyuk, Vladimir Ashkenazi, Valery Polyansky and Mikhail Gerts.
Following her 1st prize wins at the ‘Premio Paganini’ and Michael Hill International Violin Competitions, Natalia recorded with pianist Olga Sitkovetsky for Dynamic, Fone, Trust Records, Atoll, with violinist/violist Yuri Zhislin for Naxos and Orchid, with Alexander Karpeyev for Somm Records and pianists Ivan Martin and Dinara Klinton for Orchid Classics. Her latest album of Schumann, Prokofiev and Szymanowski was chosen as BBC Music Magazine’s Chamber Choice of the Month, 2024. October of 2024 saw the release of Vierne Piano Quintet on Sony Classical (France).
Natalia has performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician in prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Buckingham Palace, the Barbican and Royal Festival Hall. She has performed chamber music with many distinguished musicians, such as Maxim Vengerov, Gidon Kremer, Paul Meyer, Eric Le Sage, Michael Collins, Emmanuel Pahud, Yuri Bashmet, Ivan Martin, Daishin Kashimoto, Alessio Bax, Claudio Bohorquez, Natalie Clein, Lise Berthaud and Tabea Zimmerman.
A passionate educator, Natalia and her husband Yuri Zhislin established a concert series in London to enable young soloists to perform with Camerata Tchaikovsky. Natalia was appointed a Professor of Violin at the Royal College of Music in London in 2010, The Yehudi Menuhin School in 2024 and currently resides in London.
Yuri Zhislin
Violin
Winner of the 1993 BBC Radio 2 Young Musician of the Year, Yuri studied at the Royal College of Music as “a musician with lyrical talent and truly romantic temperament”. Zhislin has appeared as a soloist with many orchestras worldwide, including the BBC Concert Orchestra, the London Mozart Players, the Oxford Philharmonic, the Belgrade Philharmonic, the Queensland Symphony and the Santiago de Chile Symphony, among others. Yuri has worked with conductors including Fabio Mastrangelo, Olari Elts and Alex Walker.
In 2014, Zhislin made his debut at the legendary Carnegie Weill Hall in New York. Yuri’s chamber music partners have included Maxim Vengerov, Natalie Klein, Maria Joao-Pires, Sergei Nakariakov and his wife Natalia Lomeiko.
He has made a number of recordings for Naxos, SOMM Recordings, Nimbus Alliance and Orchid Classics with the Camerata Tchaikovsky string orchestra, of which he is an Artistic Director.
A CD by Camerata Tchaikovsky, founded by Zhislin in 2004, was chosen as BBC Music Magazine’s “Orchestral CD of the month” in April 2016 and in December 2021, their Christmas Without Words EP reached No.12 on the US Classical Billboard Chart.
Yuri has made a number of arrangements, including Glazunov’s Saxophone Concerto arranged for viola and strings, described by The Strad as a “revelatory arrangement”, and Christmas favourites for the Camerata Tchaikovsky Christmas EP album.
As a conductor, he has worked with orchestras in Russia, Spain and the UK. His recent appearance as a Guest conductor with the Bristol Ensemble at St George’s Bristol has been described as “a concert wonderfully held together by Yuri Zhislin”. Zhislin is a professor of violin and viola at the Royal College of Music and gives masterclasses across Europe. He is also regularly invited as a Chair and jury member of numerous international violin Competitions.
www.zhislin.com
Iván Martín
Piano
Born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Iván Martín is widely recognised as one of the leading Spanish pianists of his generation. He has collaborated with major Spanish orchestras and with prestigious international ensembles such as the London Philharmonic, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Kammerorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Strasbourg Philharmonic, Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, Helsinki Philharmonic, Zagreb Philharmonic, Sinfonia Varsovia, Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, São Paulo Symphony, Montevideo Philharmonic and the Santiago de Chile Symphony, among many others. He has performed under renowned conductors including Christoph Eschenbach, Eliahu Inbal, Vladimir Jurowsky, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Juanjo Mena, Dmitri Sitkovetski, Michael Schønwandt, Krzysztof Urbański, and Christian Zacharias.
He is a regular guest at major international festivals such as the New York International Keyboard Festival, Orford Festival (Canada), La Roque d’Anthéron, La Folle Journée (France), Mozart Box (Italy), Varna Festival (Bulgaria), Festival Internacional Cervantino (Mexico), Macao International Festival (China), and the Granada, Peralada, Vilabertran, and Canary Islands Festivals in Spain. His performances have taken him to some of the world’s most renowned concert halls, including the Konzerthaus and Philharmonie in Berlin, Vienna’s Konzerthaus, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Paris’s Salle Pleyel, Carnegie Hall in New York, and Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts.
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