The FLV hosted, outside the exhibition Icons of modern art – The Shchoukin collection, a concert with Russian conductor and violinist Vladimir Spivakov and his Moscow Virtuosi.
They played first Antonio Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto in E minor, then a piece added to the programme, Tomaso Albinoni’s Prayer in A minor (Preghiera), dedicated to the victims of terror attacks by Spivakov.
Back to the programme with Gioachino Rossini’s Sonata for strings No. 3, followed by Luigi Boccherini’s Symphony in D minor from op. 12, whose rendition was impeccable. D minor is a scale considered at the minimum as “serious” (cf. Bach’s Art of Fugue), if not dark and tragic (Mozart’s Requiem, Schubert’s Death and the Maiden Quartet). And Boccherini is a composer too often neglected, who wrote many excellent symphonic or chamber music pieces.
After the pause, one travelled from Italy to Russia, with Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony, orchestration of his extraordinary 8th Quartet, followed by his Elegy & Polka for strings. The Symphony and Elegy were simply heartrending.
Then it was time for the encores, and Vladimir Spivakov is always very generous. They played: Shostakovich’s Prelude 5 op. 34, Brahms 5th Hungarian Dance, and Piazzolla’s Libertango.
It was possible to admire the paintings from the Shchoukin collection after the concert, but that is a different story, to be told in another blog post.
Vladimir Spivakov
Vladimir Spivakov, Virtuoses de Moscou
