NEW RELEASES: CDs by Krysa and Tchekina

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - Violinist Oleh Krysa and pianist Tatiana Tchekina have recorded five CDs this year. Two of their recordings of the violin sonatas of Bartok and Brahms were reviewed in classical recordings guides.

"Classic CD" ran a comparative review (in its July issue) of the Krysa/Tchekina and Isaac Stern/Yefim Bronfman recordings of "Bartok: Violin Sonatas - Nos. 1 and 2."

The review refers to the Krysa/Tchekina recording as an "outstandingly sensitive performance of 'difficult' repertoire" and gives it a rating of five stars. The Stern/Bronfman recording (Sony label) is defined as "warm-hearted readings from old masters" and given a rating of four stars.

The Krysa/Tchekina performance, recorded in the Moscow Conservatory's Small Hall, was described as encompassing "a stunning wide range of emotions and colors without ever threatening to overbalance the music's structural integrity. Krysa's bowing can only be described as Kremeresque in its ear-tweaking timbral subtlety and dynamic inflection - try the opening of the first Sonata's slow movement where the potentially diffuse material emerges with ravishing purity and phrasal intuitiveness. Chekina [sic] partners throughout with remarkable sensitivity, imbuing with a haunting memorability passages which in other hands can sound decidedly mundane."

The American Record Guide reviewed the recording "Brahms: Violin Sonatas," with Mr. Krysa, violin, and Ms. Tchekina, piano, in its July/August issue.

The recording, released on the Russian Disc label, was deemed to be "among the very finest recordings of these works ever made."

The reason the recording is so good, the reviewer notes, is that "Krysa is a consummate violinist with temperament, perfect intonation (...) and a wealth of subtle inflections. This music demands a big sound and a noble heart, and Krysa has these. Tchekina, his wife, gets a rich, beautifully modulated sound out of her piano and meshes perfectly with Krysa."

Additional recordings released this year are two performances with the Winnipesaukee Chamber Players on the Russian Disc label: one features works of Charles Ives, Erwin Schulhoff and Antonin Dvorak; the other includes Tchaikovsky's String Sextet in D minor, Op. 70, "Souvenir de Florence"; and Anton Arensky's Quartet for Violin, Viola and Two Cellos, Op. 35 (with cellists Natalia Khoma and Suren Bagratuni).

The Winnipesaukee Chamber Players are a group of 12 artists - prominent soloists, chamber musicians and members of America's finest orchestras - who form the core group of the Lake Winnipesaukee Music Festival, founded in 1995 by violinist Peter Krysa and his wife, cellist Rachel Lewis Krysa. The festival, based in Wolfeboro, N.H., brings acclaimed musicians to New Hampshire's Lakes Region to perform each summer.

To be released at the beginning of next year is a recording by Mr. Krysa and Ms. Tchekina of Borys Liatoshynsky's Sonata for Violin, and two Piano Trios, with Ms. Khoma, cello.

Among Mr. Krysa's other recordings are:

• "Ernest Bloch: Violin Concerto; Poems of the Sea; Suite symphonique,"with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo, conductor; BIS label, 1995; and
  
  
• "Mozart: Violin Concertos Nos. 3 and 5; Adagio; Rondo;with the Ukrainian Chamber Orchestra, Theodore Kuchar, conductor; Lydian label, 1995.

Forthcoming on the Cambria label are:

• "Ukrainian Violin Concertos: Shtoharenko, Hubarenko and Skoryk";
  
  
• "Alfred Schnittke: Concerti Grossi, Nos. 1 and 2," with Schnittke performing on the piano and harpsichord (first time on CD);
  
  
• "Violin Miniatures" (first time on CD): works by Prokofiev, Szymanowski, Josef Suk, Karabyts, Stankovych and Silvestrov;
  
  
• violin concertos by Viotti and Bruch;
  
  
• and a CD of works by Paganini.

* * *

Mr. Krysa, internationally recognized as a distinguished soloist, chamber musician and teacher, is professor at the Eastman School of Music.

Ms. Tchekina has been performing with her husband, Oleh Krysa, in solo and chamber music concerts since 1967.

Mr. Krysa and Ms. Tchekina have recently completed concert tours in Italy, Taiwan, Sweden, England, Germany, Russia and Ukraine.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, December 28, 1997, No. 52, Vol. LXV

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