Long-term student David Nebel recorded his debut CD with one of the worlds leading orchestras – the London Symphony Orchestra. Under the baton of Maestro Kristjan Järvi, David will release his CD on Sony Music with the violin concertos by Philip Glass and Igor Stravinsky in spring 2019!
The Strad Issue: September 2017
Description: Two exciting young soloists in the making – hear them here first
Musicians: LGT Young Soloists/Alexander Gilman
Composer: Tchaikovsky, Arensky, Glinka, Koussevitzky, Rachmaninov, Rimsky-Korsakov
Catalogue Number: RCA RED SEAL 88985 43088
The LGT Young Soloists are essentially a very high-class youth string orchestra, many of the players already having starry CVs. Most of the eleven tracks on this CD are arranged by Paul Struck, and feature one or more of the players as soloist while the rest provide orchestral accompaniment. The soloists all share a richness of sound, caught close up in a resonant acoustic. Clearly they take the ‘soul’ part of Russian Soul to heart (as it were).
Together they make an impressive ensemble, as they demonstrate in Arensky’s Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky, matching tonal beauty to careful, sensitive phrasing, and relishing the exuberance of its up-tempo outbursts. Of the solo performers, 18-year-old Elena Kawazu stands out in Efrem Zimbalist’s arrangement of themes from Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Golden Cockerel; she is a seriously fine violinist dispatching the pyrotechnics with high-octane technical accomplishment and enormous panache. There is virtuosity elsewhere, with 20-year-old violinist David Nebel giving a debonair account of Tchaikovsky’s Valse-scherzo op.34 – but this is not just a showcase for the dazzling. Some of the finest playing here is gentle, particularly from two 19-year-old violists: Silas Zschocke gives a rich, soulful account of Tchaikovsky’s Andante cantabile, and Benedetta Bucci demonstrates impressive sustained melodic playing in an elegant, fluent performance of Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise, imbued with tragedy.
TIM HOMFRAY
On the evidence of this anthology of Russian string music and its previous collection, Italian Journey, the LGT Young Soloists is clearly one of the finest youth orchestras in Europe. The members play with equal amounts of finesse and enthusiasm – to say nothing of an admirable unanimity of purpose – heard to best effect in Anton Arensky’s soulful Variations on a Theme by Tchaikovsky. There’s nothing tentative or “immature” in the playing; in fact, the attacks, releases, and phrasing all have the easy confidence of players several times their age. If at times the performance sounds slightly over-rehearsed, then it still maintains a natural-sounding flow from beginning to end, easily joining the recordings by Valery Polyansky and the Russian State Symphony (Chandos 10086) and William Boughton with the English String Orchestra (Nimbus 7020) among the best versions currently available.
The shorter items are designed to show off some of the group’s principal players, and for the most part they show off plenty. A few little slips in intonation aside, this is a formidable collection of young musicians, from the 20-year-old violist Silas Zschocke, who offers a heart-tugging version of Tchaikovsky’s Andante cantabile, to the 18-year-old violinist Elena Kawazu and 19-year-old harpist Milo Harper, who work wonders with Efrem Zimbalist’s Golden Cockerel Fantasy after the opera by Rimsky-Korsakov.
Most impressive of all, perhaps, are the 23-year-old bass player Yamila Pedrosa Ahmet, who dispatches Serge Koussevitzky’s enchanting Valse Miniature with a confidence (and security) that Edgar Meyer might envy, and the 20-year-old violinist David Nebel, who takes us on a hair-raising romp through Tchaikovsky’s Valse-Scherzo. In fact, all the soloists – including the 12-year-old pianist Eva Medvedko – are nothing less than hugely impressive, while the string band accompanies all of them with unfailing musicality and grace. As calling cards go, this one is unusually revealing and appealing.
Jim Svejda
On July 27th the LGT Young Soloists gave a memorable performance at the worldwide renowned Rheingau Musik Festival at Kloster Eberbach. Due to the great success the LGT Young Soloists were directly re-invited to perform at the Festival’s next year’s edition!
The second CD of the LGT Young Soloists “Russian Soul” is out now!
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