Viktoria Tocca

Viktoria Mullova’s first album of Beethoven Violin Sonatas, Nos 3 & 9’Kreutzer’ with Kristian Bezuidenhout, was reviewed enthusiastically by Gramophone magazine. ‘ The sound, in these familiar pieces has a startling clarity’; it went on to say that the period instruments ‘relocate these two works in a darkly Romantic sound world’. For the next volume in a complete cycle, Viktoria is partnered by Alasdair Beatson in the strange and gnomic 4th sonata, the popular 5th ‘Spring’ sonata and the dramatic 7th – Beethoven in C Minor mood – always exciting and turbulent!

A Swedish jazz and pop vocalist, Viktoria Tolstoy is a much celebrated performer in Europe. Known for her lilting, emotive style, she has worked closely with pianist Esbjörn Svensson and trombonist Nils Landgren, crafting her unique crossover jazz, pop, and folk sound. Emerging in the 90s, Tolstoy released a handful of chart-topping jazz albums like 1997's White Russian and 2004's German Jazz Award-winning Shining on You. A descendant of novelist Leo Tolstoy, she has explored both her Swedish and Russian roots on record, issuing My Swedish Heart in 2005 and My Russian Soul in 2008. She has also appeared often on producer Landgren's own albums, including 2004's Funky ABBA and 2011's The Moon, the Stars and You.

The outstanding conductor, teacher, pianist and wonderful storyteller Gennady Rozhdestvensky's another unique talent is to discover unknown and forgotten pages of music of different periods. Many of his concerts turn into a fascinating journey of unexplored monuments of Russian and European music. This double album features unfamiliar compositions played four hands by Rozhdestvensky and the remarkable pianist Viktoria Postnikova with Rozhdestvensky playing three (!) instruments – harpsichord, organ and piano. Apart from better known sonatas by Mozart and a fantasia by Schubert, the listeners will discover organ fugues composed by Schubert and a friend of his, a famous composer and conductor of his time Franz Lachner, a harpsichord sonata by Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (Johann Sebastian's ninth son), eight-hand compositions by the Czech classic Bedřich Smetana, and unfairly forgotten arrangements of Russian folk songs by the founder of The Five Mily Balakirev.

Viktoria Tolstoy achieved both a national and international breakthrough with her ACT debut album "Shining On You". While she had already shown on her Blue Note Album "White Russian" with E.S.T. (1997), that she belonged to the first rank of young Swedish female jazz musicians, she was virtually unknown outside her homeland.While the music for the first ACT album by the great-great-granddaughter of Leo Tolstoy was all specially composed by Esbjörn Svensson, this "beautiful singer with classiness coursing in her blood" (Tonart) has dedicated her latest totally to her home country. My Swedish Heart is an expression of love and a tribute to the great Swedish jazz composers from Lars Gullin to her contemporaries.

This release by violinist Viktoria Mullova and pianist Katia Labèque (their labels, Labèque's KML and Onyx, which Mullova helped found) sees both these well-known artists stepping out from their usual roles. Mullova has been an impressive exponent of the major violin concertos who has moved into Baroque music in recent years with some success, while Labèque is known for her duo-piano work with sister Marielle (KML stands for Katia and Marielle Labèque). They fill their new roles not just adequately but spectacularly.

Viktoria Mullova renews her partnership with long-term collaborator Ottavio Dantone in a programme of concertos for violin, offering not only the two famous concertos, but two concertos arranged for violin from the 2nd harpsichord concerto, and a concerto for violin and harpsichord which listeners may recognise from its violin and oboe guise – even this was arranged by Bach himself from the original for two harpsichords. Bach himself was a great re-user of material, and many concerto movements (including some from lost concertos) appeared in his cantatas. Mullova and Dantone have worked together for many years, both recording and in concert.

Viktoria Mullova is one of the most versatile and charismatic violinists to have emerged in the late 20th century, demonstrating a high level of mastery in broad range of repertoires, from Baroque to Romantic and post-Romantic to jazz and crossover. She established her reputation early in the 1980s, winning both the Sibelius and Tchaikovsky competitions and going on to win the Grand Prix du Disc and a Diapason d'Or Award, as well as garnering numerous other honors. Her widely acclaimed 1987 Philips recording of Vivaldi's Four Seasons is ample proof of her sure grasp of the idiosyncrasies of the Italian Baroque, and the freshness and vitality of her playing has made her version a favorite with listeners and critics. Mullova performs with passionate musicality and technical finesse, and Claudio Abbado leads the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in a nuanced, idiomatic accompaniment.

This is the seemingly unavoidable Sibelius/Tchaikovsky pairing, one that has launched many a young career. Itzhak Perlman recorded these very same pieces for his own debut album on RCA, and with this very orchestra under Erich Leinsdorf. That's a fine disc, but Perlman would later surpass those efforts in later recordings. Nor do I find Leinsdorf an ideal partner, with the comically booming percussion in the Sibelius perhaps the biggest audible gaffe. These current readings are much more satisfying overall. Mullova has not redone these pieces, nor is she prone to recording much at all, so these early efforts deserve credit for holding up so well.

What is striking about Mullova's playing here is her passion, her melancoly, how she takes opportunity to express the moods of the music. If you think that this should be taken for granted, I agree, but unfortunatly it cannot; it is that little extra making the difference between the good performances and the rare ones.

A Swedish jazz and pop vocalist, Viktoria Tolstoy is a much celebrated performer in Europe. Known for her lilting, emotive style, she has worked closely with pianist Esbjörn Svensson and trombonist Nils Landgren, crafting her unique crossover jazz, pop, and folk sound. Emerging in the 90s, Tolstoy released a handful of chart-topping jazz albums like 1997's White Russian and 2004's German Jazz Award-winning Shining on You. A descendant of novelist Leo Tolstoy, she has explored both her Swedish and Russian roots on record, issuing My Swedish Heart in 2005 and My Russian Soul in 2008. She has also appeared often on producer Landgren's own albums, including 2004's Funky ABBA and 2011's The Moon, the Stars and You.