Vladimir Wolkoff

Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita" is one of the best-known novels of the 20th century: the controversial story of Humbert Humbert who falls in love with twelve year old Lolita, beautifully repackaged as part of the Penguin Essentials range. …

Firma Melodiya presents an anniversary set dedicated to Vladimir Spivakov’s 70th birthday. This outstanding musician is well-known and loved across the world. A violinist, educator, conductor, founder and permanent leader of the chamber orchestra Moscow Virtuosi and the National Symphony Orchestra of Russia, an organizer of the charity trust that supports talented children, a director of international music festivals both in Russia and overseas.

Nicola Benedetti joins that small group of violinists who have given us really special recordings of Elgar’s concerto. Accompanied by an orchestra with this music flowing in its veins—it played for Nigel Kennedy’s now-classic version— and a conductor whose attention to the score’s myriad details never stands in the way of the work’s vast panoramas, Benedetti rises magnificently to the challenge. She achieves moments of great inwardness when needed, but sings out like a lark when the music demands it. It’s a very considerable achievement, and shows what a superb, mature musician she has blossomed into. Delightful encores too!

Pyotr Ilyitch Tcahikovsky: Symphony No. 1 in G minor Op. 13 “Winter Daydreams” ; Symphony No 6 in B minor, Op. 74, “Pathétique” -
London Philharmonic Orchestra; Vladimir Jurowski
Classical | 2 CDs | EAC Rip | 425 MB (3% recovery) | FLAC+LOG+Cue | Complete scans | FP & RS links
Publisher: London Philharmonic Orchestra | Recorded: 2008 | Published: 2009

It’s a tribute to Vladimir Jurowski’s achievement here that there’s less difference in quality between the First and Sixth symphonies than often is the case. But if you heard his “Manfred” Symphony, then you already know that he’s one of the great Tchaikovsky conductors working today, and he has the LPO playing with a commitment and intensity that the orchestra has often lacked under its previous music directors… If you love Tchaikovsky, then you’ll love this release. It’s hot–really hot. - David Hurwitz; www.classicstoday.com

Johaness Brahms: Piano Concertos No. 1 & No. 2; Variations and Fugue on Theme by Handel (orch. E. Rubbra); Variations on a Theme by Haydn –
Vladimir Ashkenazy, piano; Concertgebouw Orchestra; Wiener Philharmoniker; The Cleveland Orchestra; Bernard Haitink
Classical | 2 CDs | EAC Rip | 650 MB, 3% recovery | FLAC+LOG+Cue | Complete scans
Publisher: Decca | Recorded: 1981/82/91/92| Published: 2002

(Ashkenazy) proves equal to the capricious moods of the piece, and both he and Haitink are fully responsive to the constant interplay between soloist and orchestra. This is a performance that succeeds in being dramatic, without becoming hysterical, as can so easily happen in this concerto… For the Second Concerto, Decca took Ashkenazy and Haitink to Vienna and results were predictably every bit as good as those obtained in Amsterdam. - Peter Herring – “Classical Music on Compact Disc”

Das war ein Abend, wie Opernfreunde ihn lieben: Tschaikowskis »Pique Dame«, ein Werk des Repertoires und doch selten gespielt, ein Ensemble nicht nur berühmter Namen, sondern großer Singschauspieler, dazu ein Dirigent der Sonderklasse – eine Aufführung, wie sie auch an einem Haus wie der Wiener Staatsoper nicht zum »Alltag« gehört. Der Erfolg der Aufführung, der Jubel waren gleichsam vorprogrammiert. Zumal die Wiener Staatsoper ihrem Publikum noch eine ganz besondere Attraktion anzubieten hatte: Im Mittelpunkt des Abends und schier endloser Ovationen stand eine der großen Heroinen der Opernbühne, Martha Mödl, die hier in den Fünfziger- und Sechzigerjahren des Jahrhunderts als Leonore in Beethovens »Fidelio«, als Isolde und Brünnhilde, aber auch in so manchen Partien des dramatischen Mezzofachs Triumphe gefeiert hatte.