Unser neuer Gesamtkatalog

Johannes Brahms: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 A major op. 100
Sergej Prokofiev: Sonata for Violin and Piano op. 94a
Henryk Wieniawski: Variations on an orginal theme A major op. 15
Stephen C. Foster / Fritz Kreisler: Old Folks at Home (Swanee River)
Stephen C. Foster / Jascha Heifetz: Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair
Alexander Gilman, violin · Marina Seltenreich, piano

A young violinist who excites with invigorating musicality and virtuosic talent: Alexander Gilman is the ideal image of the modern Russian-school string player. He studied with his father Jacob Gilman as well as with Zakhar Bron at the Cologne Conservatory, and combines the strengths of the Russian violin “drill” with irresistible musical sensitivity and just the right amount of recklessness to put him head and shoulders above many competitors who have been trained primarily to achieve manual and tonal perfection. His victory at the 2006 WestLB Music Competition gave him the right to play the Ex-Croall Stradivarius for three years (heard on this CD), which was lent previously to Frank Peter Zimmermann in 1990 and which accompanied him during his first major international triumphs.

About Alexander Gilman

The external similarity with famous violinist Vadim Repin is amazing – “It’s really true that I’m often told how much I resemble Vadim,” says Alexander Gilman. And he’s glad about this, because not only is Gilman a great admirer of Repin’s virtuosity, but he likes the latter’s unpretentious, sensitive character. Gilman would also like to succeed in this area as well.

He has all the prerequisites; reviewers call him an “exceptional talent” (Hamburger Abendblatt), “an artist who obviously identifies with the work as deeply as possible” (FAZ), who has “an almost inhumanly virtuosic ability” (Westfalen-Blatt) and everything he needs to “follow in the footsteps of Frank Peter Zimmermann.” (Neue Ruhr Zeitung)

Gilman learned humility and discipline in his childhood, which he spent in Bamberg, a childhood which was well nurtured if not quite as traditional as one might expect from a family with Russian-Jewish heritage. His parents had emigrated to Germany years before his birth, assimilating very well; they did not want to attract attention after difficult years under communist rule. Alexander’s Jewish mother comes from Georgia and gave up her profession as an engineer to dedicate herself to her family. Alexander feels so close to her and her roots that he is often in Israel. “I can speak Russian too,” he adds, because his father Jakob comes from Moscow and was once trained at the Moscow Conservatory with Gidon Kremer and Vladimir Spivakov before becoming a member of the Bamberg Symphony and taking over the musical education of his son.

Alexander gave his concert debut at the age of seven in Munich’s Gasteig concert hall. Then he received his first honor: he was made an honorary citizen of the community Gräfelfing (near Munich), a recognition some are not given until after their deaths. At this time he was still a student of his father, but several years later, the two broke off their musical relationship. Today, Alexander makes an effort to represent the situation fairly: “Instruction with one’s father is a much more sensitive situation than with someone one doesn’t know.” In the meantime, he sees the conflict with his father, which did not remain without wounds, as his chance to go his own way. He went to America. Here, he had won First Prize in New York’s “International Summit Music Festival Competition” at the age of 15. In 1998, Dorothy DeLay invited him to audition him at the Juilliard School. He also attended master classes with Itzhak Perlman, Aaron Rosand, Igor Ozim, Akiko Tatsumi und Mikhail Kopelman. But for some reason, that wasn’t quite the right thing for him, and in 2000 he returned to Europe.

His decision was correct. Finally, with Zakhar Bron, from whose studio have also come such stars like Vadim Repin and Maxim Vengerov, Alexander finally found his musical home – first in Lübeck and then in Cologne. He finally found his teacher in the “professor”, as Gilman reverently calls Bron. Even more: “I have a sort of father-son relationship with him. I can’t express how thankful I am.” Bron opened the doors to an “intellectual world” he hadn’t ever known existed.

He hardly even had to change technique, because he was already a disciple of the “Russian School” – to which such violinists as Mischa Elman, Jascha Heifetz, Nathan Milstein or David Oistrakh belong. But no matter what playing technique one has, “musical interpretation comes from inside; it depends greatly on how one lives, feels and sees, as well as on the education one has received,” says Alexander.

This is what he has learned particularly from Zakhar Bron, who is not interested in making his students copies of himself, but always challenges – and helps them – to discover their true personalities. Alexander Gilman hits the nail on the head: “Your playing reflects your true self.” Certainly, he is ambitious, and he occasionally ruins the skin on his fingers from too much practicing, “but when one is only fixated on a career, listeners hear that. And it doesn’t sound good.”

But still, he always has his violin with him. “It’s as though I were married to it, which doesn’t mean, however, that I think about it every day!” For example, when he goes to the mountains, because he is an enthusiastic skier. It is in the mountains that he finds his emotional balance and gathers strength for his demanding life as an artist. But still – when he returns to the valley, he can hardly wait to be on stage again. “A conductor who I like and regularly work with once compared me before a concert to a racehorse pawing the ground before a race.”



Alexander Gilman on his recording

Brahms
Each of the three Brahms violin sonatas is unique in its own way. I have chosen the second for my debut CD because for me, it is the most personal and intimate of the three. This sonata is also called the “Thun Sonata”, because Brahms composed it while on vacation at Thun Lake in 1886. His secret attraction to the young alto Hermine Spies can be clearly imagined. It is known that Brahms composed this work during a very happy period of his life, and – without wanting to become sentimental – this sonata has a heartwarming effect on me and certainly on many listeners. The seemingly endless musical line between the piano and the violin or the dance-like moments in the second movement, for example, convey the joyous, happy and romantic mood of Brahms’ soul during this summer.

Prokofiev
This piece is actually a flute sonata. David Oistrakh arranged the flute composition for violin, changing the original version only minimally. He merely added a few double-stops and pizzicatos; the piano part remains exactly the same as the original. Today, the work is considered one of the most important sonatas in the 20th century violin repertoire.

Wieniawski
This piece is called “Variations on an original theme” op. 15 and is one of my absolute favorites. The interpreter of the work faces incredible technical challenges, but bringing out the melodic line is also just as important as mastering the other feats. I am fascinated by the alternation between acrobatics and lyricism, and I see my personal challenge as ensuring that both sides get their due.

Foster
In his time, Stephen Foster was one of the USA’s most well known songwriters.

Fritz Kreisler and Jascha Heifetz wrote extremely beautiful arrangements of Foster’s songs “Old Folks At Home” and “Jeanie With The Light Brown Hair” for violin and piano that I have chosen to play with Marina on my debut CD.

I love the flair of these old American songs, which we still hear in American black-and-white films. And I’m also fascinated that even in their song arrangements, the character of the two exceptional violinists Kreisler and Heifetz comes out. I close my CD with these seldom played pieces – a very unusual ending! It was a great deal of fun for me to select and record the works on this album, and I hope that my listeners will have just as much enjoyment listening to the CD!

Further information on Alexander Gilman is available at
www.alexandergilman.com

translation: Elizabeth Gahbler