STEFAN MILENKOVICH: VIOLIN CONCERTO BEETHOVEN BRUCH - RTV SLOVENIA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, VLADIMIR KULENOVIC

Classical and Modern Music

Format: CD

Code: 115752

EAN: 3838898115752

Awarded as Serbia’s “Artist of Century” (2002), “Most Humane Person” (2003) and “Brand Personality of the Year” (2010), Stefan Milenkovich is a unique artist with an extraordinarily productive longevity and creativity. His new album brings his performances of violin concertos by Ludwig van Beethoven and Max Bruch.
 

...To talk about my personal view and experiences of Beethoven and Bruch Concertos is a lot like talking about my development both as an artist, as well as a person.
Bruch Concerto was an integral part of my musical and violinistic upbringing – as it was for virtually every violinist since the concerto was written. In its unique form, legendary melodies and textures, unfaltering energy and depth, it is truly one of the greatest concertos ever written. I have always loved performing it, feeling both the excitement as well as historic responsibility toward this piece. It is one of those concertos we often learn young, but it is by no means an easy and simple work. In fact, I would argue that learning this piece early is only laying down the foundation to grow with the work as we mature as artists throughout our lives. This longevity and strong presence of Bruch’s concerto in every violinist’s repertoire – as well as in regular performances around the world – is in itself is a testament to the everlasting value of this incredible concerto. Every time I play this magnificent work I somehow feel strongly the connection with both the past - as well as the future.
When it comes to Beethoven’s monument to violin in form of his Violin Concerto, well, I will always remember that my father – violinist and my teacher for the big part of my early career – considered this concerto as my “graduation” concerto, which - once I performed it – would mark a major milestone in my life. I have performed it for the first time when I was sixteen years old and found it simply gigantic in scope, understanding some of it, but probably not being able to yet fully comprehend the enormity of the task and musical horizon I was attempting to reach. As years went by, this Beethoven’s work started revealing itself, little by little, enveloping my consciousness as I was expanding into it. After few decades of performing this concerto and filling my life with a variety of other musical and personal experiences, I feel like in this work there is the white light of simplicity - the gorgeous parallel universe of music - that exist in space and time and that we as performers are privileged to join...
Stefan Milenkovich

Awarded as Serbia’s “Artist of Century” (2002), “Most Humane Person” (2003) and “Brand Personality of the Year” (2010), Stefan Milenkovich is a unique artist with an extraordinarily productive longevity and creativity. He started his career at a very young age. At the age 16 he gave his 1000th concert and by age 17, he was a winner of The Young Concert Artists International Competition (USA), as well as a prizewinner in the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis (USA), the Queen Elisabeth Competition (Belgium), Hannover Violin Competition (Germany), Tibor Varga Competition (Switzerland), Rodolfo Lipizer Competition (Italy), Paganini Competition (Italy), Ludwig Spohr Competition (Germany), and the Yehudi Menuhin Competition (England). His numerous appearances with orchestra include the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Aspen Chamber Symphony, the Helsinki Philharmonic, the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of Radio France, the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Belgium, the Mexico State Symphony, Orquestra Sinfonica de Estado de Sao Paolo, and the Melbourne and Queensland Symphonies, with conductors such as Sir Neville Marriner, Lorin Maazel, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Daniel Oren and En Shao. Milenkovich has performed with the five-time Grammy Nominee rock band Gorillaz at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, featured live on MTV, the Grammy Award Nominee lutenist Edin Karamazov, as well as the Balkan ethno guitar legend Vlatko Stefanovski. He has taught at the Juilliard School in collaboration with violinist Itzhak Perlman and is currently on the violin faculty of the University of Illinois. Milenkovich plays a 1783 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin. For more information please visit www.milenkovich.com;

TRACKS:
Ludwig van Beethoven:
Koncert za violino in orkester v D-duru, op. 61 / Violin Concerto in D Major, op. 61
1. Allegro ma non troppo
2. Larghetto
3. Rondo: Allegro

Max Bruch:
Koncert za violino in orkester št. 1 v g-molu, op. 26 / Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, op. 26
1. Preludij: Allegro moderato
2. Adagio
3. Finale: Allegro energico – Presto

Violina / Violin: Stefan Milenkovich
Dirigent / Conductor: Vladimir Kulenović
Simfonični orkester RTV Slovenija / RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra