Russian Works for Violin & Viola Lydia Mordkovitch

• 1 Improvizatsiya, Op. 21 04:54
• 2 I. Largo 04:48
• 3 II. Allegretto quasi moderato 03:21
• 4 III. Toccata: Allegro marcato 03:37
• 5 IV. Apolalerion: A tempo di parte prima 08:01
• 6 I. Marcia: Maestoso 07:31
• 7 II. Allegro assai 04:41
• 8 III. Andante con variazioni 13:51
• 9 No. 1. Waltz 06:34
• 10 No. 2. Gavotte 02:48
• 11 No. 3. Passepied 01:58
• 12 No. 4. Winter Fairy 04:26
• 13 No. 5. Mazurka 02:57
• 14 Chanson russe 03:45
• 15 Danse russe 02:43
• Total Runtime 01:15:55

Info for Russian Works for Violin & Viola

Lydia Mordkovitch performs a personal selection of violin and viola works, chosen for their idiom which combines brilliant violin technique and strong expressivity and the theme of Russia. This album has been generously supported by the Royal Academy of Music and is the first time Lydia has recorded a viola performance for Chandos.

Amongst the collected works is the premiere recording of Volkonsky’s Sonata for Viola and Piano and the only available recordings of Khandoshkin’s Sonata for Solo Violin and Prokofiev’s Five Pieces from Cinderella. This programme will appeal to collectors looking for rarer Russian composers, along with repertoire for which Lydia is recognised.


Ms Mordkovitch performs a Stradivari, Cremona 1699 “Kustendyke” and Landolfi, Milan 1760 Viola. She is accompanied by Nicholas Walker who here makes his debut on Chandos.

“Here is a fascinating programme of out-of-the-way Russian repertoire. Lydia Mordkovitch's is a passionate advocate for everything she plays, her accompanists are excellent, and no collector of Russian/Soviet music would want to miss the chance to encounter Volkonsky's Viola Sonata, or to thank her and Chandos for the opportunity.” (GRAMOPHONE)

Dmitry Borisovich Kabalevsky: Improvizatsiya, Op. 21 Improvizatsiya, Op. 21
Andrei Volkonsky: Viola Sonata
I. Largo
II. Allegretto quasi moderato
III. Toccata: Allegro marcato
IV. Apolalerion: A tempo di parte prima
Ivan Khandoshkin: Violin Sonata in G minor, Op. 3, No. 1
I. Marcia: Maestoso
II. Allegro assai
III. Andante con variazioni
Sergey Prokofiev: 5 Pieces from Cinderella (arr. M. Fichtengoltz)
No. 1. Waltz
No. 2. Gavotte
No. 3. Passepied
No. 4. Winter Fairy
No. 5. Mazurka
Igor Stravinsky: Chanson russe
Chanson russe
Igor Stravinsky: Danse russe
Danse russe
Lydia Mordkovitch (violin, viola)
Nicholas Walker (piano)

Lydia Mordkovitch

Lydia Mordkovitch was born in Russia and studied at the Odessa Conservatory, then at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow where she was master pupil and assistant to David Oistrakh. She emigrated to Israel in 1974 and since 1980 has lived in Britain, appearing regularly with the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Hallé Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic and English Chamber Orchestra. She has worked with such distinguished conductors as Sir Georg Solti, Riccardo Muti, Vassily Sinaisky, Neeme Järvi, Richard Hickox, Hugo Wolff, Ian Leighton-Konig, Vernon Handley, Gennady Rozhdestvensky and Stanislav Skrowaczewski. An impressive discography of well over fifty recordings reflects her very wide repertoire, and encompasses music from the complete works for solo violin by Bach to the concertos of Shostakovich, her recording of which for Chandos won a Gramophone Award and a Diapason d’Or. Her work has twice been nominated for a Gramophone Award and has received seven Critics’ Choices; recent recordings have won major nominations or prizes across Europe. Lydia Mordkovitch has several times been named ‘Woman of the Year’ by the American Biographical Institute, and also ‘Outstanding Woman of the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries’. She is a professor and Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music in London.

The Royal Scottish National Orchestra

The Royal Scottish National Orchestra is one of Europe’s leading symphony orchestras. Formed in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra, the company became the Scottish National Orchestra in 1950, and was awarded Royal Patronage in 1991. The orchestra performs a busy schedule of concerts across Scotland, tours internationally to Europe’s greatest concert halls and makes frequent appearances at the BBC Proms and the Edinburgh International Festival.

Neeme Järvi

Neeme Järvi is Chief Conductor of the Residentie Orkest (The Hague), Conductor Laureate and Artistic Advisor of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Music Director Emeritus of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Principal Conductor Emeritus of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, First Principal Guest Conductor of the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra and Conductor Laureate of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Since September 2010, Neeme Järvi will be the Music Director of Estonian National Symphony Orchestra (ERSO).

Maestro Järvi has amassed a distinguished recording repertoire that includes more than 400 discs on the Deutsche Grammophon, Chandos, BIS, Orfeo, EMI and BMG labels, as well as on the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s independent label. In addition to a number of operas, he has recorded complete symphony cycles of Wilhelm Stenhammar and Hugo Alfvén; Niels Gade and Carl Nielsen, Sibelius, Brahms and Franz Schmidt, Martinù and Dvoøák, Estonian composers Arvo Pärt and Eduard Tubin; Glazunov, Prokofiev and Shostakovich and many others. Neeme Järvi and Göteborg Symfoniker (GSO) were awarded a Swedish Grammy for their recording of Aurora, Music from the Far North, and this reflects the high standard to which the orchestra were raised under his direction.

Booklet for Russian Works for Violin & Viola