By David K Nelson
Fanfare

The brilliant Siberian-born (1974) and -trained violinist Maxim Vengerov
first came to the general attention of violin fans by way of an awe-inspiring
recital issued by Biddulph (Fanfare 16:5), a recital recorded when the artist
was just fourteen but containing a Schubert C-Major ''Fantasie,'' one of the
Mount Everests of the repertoire, in its own way as remarkable as the
performance of the Waxman Carmen Fantasy--itself remarkable enough for the
cornposer's son, John Waxman, to drop me a note urging me to hear it. When
Vengerov signed with Teldec (soon after winning first prize at the Carl
Flesch violin competition in 1990), along with the expected recordings of
standard repertoire concertos, there came two impressive CDs of sonatas by
Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, and Mendelssohn, all of consistently high quality.
The artist now makes his home in Amsterdam (after initially moving to Israel
from Siberia), but he was in New York City when I called him on a
late-November evening--a call I regretted having to cut short when a howling Milwaukee
blizzard made me wonder when if ever I'd get home from my office. But we
packed a lot into thirty minutes, in spite of Vengerov' s excessive modesty
about his mastery of English. As is my fashion in these interviews, my goal
is to eliminate my questions and merge the artist's answers into a connected
narrative. Once Vengerov understood that Fanfare's readers are interested
primarily in recordings, he started right in.

''Since I signed the record contract with Teldec, part of the Atlantic Group,
I made already seven records, of which the last two releases are the
Tchaikovsky and Glazunov Concertos with Abbado, and Shostakovich [Concerto
No. 1] and Prokofiev [Concerto No. 1] with the London Symphony and
Rostropovich. I think you would want me to talk a little about them. The one
with Rostropovich was a wonderful and remarkable time for me. It was
something which I can never forget. This legendary person and musician shared
generously his incredible ideas, his knowledge and love for this music, both
Shostakovich and Prokofiev. As you know he loved them and spent and studied a
lot of time with them. I'm really so happy to be part of this great
tradition. He told me, 'I'm telling you everything I know.' So I feel like
I'm taking a place after him. It is really so great to know what composers
wanted to say in their music. Not to guess, but exactly to know the way they
wanted it to be performed.''

[I mentioned that, as a point of tradition, David Oistrakh certainly had a
strong link to both composers, to the Shostakovich Concerto in particular,
and he recorded both works. Did Vengerov find Oistrakh's recordings to be
useful? Intimidating?]

''I think there is something more than just repeating what Oistrakh has done.
Rostropovich was really so near, so close to Shostakovich. He told me a lot
of great things. He told me, 'You could play it really the way Shostakovich
wanted it to be performed.' He was telling me that Shostakovich liked very
much the Oistrakh performance, and he adored Oistrakh, but he still said that
something was, a little bit, missing in the performance. Although he really
did respect, and dedicated the Concerto to, Oistrakh. It was a great honor to
Shostakovich to give Oistrakh two concertos. But really, to play after
Oistrakh is to find something new, and to find more things, you know, now
that time is passed, over forty years since it was written. So we have to
look at the Concerto in a new approach, find a new approach. New ways.''

[I speculated that the second and third movements would be where Vengerov saw
the most differences from Oistrakh--a greater ''nastiness'' to the second; a
more (for lack of a better term) ''religioso'' quality to the third.]

''It is very interesting. I met Rostropovich for the first time--musically, I
played for him the first time--just before the recording, in France. I
performed for him the second movement and he told me, 'You know, you play so
great, but it sounds like the third movement of the Mendelssohn Concerto.' I
was really ashamed that I couldn't or didn't discover the differences between
the two pieces. [Vengerov sings the solo part of the Shostakovich.] 'You play it so
light, it sounds like [he then sings the third movement of the Mendelssohn].
It sounds the same, and this music is really about something else. This music
is about the dance of death, of the grave.'; And he explained how
Shostakovich thought about this piece. About the time he was living. It was
the war, and it was difficulties. Financial difficulties. People dying from
hunger. Shostakovich divorced his wife. It was a hard time for Shostakovich
when he wrote this concerto. And I tried to really go into the shoes of both
composers, Shostakovich and Prokofiev, to discover things which might reflect
that. And without Rostropovich I couldn't make this step, to approach--to
find the real approach for this music. He is also experienced with it. He
knows every detail, every detail of the music he knows, practically. He knows
the soul of both. That's what helped me.

''I am in this world not more than twenty-one years, so I couldn't ... the
best is to be a witness of this tradition. But from what I know, the great
thing that happened to Russian music when Shostakovich and Prokofiev
came--they were the most honest composers at the time. The difficulties with
Stalinism. It was difficult for them to speak up. They couldn't afford it. It
would probably cost them their lives, or whatever. They could say everything
with their music, and that is what, especially Shostakovich and Prokofiev,
that's what they could say. In music. Everything they wanted to express. With
music. It was a difficult time, so one must really show how difficult it was.
The great thing about Shostakovich--I could really compare him to Beethoven.
His dramatic beginning. His soul is dramatic. Really totally different from
Prokofiev, who is melodic and who has something from Mozart.''

[I objected that surely the Prokofiev Violin Sonata No. 1 has the same
emotionalism, that same expression of fear, as the best of Shostakovich.]

''Yes, yes. Prokofiev was no ordinary man. Very sensitive. At the same time
very strong, but not as strong as Shostakovich. Shostakovich was like a rock,
a mountain, like a volcano. He kept everything ... he didn't think to be
open. He was very shy, never spoke up, afraid of speaking up. But his heart
and soul, such a great explosion, always. Compare the eighth quartet, the
eight symphony, also the 'Babi Yar.' He wrote about his life.''

''I will be recording in Chicago, Sibelius and Nielsen Concertos, a
Scandinavian coupling, with Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony. I'm very
proud of this combination, especially that I can record with my great, I call
him my 'musical father'--Barenboim. He gave me a lot of great ideas. He made
me understand, really, the sense of Sibelius. He helped me to do it myself.
It was two years ago when I came to him and played the Sibelius. And he told
me ... this is a very interesting story.

''The first time I came to audition for him, I played the Tchaikovsky
Concerto and the Bach Chaconne. I was a sixteen-year-old guy. He was very
excited. He invited me to play concerts with him in Chicago. Sibelius. Coming
to the first piano rehearsal, I played for him. And he seemed not to be very
happy. His face was very pale, and I thought, 'What's happened?' After the
end of my performance he doesn't say anything. I asked him, 'Could you tell
me, is something wrong?' He said, 'Well, I think you cannot afford to play
like this. It is simply not what I thought you are. When you came to play for
me in Cologne, you played the Tchaikovsky--it was wonderful, technically
perfect. But when you played the Chaconne, I thought you were a really good
musician. I thought you could be a great musical partner. But now I see you
play Sibelius ... it's perfect, what you play. You can play, but a lot of
people play like this. I think you cannot afford to play like this.' And I
said, How--can you tell me what's wrong? Would you please explain?' He said, 'I
think I could explain but you should find it out for yourself.' And so he
pointed out a few things, what I should change in my musical approach, my
attitude toward Sibelius. I discovered in myself, in one night, a new
Sibelius for me. The real sense. To find an 'authentic' way of approaching
the piece. To find my personal touch, to find the real Sibelius, a great
connection with the real character, not just playing a wonderful, Romantic
piece. That's what he meant.

''Barenboim also made me play records of the Nielsen Concerto. I wasn't sure.
What is this concerto? I listened to the cassette and when I played the
Nielsen, it was fantastic to discover a great--another great composer for me,
for myself. So I started listening to a lot of Nielsen symphonies, and Sibelius symphonies. This is another incredible world, a charming world of music, a fantastic view which I never knew before. Of course I knew the Sibelius Concerto and I played it a lot, but the way
Barenboim helped me and treated me with these composers was really
fascinating. I really admire him for taking a piece as if for the first time,
every time, so he always tries to discover many things, many different
things, in every concert. He is the person who always searches for music.
Barenboim gives me so much. Without Rostropovich and without Barenboim, Zubin
Mehta, and a couple more great musicians, I couldn't have made my big steps
into the musical world. You know, with the violin it is not enough to be a
violinist.''

[Talking about Nielsen's Concerto made me mention to Vengerov the Violin
Sonatas and the unaccompanied violin music of the Danish composer, which in
turn made me ask how a busy musician manages to learn any new music--when
does the time come?]

''I played this year really a lot of concerts, something like 130, plus I'm
doing all the records. And you need to rehearse with orchestra, with
pianists, and I'm doing some chamber music. It takes a lot of time. The only
time that's left is on the airplane, so I'm taking a lot of time there, and
in trains, and in cars--listening to the CDs, reading books, literature about
musical things. So I do take time; I wish I had more time for that but I will
in the next few years. It's just that I've got so many wonderful things this
year which I couldn't resist.

''I have little time to study new pieces but still, I'm doing a lot. This
year I studied the Nielsen Concerto--I had only five days for that--then I
will study the Prokofiev Concerto No. 2 and Shostakovich second concerto, to
complete the cycle with Rostropovich. I studied the Elgar Sonata, which is a
rarely played piece, at least, I haven't heard a lot of recordings. So I'm
really doing a lot. I do it in the mornings.''

''I'm proud to be part of this great organization, the Stradivari Society
[organized by the Chicago violin dealership of Bein & Fushi, which arranges
for great string instruments to be lent to promising young artists]. I've got
the violin now, which I can use for several years. It's a Stradivarius which
was kindly loaned to me. I've not been playing it for long.'' [According to
the Autumn 1995 bulletin from Bein & Fushi, the instrument is the 1723
ex-Kiesewetter Strad; Clement R. Arrison, president of the audio firm Mark IV
Industries, acquired the instrument with the specific intention of placing it
with Vengerov through the Stradivari Society.]

''Everything I have recorded, in three months I play differently. I prefer
the next concert to the previous one. But I am proud of my recordings,
because at that time I could do no better. I remember, just after I recorded
the Schubert [Fantasie in C] there was another concert, I think in Germany,
and I played it quite better. I'm searching all the time. I think in music
you don't have limits as long as you can look forward to something. It was my
idea [to record several sonatas] when  beginning recording. I had different propositions to record all the recital pieces, but I wanted to give it a try in a very serious repertoire. Since age
seven I have played recitals with at least two different sonatas, like
Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert. Also showpieces and encores--I've never
rejected, I never ... I wanted to do everything. At all times. But of course
you can't do everything at all times. But my recitals included Classical and
Romantic; in the future I will do a lot of contemporary works, and of course
virtuoso pieces--all these I love.

''It is one of my favorite repertoires, to do sonatas with a pianist, to have
a partner, a great partner for making music. Also chamber music. That is my
aim to develop. I'd like to find a great cellist and establish a trio. Also,
to sometimes play quartets, string quartets. This is the soul of music--the
soul of music is there. And there is so much great repertoire for this
instrument in this combination. We violinists have quite a limited
repertoire; you can find maybe forty or fifty concertos. I play maybe thirty.
But you can open another door into the world of chamber music. I think I will
never be bored. One never knows what one will end with. This chamber music
takes you ... takes you with two arms and the music can embrace you, it can
eat you, the whole person.''

[Vengerov is a pupil of a remarkable teacher, Zakhar Bron, originally of
Siberia. It is also evident that Vengerov is a vivid communicator, so what
about it? Is teaching in his future? I was surprised when my question was
greeted with loud laughter.]

''Let me tell you, my first teaching experience was very bad. My first
teacher was a lovely lady, fifty years old, she never had a child--I was one
of her 'grandsons.' She gave me all her love for music; it was so natural for
me to play the violin, and I was doing whatever I wanted. For the next five
and a half years I studied with my great professor, Bron. Bron was very
strong, very demanding. He wanted to make a star out of everybody. He gave me
a very strong approach for music, a good ability to survive, not just
onstage, but in life. It was a very hard time, but at the same time I thank
him for that. He never ... I hardly could survive. I hardly could actually
breathe with him.

''During the time I studied with Bron I took a student because I had to rent
an apartment, and it was expensive. The people who rented me the apartment
had a son. He wanted to play the violin as an amateur, but I of course
studied with Bron and I wanted to be just like that. So I started from the
beginning with this guy and I wanted to make a second Heifetz. Immediately!
And he had not this ability. It was very difficult for him. He ended up,
unfortunately, in the ... um ... he had a nervous breakdown. It was a
nightmare for me. I drove him crazy because I thought, with anyone who comes
to me, I should make them the best. This guy never wanted to have that. So,
then, I finally understood: there were people who didn't want to be
professional violinists.

''I don't dream to be a 'real' teacher, but I love doing master classes. For
fun. Sharing ideas with young musicians my age. When I'm with them I become
like them--they play for me, I play for them. It is so interesting, to
inspire young people. That I love to do.''