Crossroads: American Violin Sonatas Aleksey Semenenko & Artem Belogurov

• André Previn (1929 - 2019): Violin Sonata No. 2:
• 1Previn: Violin Sonata No. 2: I. Joyous05:49
• 2Previn: Violin Sonata No. 2: II. Desolate - Fast, Like Shadows - Subito molto meno mosso07:39
• 3Previn: Violin Sonata No. 2: III. Brilliant, quasi cadenza - A tempo05:19
• Tony Schemmer (b. 1946): Oboe Sonata (Version for Violin & Piano):
• 4Schemmer: Oboe Sonata (Version for Violin & Piano): I. Allegro07:13
• 5Schemmer: Oboe Sonata (Version for Violin & Piano): II. Sandor's Ballad07:09
• 6Schemmer: Oboe Sonata (Version for Violin & Piano): III. Omaggio a Django02:35
• 7Schemmer: Oboe Sonata (Version for Violin & Piano): IV. Finale10:09
• Paul Gay (b. 1936): Violin Sonata:
• 8Gay: Violin Sonata: I. Introduction & Toccata04:39
• 9Gay: Violin Sonata: II. Sonnet04:14
• 10Gay: Violin Sonata: III. Idyll04:06
• 11Gay: Violin Sonata: IV. Games & Epilogue11:10
• Total Runtime01:10:02

Info for Crossroads: American Violin Sonatas

In this transatlantic recording, three American composers born during the first half of the last century rub shoulders with two young musicians from Eastern Europe. A member of the BBC New Generation Artists scheme, the violinist Aleksey Semenenko first met the pianist Artem Belogurov at the Stolyarsky Special Music School in Odessa at an early age. Even if their individual careers have taken to different parts of the world, the two still perform together whenever possible, and here they present three sonatas.

Of the composers, the best-known is André Previn who composed his Violin Sonata No. 2 in 2011 for Anne-Sophie Mutter. An improvisatory spirit permeates the work which is in three movements with the markings Joyous, Desolate and Brilliant. Tony Schemmer and Paul Gay are both based in the Boston area and share a background in which jazz and classical genres merge. This is reflected in their Sonatas, composed in the 1980s and here recorded for the first time.

Aleksey Semenenko, violin
Artem Belogurov, piano

Aleksey Semenenko
Born in Odessa in 1988, Aleksey Semenenko has studied the violin since he was 6 with Zoya Mertsalova. After winning the children's music festival he performed with the Odessa Philharmonic; in the following years Alexey played with National Orchestra of Kiev, with Moscow Virtuosi, in Kremlin and in the International House of Music in Moscow. His European debut took place in Hamburg in 2007, he has also performed in Philahmonies of Cologne and Essen. At the 2011 Musik Landschaft Westfalen Festival, he performed Paganini’s Concerto No. 2 with the National Philharmonic of Russia under Vladimir Spivakov. His concerts include performances in Berlin Philharmonia, in Louvre in Paris as well as in Santori Hall in Tokyo.

As an avid chamber musician, Aleksey Semenenko became a co-founder of the Stolyarsky Quartet, which has given concerts in Russia, the Ukraine, France, Malta, and Switzerland. He currently studies with Zakhar Bron at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne. Mr. Semenenko plays a 1760–70 Landolfi violin, loaned to him by the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben fund of Hamburg, Germany. Aleksey’s honors include the Grand Prix of the 2006 National Violin Competition in Lvov (Ukraine), the Alois Kottmann Award in Hofheim, Germany (2010), the Third Prize of the International Paganini Competition in Moscow (Russia). In 2012 he won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions; in 2015 was awarded the First Prize at the Goldstein Violin Competition in Bern (Switzerland) and in May 2015 has won the Second Prize at the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition.

Aleksey Semenenko is a participant of the 20th International Musical Olympus Festival in St. Petersburg and Musical Olympus Gala concerts in Moscow (Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, 2015) and Berlin (Berlin Philharmonie, 2016).

Artem Belogurov
Known equally for his “verve, wit, and delicatesse” (Boston Musical Intelligencer) and his “infinite tenderness” (Evening Odessa), Artem Belogurov has an extensive repertoire, ranging through three centuries of solo and chamber works. He has a particular affinity for the Viennese classical style, in which he is distinguished by his use of improvisatory ornamentation. His interest in period performance leads him to historical keyboards, including clavichord, harpsichord, and fortepianos spanning the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. His critically acclaimed album of solo piano works by the late nineteenth century American Romantic composers, recorded on a Chickering piano built in 1873, was released by the London-based label Piano Classics in 2015. He is also a discerning advocate of contemporary music, and collaborates with a number of composers. In 2009 he had the honor of performing the Boston premiere of Elliott Carter’s Caténaires for solo piano.

As a soloist and in chamber groups, Artem has performed in a wide variety of venues, among them Jordan Hall, Harvard Musical Association, the Universität der Kunste in Berlin, the Musikhochschule in Hanover, St Andrews University in Scotland, the Odessa Philharmonic Hall in Ukraine, the Rachmaninoff Society in Saint Petersburg, Castello di Galeazza in Italy, Tivoli Vredenburg in Utrecht, and Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam.

Artem’s recent projects included a series of lectures, recitals, and masterclasses in Germany on the Chopin Préludes with the noted musicologist and historian Mark Lindley, US tours with the brilliant young Ukrainian violinist, Aleksey Semenenko, and performances at the Early Music Festival Fabulous Fringe in Utrecht. He has also been performing programs drawn from his solo CD in the US and Europe. His recording of a new arrangement of Prokofiev’s opera Fiery Angel for cello and piano with the Russian cellist Maya Fridman on the label TRPTK is scheduled to be released in Fall 2016. His next recording projects include Beethoven’s complete works for fortepiano and cello on original instruments with the Canadian cellist Octavie Dostaler-Lalonde, for the Italian label Gamma Musica and a CD of violin and piano music by composers from Boston with Aleksey Semenenko. In the coming season, Artem will be touring Europe, the US, and Japan.

In April 2016, Artem was awarded second prize at the 29th International Competition for Early Music in Yamanashi, Japan. Artem received his Bachelor degree in Piano Performance from the New England Conservatory where his teachers were Gabriel Chodos, Patricia Zander, and Victor Rosenbaum. In 2016 he graduated from the Master of Music in Early Keyboards program at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and received cum laude in both clavichord and fortepiano. His main teachers were Menno van Delft, Richard Egarr, and Kris Verhelst.

Booklet for Crossroads: American Violin Sonatas