Schnittke Concerto for Piano & Strings - The 2003 Omsk concert

When we first uploaded this concert YouTube was limiting videos to 9 minutes pieces. The first part has now over 35,000 views. It was time to post the entire, uninterrupted version.

So here it is for this very special day.

Schnittke Omsk 2003 Concerto for Piano & Strings / А. Шнитке. Концерт для ф-но со струнными (2003) - YouTube

From our CD booklet:

On April 9, 2003 Omsk newly renovated Organ Hall saw the last concert Yuri Nikolaevsky conducted. A personal friend of Alfred Schnittke, he had worked with Schnittke at Mosfilm for many years. There the composer was writing film music, testing his ideas for his most ambitious works. When Veniamin –the Director of the Omsk Chamber Orchestra- arranged to have Nikolaevsky fly from Moscow to Omsk especially to conduct the Concerto for Piano & Strings with Svetlana Ponomarëva as the soloist, we felt honored and we knew the maestro was on a mission, to serve his friend’s music wherever it would take him.

Nikolaevsky was a frail man and his health had deteriorated. His plane was late and to make matters worse, he had to bring the orchestral parts from the Mosfilm archives.

The first rehearsal started late but Yuri quickly made it clear he wanted total commitment from musicians. At the podium, there were no traces of frailty, just the will to make music at his best. This is one of the reasons he was so appreciated by Baroque ensembles and contemporary composers alike (such as Sofia Gubaidulina) who trusted his clarity of textures and rhythmical rigor with the premiere of their works.

The following day, after the first run through the piece, Nikolaevsky knew that Svetlana had a strong vision for the concerto and felt obviously relieved: we were all on the same page. A picture of Schnittke’s portrait I painted convinced him that I too was ready.

Luckily Pavel’s amateur recording captured the energy of the concert and saved this moment as the packed audience sat in silence while the last echoes receded and before they could allow themselves to applaud.

After the concert, the home town soloist was much surrounded and I found Yuri Nikolaevsky alone sitting in his changing room, exhausted but visibly happy. As I thanked him with the only Russian word I knew, in his broken English he told me I was right to believe in Svetlana’s talent and that it had been worth his journey. As we all gathered around him Yuri was beaming (photo) and his natural discretion prevented him to repeat in front of her the compliment he just made…

Yuri Nikolaevsky passed away in November 2003.  

With this recording dedicated to Schnittke’s music, it is another personal commitment to a composer’s memory and his good friend that is fulfilled. And that is the way it should be.

M.V.