Maxim Vengerov's Second Wife

The outstanding violinist arrived to Moscow to give just one concert and to meet Slava Rostropovich and his wife Galina Vishnevskaya.

On 30 January 2004 in the large hall of the Moscow Conservatory the outstanding violinist, Maxim Vengerov’s, only concert took place, appearing with the well known pianist Fazil Say. This concert was part of a world tour, which will end in New York. After Moscow it will be Berlin. Before he can even step onto the Moscow ground, his famous Kreutzer Stradivari violin has to pass a stringent 40 minute examination.

GZ - Maxim, you looked on with interest, as the officials examined your violin, measuring its waist, the profile, the front. Is this the usual procedure with international borders?

MV - in the West it is not so strict, there you simply take the violin and you go through the border. But in Russia the customs regulations are more strictly conducted. And when such instruments, as my Stradivari, are imported, it is necessary to accurately complete all the details about this instrument so that there are no problems on departure.

GZ- this is your instrument, or do you lease to some period?

MV- fortunately, this is my instrument. I have been its happy owner since 1998.

GZ- generally a violinist has to search for ‘their’ instrument? This is the happy case, when the one obtained is either a Stradivari or Guarneri?

MV- The instrument of the violinist is like a second wife. Although I still do not have the first wife, but the second I already have. I am very happy. It is necessary to always find a mutual understanding and happiness of contact together with the instrument. Together we serve and serve, certainly, the music.

GZ- Does it occur, that you feel some times a fatigue of the instrument, that it does not want to work?

MV- I will never forget, when I flew into Japan (this was during July). As you know, it is a 14 hour flight in the aircraft and it is very dry. I arrived in Japan, and the very next day I had a concert, and the instrument simply did not want to play, it refused. Apparently, a small deformation of the sound board occurred. The violin can react greatly to the weather conditions, especially because it is already almost 300 years old. And when I arrived in Japan, it simply said, “I do not want to play here, why have you brought me here”. During the first part of the concert my mother, apparently, heard what had happened, and in the interval she took the Stradivari and began to simply speak to it, began to whisper to it. And a miracle occurred, and in the second half the instrument played divinely.

GZ- there are some people who you are planning to meet in Moscow since your arrival?

MV- certainly, I am happy to be in Moscow. Indeed this is my first solo concert here for 12 years. I gave my last solo concert here 12 years ago. Now I am 29. I arrive again in Moscow to play here with the remarkable musician from Turkey, Fazil Say. I come not only for the musical event, but also I will see my close, dear friends, my friend of my childhood whom I saw last when I was12 years old. I will also meet here my first, unique teacher Galina Turchanineva. And Mistislav Rostropovich asked me to ring him, when he arrives here in Moscow. I must say that I am eternally grateful to him. Not only for the fact that for a period of 11 years he has supported my musical development but also that he is my partner in music. We have recorded together 6 disks with different western orchestras. In the past year he offered me to live in his apartment in Moscow for a month.

GZ - And now you begin to be occupied by conducting, are you following a general tradition and tendency today, when soloists turn to conducting, or are you following the same example of Rostropovich?

MV - certainly, examples have already been set, such as Rostropovich, Bashmet, Spivakov and so forth but my task is not to develop from a violinist into a conductor. I must say that my Mum, when I was 5, wanted me to become a conductor first of all. But my Dad said, let him play an instrument. I selected violin. But with conducting I did not think of doing it until I was 23 years old. But then the great opportunity to learn with a remarkable musician was presented to me, the last student of Ilya Musin, Vag Papian. Vag Papian has been my teacher in conducting for two and half years, since then I have simply been investigating conducting. To me it was just interesting to talk with conductors in one language. This gave me very much more insight into the music. And now I see music completely differently and myself in the music.

GZ- even the great chess players, who become the champions of peace, stop training. But for you there is some drive, which makes you continue "to train"?

MV -I am my own teacher. The fact is that the violin not only requires the maximum finalizing of details, the violin is a very capricious instrument. It is perhaps one of the most inconvenient instruments for the human body. The violin requires improbable independence into each sound, and thinking out of each detail. Therefore teachers will be simply superfluous for me. It is best always to listen to your own music, and to play a little before the mirror.