Lisa Batiashvili’s latest release, Visions of Prokofiev, is an album devoted to the composer who has featured prominently throughout the violinist’s career. The album, which was recorded with Yannik Nézet-Séguin and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, features both violin concertos (No.1 in D and No.2 in G minor) plus chosen extracts from Prokofiev’s ballet music: ‘Dance of the Knights’ from Romeo and Juliet, ‘Grand Waltz’ from Cinderella, and ‘Grand March’ from The Love for Three Oranges. Unique to this album, these ballet movements were arranged specifically for Lisa by her father Tamás Batiashvili.
The release follows Batiashvili’s critically acclaimed 2017 album of Tchaikovsky and Sibelius concertos with Daniel Barenboim and Staatskapelle Berlin. Unlike the Tchaikovsky, which Batiashvili did not perform until later in life, she has been playing Prokofiev for over 20 years:
“The D major Violin Concerto was one of the first works I studied with Mark Lubotsky, my professor in Hamburg, after moving to Germany. I was 13 at the time…it very soon became dear to my heart. I’ve played it at important debuts, so over my career it’s become a cornerstone of my repertoire”- Lisa Batiashvili
Critical acclaim for Prokofiev:
“Batiashvili’s approach to Prokofiev’s concerto (No.1) displayed a panoply of colours that balanced the clean, neo-Classical lines in the first two movements with a laser-like injection of spiky dance rhythms in the finale. She unveiled the unaccompanied opening bars with an appropriate restraint and let Prokofiev’s sly harmonic twists speak unhindered by any mannerisms. Throughout the first movement, she juxtaposed a beguiling sweetness of tone and delicacy of line in the stratospheric passages with an impressive transparency in more driven sections.” (Bachtrack)
Lisa Batiashvili will perform Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No.2 in February with Accademia Nazionale de Santa Cecilia/Manfred Honeck (08, 09, 10 Feb) and Sydney Symphony Orchestra/Dmitri Slobodeniouk (28 Feb, 01 and 02 Mar).
Available today for pre-order
Release date: 02 Feb 2018
