The supreme violinist of his generation – declared a talent “born once in a hundred years” by his first teacher – Maxim Vengerov both embodies and renews the great Russian tradition in the mastery of his instrument. This comprehensive collection – with Rostropovich, Abbado, Barenboim and Pappano among his partners – documents Vengerov’s achievements over the first decade-and-a-half of his international career. As the New York Times wrote of his Sibelius: “Not even Heifetz ... achieved the fevered pitch that stamps Mr Vengerov's performance from end to end.”

Released to mark the 40th birthday in August 2014 of Maxim Vengerov, this box set of 19 CDs and one DVD presents the entire catalogue of recordings he made for both Teldec and EMI Classics between 1991 and 2007. The box also celebrates the fact that Vengerov is once again playing regularly at the world’s concert halls, following his extended break between 2007 and 2011.

Born in Russia in 1974, Maxim Vengerov began his career as a solo violinist at the age of five. His first teacher, Galina Tourchaninova, said: “A child such as Maxim is born only once in a hundred years”. He subsequently studied with Zakhar Bron, one of today’s most distinguished teachers. Having triumphed in the Wieniawski Competition at the age of 10, he won the Carl Flesch International Violin Competition at the age of 15 in 1990, the year before he made his first recording for Teldec.

This box comprises 19 CDs of concertos, other works for solo violin and orchestra, and chamber music, plus a DVD of a documentary made in 2005 by British director Ken Howard: 'Maxim Vengerov: Living the Dream'.

Alongside such ‘essential’ works of the violin repertoire as the concertos of Beethoven, Brahms, Bruch, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Sibelius and Tchaikovsky, and Beethoven’s ‘Spring’ Sonata, it contains a wealth of other works: major concertos from the 19th and 20th centuries, including those of Paganini (No.1), Dvořák, Glazunov, Nielsen, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Britten, Walton (the Viola Concerto rather than the Violin Concerto) and Shchedrin; sonatas by Brahms, Elgar, Ysaÿe, Mozart and Mendelssohn, and showpieces and bonbons by a wide range of composers, such as Wieniawski, Kreisler, Sarasate, Lalo, Saint-Saëns, Massenet, Ravel, Messiaen and Waxman.

Vengerov won Gramophone’s 1995 Record of the Year Award for his interpretation of Prokofiev’s Concerto No.1 and Shostakovich’s Concerto No.1 with the London Symphony Orchestra and Rostropovich: "If this isn't great violin playing then I don't know what it is. ... A triumph for all concerned" was the Gramophone reviewer’s judgement.

Having been Gramophone’s Artist of the Year in 2002, he went on to win a Grammy Award in 2003 for his recording of the Britten and Walton concertos, also with the LSO and Rostropovich.

All the CDs in the box are presented in wallets carrying the original CD artwork. The earliest of these recordings is a disc of sonatas (Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn) and the most recent is a programme of Mozart concertos in which Vengerov also directs the UBS Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra.

The contents of this box can be summed up with Gramophone’s view on the 1993 recital disc ‘Virtuoso Vengerov’: "He is such a masterful musician that everything he touches turns to gold."

Contents:
CD 1 [64.56]
Ludwig van Beethoven
- Violin Sonata No.5 in F major, op.24 “Spring”
Maxim Vengerov (violin) / Itamar Golan (piano)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Violin Sonata in B flat major, K378 (317d)
Maxim Vengerov (violin) / Itamar Golan (piano)

Felix Mendelssohn
- Violin Sonata in F major
Maxim Vengerov (violin) / Alexander Markovich (piano)

CD 2 [60.04]
Ludwig van Beethoven
- Violin Sonata No.9 in A major, op.47 “Kreutzer”
Johannes Brahms
- Violin Sonata No.2 in A major, op.100
Maxim Vengerov (violin) / Alexander Markovich (piano)

CD 3 [66.59]
Henryk Wieniawski
1. Polonaise No.1 in D major, op.4

Nicolò Paganini
2. I palpiti, op.13 (arr. Fritz Kreisler)

Henryk Wieniawski
3. Légende, op.17

Fritz Kreisler
4. Schön Rosmarin

Ernest Bloch
5. Nigun No.2 from Baal Shem

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
6. Scherzo No.2 from Souvenir d’un lieu cher, op.42
7. Mélodie No.3 from Souvenir d’un lieu cher, op.42

Fritz Kreisler
8. Tambourin chinois

Olivier Messiaen
9. Thème et variations

Fritz Kreisler
10. Caprice viennois, op.2

Pablo de Sarasate
11. Caprice basque, op.24

Antonio Joseph Bazzini
12. La Ronde des lutins, op.25

Maxim Vengerov (violin) • Itamar Golan (piano)

CD 4 [63.08]
Nicolò Paganini
- Violin Concerto No.1 in D major, op.6
Camille Saint-Saëns
- Introduction et Rondo capriccioso, op.28
- Havanaise
Franz Waxman
- Carmen Fantasy on themes from the opera by Bizet
Maxim Vengerov (violin)
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra / Zubin Mehta

CD 5 [51.29]
Max Bruch
- Violin Concerto No.1 in G minor, op.26
Felix Mendelssohn
- Violin Concerto in E minor, op.64
Maxim Vengerov (violin)
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig / Kurt Masur

CD 6 [62.23]
Sergey Prokofiev
- Violin Concerto No.1 in D major, op.19
Dmitri Shostakovich
- Violin Concerto No.1 in A minor, op.77 (op.99)
Maxim Vengerov (violin)
London Symphony Orchestra / Mstislav Rostropovich

CD 7 [54.29]
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- Violin Concerto in D major, op.35
Alexander Glazunov
- Violin Concerto in A minor, op.82
Maxim Vengerov (violin)
Berliner Philharmoniker / Claudio Abbado

CD 8 [69.36]
Jean Sibelius
- Violin Concerto in D minor, op.47
Carl Nielsen 1865–1931
- Violin Concerto, op.33
Maxim Vengerov (violin)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Daniel Barenboim

CD 9 [62.19]
Sergey Prokofiev
- Violin Concerto No.2 in G minor, op.63
Dmitri Shostakovich
- Violin Concerto No.2 in C sharp minor, op.129
Maxim Vengerov (violin)
London Symphony Orchestra / Mstislav Rostropovich

CD 10 [61.52]
Johannes Brahms
- Violin Concerto in D major, op.77
Maxim Vengerov (violin)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Daniel Barenboim

- Violin Sonata No.3 in D minor, op.108
Maxim Vengerov (violin), Daniel Barenboim (piano)

CD 11 [58.19]
Antonín Dvorák
- Violin Concerto in A minor, op.53
Maxim Vengerov (violin)
New York Philharmonic / Kurt Masur

Edward Elgar
- Sonata for violin and piano in E minor, op.82
Maxim Vengerov (violin), Revital Chachamov (piano)

CD 12 [60.51]
Rodion Shchedrin
- Concerto Cantabile
Igor Stravinsky
- Violin Concerto in D major
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- Sérénade mélancolique, op.26
Maxim Vengerov (violin)
London Symphony Orchestra / Mstislav Rostropovich

CD 13 [68.59]
Sergey Rachmaninov
1. Vocalise, op.34 no.14
Manuel Ponce
2. Estrellita (Original transcription by Jascha Heifetz)
Johannes Brahms
Hungarian Dances (Original transcriptions by Joseph Joachim)
3. No.7 in A major
4. No.1 in G minor
5. No.5 in G minor
Ottokar Novácek
6. Perpetuum Mobile, op.5 no.4
Antonín Dvorák
7. Humoreske in G flat major, op.101 no.7
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Souvenir d’un lieu cher, op.42 (Three Pieces for Violin and Piano)
8. I Méditation
9. III Mélodie
10. II Scherzo
Franz Schubert
11. Ave Maria D839 from Ellens Gesang III, op.52 no.6 (Original transcription by August Wilhelmj)
Antonio Bazzini
12. La Ronde des lutins (Scherzo fantastique), op.25

Encores:
Aram Khachaturian
13. Sabre Dance from Gayaneh
Jules Massenet
14. Méditation from Thaïs (Original transcription by M P Marsick)
Vittorio Monti
15. Csárdás

Maxim Vengerov (violin) / Virtuosi

CD 14 [66.42]
Eugène Ysaÿe
- Sonata No.2 in A minor, op.27 no.2 (dedicated to Jacques Thibaud)
- Sonata No.3 in D minor, op.27 no.3 (dedicated to Georges Enesco)
- Sonata No.4 in E minor, op.27 no.4 (dedicated to Fritz Kreisler)
- Sonata No.6 in E major, op.27 no.6 (dedicated to Manuel Quiroga)
Rodion Shchedrin
- Echo Sonata, op.69
Johann Sebastian Bach (attrib.)
- Sonata in A minor (Toccata and Fugue), BWV 565 (ed. Bruce Fox-Lefriche)
Rodion Shchedrin
- Balalaika, op.100 (dedicated to Maxim Vengerov) (live recording)
Maxim Vengerov (violin)

CD 15 [64.29]
Benjamin Britten
- Violin Concerto, op.15 (revised version)
William Walton
- Viola Concerto (1961 version)
Maxim Vengerov (violin, viola)
London Symphony Orchestra / Mstislav Rostropovich

CD 16 [74.04]
Édouard Lalo
- Symphonie espagnole, op.21
Camille Saint-Saëns
- Violin Concerto No.3 in B minor, op.61
Maurice Ravel
- Tzigane, rapsodie de concert
Maxim Vengerov (violin)
Philharmonia Orchestra / Antonio Pappano

CD 17 [71.53]
Henryk Wieniawski
1. Thème original varié, op.15
Nicolò Paganini
2. Cantabile
Fritz Kreisler
3. Liebesleid
4. Liebesfreud
Henryk Wieniawski
5. Polonaise brillante No.1 in D major, op.4
Sergey Rachmaninov
6. Vocalise, op.34 no.14 (arr. M. Press)
7. Variation No.18 from Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, op.43 (arr. Kreisler)
Pablo de Sarasate
8. Introduction et tarantelle, op.43
Henryk Wieniawski
9. Polonaise brillante No.2 in A minor, op.21
10. Scherzo-tarantelle, op.16
John Williams
11. Theme from Schindler’s List
Eugène Ysaÿe
12. Caprice d’après l’étude en forme after a waltz by Saint-Saëns, op.52
Maxim Vengerov (violin) / Ian Brown (piano)

CD 18 [65.21]
Ludwig van Beethoven
- Violin Concerto in D major, op.61
- Romance No.1 in G major, op.40 8.25
- Romance No.2 in F major, op.50 10.00
Maxim Vengerov (violin)
London Symphony Orchestra / Mstislav Rostropovich

CD 19 [78.52]
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Sinfonia concertante in E flat major, K364
Maxim Vengerov (violin), Lawrence Power (viola)
UBS Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra / Maxim Vengerov

- Violin Concerto No.4 in D major, K218 (Cadenzas: Vengerov)
- Violin Concerto No.2 in D major, K211 (Cadenzas: Vengerov)
Maxim Vengerov (violin)
UBS Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra / Maxim Vengerov

DVD
Maxim Vengerov: Living the Dream
In this 2005 documentary, the world's leading violinist reaches thirty and embarks on a sabbatical year of self-discovery, revisiting his roots in Siberia, recording the Beethoven Violin Concerto with his mentor Mstislav Rostropovich and commissioning a challenging Viola Concerto from Benjamin Yusupov that required him to study rock and jazz improvisation on the electric violin with the legendary Didier Lockwood, and finally dance tango on stage. Director Ken Howard created a vivid portrait of a restless master talent, at the height of his powers but still searching for new dreams to realise.
I Opening
II Rostropovich
III Memories
IV Siberia
V Paris & Amsterdam
VI Israel
VII Amsterdam
VIII Hannover rehearsals
IX Hannover concert
Bonus:
 X Maxim Vengerov in Moscow
XI Variations on an Original Theme