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Review: German Romantics delight at French touch
By William Dart
Of the two major orchestras performing in Auckland, the Auckland Philharmonia consistently …More

Bachtrack
Review: Lomeiko, Bringuier and APO make winning combination in Bruch and Brahms
By Simon Holden
The legendary drawing power of the “Three Bs” would seem to be justified, if a healthy-sized audience for Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra’s German…More

Leonard Bernstein’s Serenade for Violin is a technical tour de force for both soloist and orchestra. This programmatic work in five parts is based on Plato’s Symposium, where Socrates and other dinner guests create “a series of related statements in praise of love” (Bernstein). It was certainly a serious challenge for the players – Natalia Lomeiko produces a most beautiful violin tone, and she gave a reading of consummate musicianship and technical mastery, backed up by exceptional playing from the orchestra.
Classical Music Reviews Wellington, New Zealand, 

The highlight of the evening was provided by Natalia Lomeiko in Berg’s Violin Concerto. Lomeiko seemed to compress a lifetime into this great work, investing each little sigh and waltz in its first movement with its own truth and character.
New Zealand Herald July 2011

“Natalia Lomeiko is one of the most brilliant of our younger violinists.”
Yehudi Menuhin

“Russian violinist Natalia Lomeiko took impressive command of the highly strung romanticism of Glazounov’s Violin Concerto, given full-bodied support by the Philharmonia. Her technical mastery in the treacherous first-movement cadenza was magnificent, and the Scherzo was compelling, with Lomeiko again proving her virtuosity in the violin’s fiendish scalic “
The Strad, UK

“Here’s an essentially romantic temperament, as witnessed by some sumptuous Tchaikowsky performances,… which revealed a tone of viola-like intensity and an expressive, focussed vibrato.”
The Strad

“Lomeiko impressed the audience not only with her remarkable skills but with her extraordinary, enchanting tone…the performance was not unleashed: she thoughtfully designed and tamed her music. There’s no doubt that this young lady will continue to bloom in the world of violin for years to come”
Mainichi Newspapers, Japan

“This disc (Grieg Sonatas) presents a very robust player, with a fiery brand of musicianship supported by a very reliable technique, and a wide and colourful dynamic range.”
The Strad, UK

“Dans la Premier Sonate, le jeu enthousiaste de la jeune violoniste russe Natalia Lomeiko efface toute trace de manierisme. Avec la complicite de la pianiste Olga Sitkovetsky, accompagnatrice experimentee, Lomeiko allie delicatesse et bravoure. Natalia Lomeiko domine le text (Sonate no.3) avec fierte,sans negliger toutefois les evasions reveuses et les episodes lyriques qui acquierent ainsi une signification puissante et personnelle.”
Les Disques, France

“The gorgeous slow movement (Dvorak Concerto) was handled exquisitely and both soloist and conductor knew how to caress those Romantic melodies.”
The Press, New Zealand

“… rarely have I heard a more convincing case for these works being the natural heir of what has gone before: in Lomeiko’s sultry performance the Blues second movement of the Ravel possesses an affectionate, nostalgic warmth that beguiles the ear, where so many artists become inexplicably straight-laced and inflexible. Both the Piece en forme de Habanera and Ysaye’s unaccountably neglected Poeme elegiaque are so beautifully phrased and fragrantly atmospheric that one can only sit in wonder.”
The Strad, UK

“Blake’s Violin Concerto is “full-scale” in every way; it has three expansive movements, is scored for large orchestra and makes considerable demands on the soloist. And in its first performance, starring Natalia Lomeiko as a dazzling soloist, the concerto generated electricity and excitement from the first pianissimo note shivering on the strings, over which the solo crept in with an icy, long-limbed melody that touched all 12 semitones. The audience sat forward, hushed and stifled any coughs. Lomeiko, who won the Michael Hill Competition in 2003, is now a poised and polished performer, tackling everything with commitment and enthusiasm. There was not a note that did not seem part of a thoroughly thought-out interpretation.”
Listener, New Zealand

“The highlight of the evening was the performance by the Lomeiko-Zhislin Duo. The Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante is often played these days, and the listeners are offered a wide variety of different interpretations. Lomeiko and Zhislin, however, gave us one of the best versions I have ever heard. They played this beautiful music effortlessly and naturally, not making anything up, following the great composer’s ideas: light, happiness, nobility and wisdom..
Their ensemble is phenomenal. It feels like both of them can predict exactly what the other one is about to do. Lomeiko and Zhislin are like twins: they sense the mood, the phrase and the colours of the work in exactly the same way. The viola does not keep any secrets from the violin. It gently decorates musical ideas that the violin creates with its own unique patterns. Sometimes, the same melody is simply shared by the two instruments. The tempos, passages, technical elements – everything was performed effortlessly. But the most significant thing was the sound: tender, transparent and dreamy from the violin, and dark and rich, as honey, from the viola.
KULTURA, Moscow, Russia

Whether it was the presence of soloist Natalia Lomeiko or the inclusion of two of the composer’s most popular orchestral scores, the audience was heartier in numbers and more vociferous in its enjoyment.
The first piece, Meditation, was the greatest test, having its origins as the projected slow movement of Tchaikovsky’s concerto. From her first lustrous phrase, Lomeiko invested it with both gravitas and emotional substance.
Later, when the mood intensified, Lomeiko’s sweeping scales and passagework inspired the players around her to new heights. The final Melodie, a guileless waltz in the shade of Borodin, was a lesson from both soloist and orchestra in effortless grace.
New Zealand Herald, New Zealand

“Some quite stunning playing from Natalia Lomeiko on her new disc of Prokofiev’s Violin sonatas for Atoll…
…Great care and thought is given by Olga Sitkovetsky to the opening of the Andante assai of Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 80 before Natalia Lomeiko brings some fine violin textures. These two players develop the music through some passionate passages bringing intense emotion. Lomeiko provides superb textures with bold, dynamic piano accompaniment and later some exquisite little rapidly rising and falling decorations.
There are razor sharp short phrases with pinpoint accuracy from both soloists in the Allegro brusco where they find an intuitive response to each other. This violinist provides some extremely fine tone in the more flowing central section before some intensely dramatic passages. In the quieter moments they bring some fine poetry with Lomeiko finding a very fine, spontaneous delicacy.”
The Classical Reviewer, Bruce Reader

“The suite was followed by Prokofiev’s dynamic 1st Violin Concerto, alternately and mercurially spiky and lyrical, in which Natalia Lomeiko underlined her absolute mastery of the instrument, with tone and articulation to spare and complete confidence in her athletic interpretation, and absolutely at ease with this orchestra and conductor. William Goodchild led the orchestra very sympathetically, with much flexibility of the accompaniment to the soloist, and vice versa, giving an exciting and organic performance. The many passages which involve soloist duetting with woodwind principals came across particularly well, and Will’s rehearsal and direction coaxed Prokofiev’s colourful textures from the orchestra in the ethereal and the grotesque passages alike.”
Bristol review,
Bristol Metropolitan Orchestra,
Johnathan Lane

Berg Concerto: a score for top violinist

William Dart

“I can’t complain,” says Natalia Lomeiko, reeling off a breathless 30-second account of the past few months, from recording projects to a professorial appointment at the Royal College of Music. “And life just keeps getting more interesting.”

Russian-born Lomeiko, best known for winning the 2003 Michael Hill International Violin Competition, returns from London to play Berg with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra on Thursday. Challenges, she says, do not come much bigger.
“I’ve always wanted to play this one and just needed this concert to seal the deal,” she laughs.

When the Concerto was premiered in 1936, Elliott Carter hailed it as “not only one of Alban Berg’s best but one of the best of our time”. The American stressed its tender emotionalism, as well as the strong Bach connections that make it an inspired choice in the third and final of the APO’s Inspired by Bach concerts.
For Lomeiko, Berg’s work is “unusual because it is so symphonic.

“Unlike in some other concertos, the violin is very much a part of the whole score,” she says.

One of the benefits of Lomeiko’s regular guest gigs leading orchestras from the Chamber Orchestra of Europe to the Royal Philharmonic has been enabling her “to pace myself more symphonically … When you’re in the concertmaster’s seat you see the whole picture differently. And I feel it has brought more scale and breadth to my playing.”

Lomeiko is bemused by the fact that Berg loosened up his 12-note musical style by asking violinist Louis Krasner, who commissioned the concerto, to walk around the house improvising while the composer was working.

Does she include improv among her many activities?

“Only when I do exercises.”

She does admit, however, to being a bit of a jazz buff and is reading a biography of French jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli.

She is struck by how “versatile and warm his playing is. There are no superfluous notes … He’s refined the sound so beautifully that it’s perfect”.

If Grappelli has such a distinctive sound, how does she feel about violinists in her own classical field?

“That’s a big question,” she says. “The further we go back the more recognisable they are, to be sure; Oistrakh, Menuhin and of course Jascha Heifetz, who was unique.

“Now it’s difficult, even with the top players, to recognise who it is.”

Lomeiko’s philosophy as an artist is in line with her approach as a teacher. “There is no set of rules for all students.

“Some have certain problems but will also have something really good which they should rely on for confidence while they develop other areas.

“But, in the end,” she says, “the main thing is that they play from the heart and it is musically convincing.”