A Russian violinist wins big in France

A Russian violinist wins big in France

main

norman lebrecht

November 21, 2014

Aylen Pritchin, 27, from St Petersburg was announced last night as winner of the Thibaud round of the Long Thibaud Crespin competition.

He receives 25,000 Euros.

aylen pritchin

 

Second was Naoka Aoki, 22 (Japan)
Third: Frederike Starkloff, 24 (Germany)
Fourth: Kyung Ji Min, 19 (South Korea)
Fifth: Hildegarde Fesneau, 19 (France)

The jury was chaired by the distinguished Italian soloist, Salvatore Accardo. Pritchin’s teacher, Eduard Grach, was a member of the jury, as was one of his ex-pupils.

Comments

  • Milka says:

    Not another one !!!!!!!

  • Milka says:

    That you don’t need violin competitions We are overun with them .They serve no useful purpose except to show that Ms. X has more dexterity than Mr. X. Competitions debase the
    art .

    • Harold Lewis says:

      The Long-Thibaud competition was created by Marguerite Long and Jacques Thibaud in 1943. Hardly just another superfluous competition! The Concours Long-Thibaud website explains the recent development of the competition:

      “For almost seventy years, the Long-Thibaud Competition has choosen young pianists and young violinists and helped them to be heard. It is useless to say one more time how big its fame is, and that is the reason why the Long-Thibaud Foundation, its president Jean-Philippe Shweitzer, and sponsors, chose to add a third test to its programme : singing. So the Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition, which will take place every three years in Paris, from 2011, will select and then crown the greatest voices of the future.

      ‘Régine Crespin’s name (1927-2007) came almost naturally to the mind of the directors of the Long-Thibaud Foundation, for this famous opera singer embodies elegance and colours of the French singing. Spotted herself during a Competition (the Most beautiful voices in France), Régine Crespin will now have a new mission: to take throughout the world the renown of the competition which bears her name.

      “The first edition of the Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition happened from 31 October to 5 November 2011, with the Orchestre National de France conducted by Bertrand de Billy. The eliminatory tests took place in twelve cities of the world (such as London, Vienna and New York), and the concert gala in the Châtelet Theatre, Paris. Didier de Cottignies accepted to be the artistic director of the new contest, and Alexander Pereira to be the first president of the jury.”

    • Mark Henriksen says:

      You mean like the olympics debase athletics?

      Dexterity (actually, “chops”) is a given for the serious contenders in any audition. Its the ante to play the game and has little to do with winning.

      • Milka says:

        Henriksen like the Toronto Chinese
        piano competition you confuse athletics
        with aesthetics.Winners of these events
        are usually those that conform and reflect the judges
        attitudes towards the art ,if the judges have little between the ears except facility
        and big sound guess who wins .Let’s
        be frank – there are celebrated players
        who go from city to city playing their
        Sibelius etc. who haven’t had an original musical thought in their head
        since their first solo outing . Do you
        believe for one second that the beautiful playing for which Thibaud was admired would win a prize in
        todays world of violin competition ?
        Of course not ….we have ended up with the likes of Vengerov,Markov,
        Bell, Kim etc. all dexterity and nothing
        between the ears except how to parlay
        the dexterity into $ .

  • Theodore McGuiver says:

    I listened to the final on the radio last night. Excellent playing, particularly of the Shostakovitch.

  • M2N2K says:

    If every competition produces a winner of Vengerov or Bell quality, it would not be so bad at all. As for this particular one, having Salvatore Accardo (who has plenty of fine substance “between his ears”) as its chairman gives this competition a good chance to earn as elusive an endorsement as milka’s seal of approval seems to be.

  • MOST READ TODAY: