Sentimental Work: Alexander Sitkovetsky on Bach’s ‘Double’ Violin Concerto

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Bach’s ‘Double’ Concerto has been with me since I was eight years old, and has played a part in many significant moments in my life. I first started learning it when I was at the Yehudi Menuhin School; the year before, I had been invited by Menuhin to travel from Russia to study there, while he also offered teaching positions to my mother, pianist Olga Sitkovetsky, and my first teacher Natasha Boyarsky. I was invited to perform it at the 1992 Evian Festival with Menuhin as the other soloist. I first went through it with Mrs Boyarsky but I mostly worked on it with Menuhin, who gave me some wonderful insights into Bach’s music: from the use of counterpoint to voicing and the importance of rhythm. I was fortunate that it was my first introduction to Bach, as those 14 minutes of music encapsulate so much of Bach’s method.

In 1995 I entered the junior section of the Yehudi Menuhin Competition, where Julia Fischer won the first prize. We met again a few years later at the Verbier Festival, but then lost contact for around eight years until we reconnected in Russia. Then she invited me to the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany. She was the festival’s artist-in-residence and we performed the Bach ‘Double’ together, with the orchestral accompaniment provided by the Belcea Quartet. Not only was this the first time we’d performed Bach together, but also Julia’s former tutor Ana Chumachenco was in the audience. We then performed it again at the Kronberg Festival, again with Ms Chumachenco in attendance; and she ended up becoming my last tutor. Not only that; Julia chose me to partner her on her 2009 recording of Bach concertos for Decca. We’re now great friends and colleagues; and we’ve been performing together in her string quartet for more than a decade.

The album with Julia was actually the second time I’d recorded the piece. I’d previously played it with my uncle Dmitry Sitkovetsky, for a recording with his ensemble the New European Strings. We then toured the US performing it, which was a huge moment in my early career; I’d been looking up to my uncle my whole life, and I’d been inspired by his lessons when I was younger. So that was another pivotal moment in my musical development.

I’ve performed the ‘Double’ Concerto more than a hundred times, and each time I get something new out of it. It’s a new piece with every different partner I perform with; there are so many ways for the soloists to play off each other, both dynamically and with articulation. One of my favourite recordings growing up was by Jascha Heifetz and Erick Friedman; I find it incredibly beautiful, although not everyone will agree with me on this! I certainly knew about Menuhin’s recording with David Oistrakh, made during the height of the Cold War when Menuhin was intent on using music to build as many bridges as he could to strengthen relationships around the world.

This ties in with my performance at the end of August with Ukrainian violinist Diana Tishchenko, in a ‘Concert for Peace’ with the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Iván Fischer. Artists from Israel and Palestine were also involved in the performance at Budapest’s Heroes Square. It feels important to me to play this piece, which has so much resonance for me personally, on a stage like this.

INTERVIEW BY CHRISTIAN LLOYD

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