Chausson / Rivkin / Bulakhov - Violin / Piano & String Quartet Music CD

This album features two great works. The Mendelssohn Concerto receives a strong, idiomatic performance. The Chausson was written for violin and piano with string quaratet, but Levon Ambartsumian has expanded the string quartet with his arrangement for the strings of a chamber orchestra. It makes for a wonderful, larger-scale work of what is already an impressive piece. Evgeny Rivkin was born in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, receiving his early training and Bachelor of Music from the Nizhny Novgorod College of Music. He earned his Master of Music from the Moscow Conservatory and his Doctor of Musical Arts from the Moscow Conservatory. Dr. Rivkin has won several awards for his playing, including top prizes in the Bavarian Radio Musik Competition in Munich, the International Tchaikovsky Competition held in Moscow, the USSR National Piano Competition of St. Petersburg, and the Russian National Piano Competition held in Moscow. In 1998 he won the First prize in the 1998 International McMahon Piano Competition held in Oklahoma. Levon Ambartsumian is Franklin Professor of Violin at the University of Georgia Hugh Hodgson School of Music. Prior to coming to UGA in 1995, he was a Visiting Professor at Indiana University School of Music, replacing legendary American Violin Teacher Joseph Gingold. He also taught at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in 1978 where he taught for 15 years.