JULIAN SITKOVETSKY

Julian Sitkovetsky (1925-58)

My first encounter with Julian (Yulian) Sitkovetsky was the CD I picked up in a clearance sale, volume 3 in (now defunct) Arlecchino's survey of this sadly neglected violinist. Obviously a big talent, I kept his name in mind. Just the other day, I was delighted to find in the library 5 CDs on the obscure ARTEK label (previously issued on the equally obscure SYD label) and reacquainted myself with this remarkable violinist. I have been listening to nothing but him yesterday, except for the time spent listening to RTHK4's live broadcast of HKPO/EdW's Mahler 9th (a mostly pedestrian performance devoid of momentum, fortunately rescued a little by a finale that has some excellent playing).

As for Julian Sitkovetsky's playing, I cannot say it better than Joseph Magil, critic (himself a violinist and violist) of my favorite music magazine, the AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE: "...David Oistrakh said that, had he lived, Sitkovetsky would have eclipsed him and Kogan….He had a broad, firm, focused tone in all registers; flawless intonation; a rapid, even trill; a swift, perfectly controlled staccato; strong, immaculate harmonics; an even, clear sautillé..."(July/Aug., 2006)

There is surprisingly not much on Julian Sitkovetsky on the internet; a few words here and there; a brief mention in a violinist list; not infrequently briefly mentioned in association with his son, the most interesting of which is here.

(Not) surpisingly, the few Blog articles that I can find are from Asia. Research has its own rewards: I discovered the highly useful, and delightful Blog by Taiwanese 陳 昭佺 Chau-Chuan Chen, aka milsteinheifetz , who seems to specialize in violin playing, with a definite leaning towards the Russian school (as it should be). His Blog on Julian Sitkovetsky has a useful CD discography (bio though seems to be translated from notes in the Artek CDs)

BIOGRAPHY below excerpted from the notes by Mark Malkovich on Artek, with some addition of my own:

• Started violin lesson at age 4, first with father, then David Bertie at the Central School in Kiev.
• At age 8, chosen to play for Jacques Thibaud; at age 9, played Mendelssohn concerto with the Kiev Symphony.
• 1939: enrolled in the Moscow Central Music School, class of Abram Yampolsky, whose students include Leonid Kogan, Igor Besrodny and Rotislav Dubinsky (first violinist of Borodin quartet; then of Borodin Trio after defecting to the West).
• 1945: Winner of All Soviet Union Young Performers Competition of piano, cello and violin (the other 2 winners are Richter and Rostropovich!)
• 1947: First Prize, Prague festival (shared with Kogan and Besrodny)
• 1950: married pianist Bella Davidovich.
  
• 1952: Second prize, Wieniewaski Competition (first prize was Igor Oistrakh, who is definitely a lesser violinist; sharing second was the excellent Wanda Wilkomirska, another sadly neglected violinist whose many excellent reccordings on Connoiseur Society and Polskie Nagrania have shamefully been out of print).
• 1955: Second Prize, Queen Elizabeth Competition, (Of which Menuhin said: "...David Oistrakh and I were on the jury...he should have had First Prize...")
• 1956: Diagnosed with lung cancer; never toured the west, not even much of Europe.
• 1958: Died at age 32.

The Artek series does not include Julian Sitkovetsky's famous recordings of Sibelius and Tchaikovsky.

Volume I:
Volume II:
Volume III:
Volume IV:
Volume V:
--Khachaturian concerto (USSR SRSO/Khachaturian, 1956): This is likely the best ever, a remarkable blend of fire and lyricism. Sound is very good too.
--Shostakovich 1st (USSR SRSO/Gauk, 1956): Excellent, though sound of this live feed is not too good.

p.s. I put together the info and made an entry in wikipedia. I am glad to see it's still not removed (done if deemed insufficiently referenced) and someone has done some editing too!