NEW TO YOUTUBE | Victor Pikayzen Performs Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto

Filmed in circa 1994 in Moscow, Pikayzen is playing with the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra and conductor Yuri Nikolayevsky

The Violin Channel recently caught up with internationally acclaimed violinist VC Artist Igor Pikayzen, the grandson of Victor Pikayzen, to ask about the recording. 

Igor said that although Mr. Victor Pikayzen is unsure of the precise year this performance was recorded; he recalls that it was during a tumultuous time.

“It was a period of great uncertainty in Russia, very soon after the USSR fell apart and there was tremendous volatility in Russia,” he told The Violin Channel. 

“The concert hall provided an oasis of stability as it was the one constant that remained through the years,” he continued. “Of course this was almost 30 years ago and as we get older everything changes, but the violin remains as something that is always with you.”

Mr. Pikayzen had forgotten that this original recording existed and said “it was a pleasant surprise to discover it in the archives.” 

Even if he could go back to this time and give himself advice, he would “leave everything as is.”

A protégé of David Oistrakh, Mr. Pikayzen is a former prize winner at the Paganini, Queen Elisabeth, Tchaikovsky, and Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud International Violin Competitions. 

PYOTR TCHAIKOVSKY | VIOLIN CONCERTO IN D MAJOR OP. 35 | I. ALLEGRO MODERATO | VICTOR PIKAYZEN | YURI NIKOLAYEVSKY | MOSCOW STATE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA | C. 1994

PYOTR TCHAIKOVSKY | VIOLIN CONCERTO IN D MAJOR OP. 35 | II. CANZONETTA. ANDANTE | III. FINALE. ALLEGRO VIVACISSIMO | WALTZ-SCHERZO | BACH GAVOTTE | PAGANINI CAPRICE NO. 2 IN B MINOR | VICTOR PIKAYZEN | YURI NIKOLAYEVSKY | MOSCOW STATE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA | C. 1994