Viktoria Mullova
Viktoria Mullova is a violinist primarily known for her great virtuosity and a wide-ranging repertory that includes many crossover pieces. On the serious side, she has been praised for her interpretations of various solo works by J.S. Bach, including the partitas and sonatas, as well as her readings of concertos by Brahms, Prokofiev (No. 2), Shostakovich (No. 1), and Sibelius. Her forays into more popular realms have included pieces by the Beatles, Miles Davis, and Duke Ellington. Over the years, Mullova has developed a reputation for her highly individual interpretations and for her ability to communicate with her concert audiences. She has also grown to favor historically correct instruments and practices.
Mullova was born on November 27, 1959, in Zhukovskiy, in the Moscow Oblast, then part of the Soviet Republic. She studied music at the Central Music School of Moscow, where her most important teacher was Volodar Bronin. She later studied with violin virtuoso Leonid Kogan at the Moscow Conservatory. Mullova had a meteoric rise owing to spectacular wins at two major competitions: in 1980, she took first prize at the Jean Sibelius International Violin Competition, and two years later won the gold medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition. The following year, she defected to the U.S. but eventually settled in England, where she lives with her husband, cellist Matthew Barley.
In the 1980s, Mullova made a number of highly successful recordings for Philips, including her first in 1985, with Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which paired the Tchaikovsky and Sibelius concertos. She followed that success in 1988 with another containing the Prokofiev Second and Shostakovich First, with André Previn and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. By the end of that decade, she had appeared to great acclaim with many of the most important orchestras and conductors in the U.S., Europe, and East Asia.
In 1994, she founded the Mullova Chamber Ensemble, a group that quickly achieved international renown. After her marriage to Barley, Mullova developed an interest, through him, in jazz and other popular styles of music. In 2000, taking inspiration from a series of popular music concerts she gave on tour, Mullova made a recording for Philips entitled Through the Looking Glass, on which she performed music by Davis, Ellington, George Harrison, and other non-classical figures. Moving to the Onyx label in 2005, Mullova has steadily continued to issue recordings; among these are Bach: Sonatas (2007) with Ottavio Dantone, Peasant Girl (2011), and Music We Love (2020) with her son, bassist Misha Mullov-Abbado. In 2022, Mullova moved to the Signum Classics label for a historical-instrument reading of music by Schubert, with Alasdair Beatson, who has become a regular collaborator, on fortepiano. Mullova performs on the "Jules Falk" Stradivarius from 1723 and a 1750 Guadagnini violin.
© Robert Cummings & Keith Finke /TiVo
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Arvo Pärt
Classical - Released by Onyx Classics on 21 Sep 2018
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Violin Sonata in A Major, Fantasie in C Major and Rondo in B Minor
Viktoria Mullova, Alasdair Beatson
Chamber Music - Released by Signum Records on 22 Apr 2022
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven Violin Sonatas Nos. 6, 1 and 8
Viktoria Mullova, Alasdair Beatson
Classical - Released by Signum Records on 3 May 2024
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven & Mendelssohn Violin Concertos
Viktoria Mullova, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, John Eliot Gardiner
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 2003
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: 6 Solo Sonatas & Partitas
Classical - Released by Onyx Classics on 26 Mar 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven Violin Sonatas 4,5&7
Viktoria Mullova, Alasdair Beatson
Chamber Music - Released by PM Classics Ltd. on 26 Mar 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Concertos For Two Violins
Viktoria Mullova, Giuliano Carmignola, Venice Baroque Orchestra, Andrea Marcon
Classical - Released by Archiv Produktion on 1 Jan 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach, J.S.: Partitas Nos. 1 - 3
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 27 Jan 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Live at the V&A
Oliver Zeffman, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Viktoria Mullova
Classical - Released by Ozero Records on 4 Jun 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky & Sibelius Violin Concertos
Viktoria Mullova, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1986
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Violin Concerto
Viktoria Mullova, Berliner Philharmoniker, Claudio Abbado
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 13 Sep 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 1 / Vieuxtemps: Violin Concerto No. 5
Viktoria Mullova, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 4 Sep 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stradivarius in Rio
Matthew Barley, Viktoria Mullova, Carioca Freitas
Chamber Music - Released by Onyx Classics on 7 Apr 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1 / Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2
Viktoria Mullova, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, André Previn
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 23 Mar 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Works For Solo Violin: J.S. Bach: Partita No. 1 / Bartók: Sonata For Solo Violin / Paganini: Introduction & Variations
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 May 1988
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Violinkonzerte 1,3,4
Viktoria Mullova, Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenment
Classical - Released by Decca on 1 Jan 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Violin Sonata in A Major, D. 574: III. Andantino
Viktoria Mullova, Alasdair Beatson
Chamber Music - Released by Signum Records on 9 Mar 2022
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Music We Love
Viktoria Mullova, Misha Mullov-Abbado
Classical - Released by PM Classics Ltd. on 25 Sep 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Through The Looking Glass
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Aug 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Felix Mendelssohn : Violin Concertos
Viktoria Mullova, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo