DATELINE NEW YORK: A tetrology for two violoncellos and soprano (12/12/99)

DATELINE NEW YORK: A tetrology for two violoncellos and soprano

by Helen Smindak

Virko Baley's newest composition, "Treny" (Laments) is filled with intense emotion - the torment of the spirit, the pain of loss and deprivation, at times anger and rage - and concludes with a portion of a wake. A tetralogy for two violoncellos and soprano, inspired by a new bilingual edition of "Treny" by the Polish Renaissance poet Jan Kochanowski, published in 1995, received its world premiere during the Music at the Institute (MATI) concert on November 20.

As the feature artists, world-renowned cellists Natalia Khoma and Suren Bagratuni and the highly esteemed New York City Opera diva Oksana Krovytska, gave expressive and physically intense performances. Ms. Khoma and Mr. Bagratuni inspired awe as they phrased somber solos and duets in the first three "treny" with precision and tremendous feeling. Although "Treny I" and "Treny II" were solos played by Ms. Khoma, Mr. Bagratuni's cello supplied an inconspicuous drone from time to time. The two joined forces in Treny II, a duet in two parts, with the two cellos binding into a single unit.

"Treny III," which Mr. Baley describes as "a monodic piece, a soliloquy, a stream of consciousness, elegies of lamentation," expressed the composer's grief over the death of composer Borys Liatoshynsky (who played an important role in Mr. Baley's aesthetic development) and the loss of three persons close to him - his mother, Lidia; Lydia Bondarenko (the wife of composer Valentin Silvestrov, a member of the Kyiv Avant-Garde of innovative musicians); and Bruce Adams, his oldest friend in Las Vegas. This portion ranged through variations in mood, from the sweetly sorrowful or fiery and ranging to tender and melancholy.

Ms. Krovytska joined the two cellists in "Treny IV," adding further excitement to the masterful work. She gave words to the laments as she sang Kochanowski's tragic and translucent poetry in Polish in a clear, powerfully projecting soprano. Conveying deep feeling and pathos, she sang excerpts like the "tren" that voiced the thought that "Man is not alone; his wounds run deep;/His joys are like a scar on top;/And once it's touched, that buried ache/Throbs wide awake."

As the compositions emotional epicenter and its final resolution - Mr. Baley's attempt to "wrestle down my grief" - "Treny IV" brought the laments to an end with a fragment of a resounding and eternal wake.

Mr. Baley, who came from Nevada to New York for the premiere and who is the newly appointed principal professor of music at the University of Nevada, joined the artists on stage to take bows after the presentation. Born in Ukraine in 1938, he is also the principal conductor of the Kyiv Camerata, and until 1995 served as founding music director of the Nevada Symphony. He co-produced and composed the music for the film "Swan Lake: The Zone," which won two top awards at the Cannes Film Festival in 1990. He has made several recordings, among them "Dreamtime," "Jurassic Bird" and "Orpheus Singing." His compositions "Dreamtime," performed by the California E.A.R. Unit, and "Concerto No. 1 Quasi Una Fantasia," given its premiere by the New Juilliard Ensemble, received excellent reviews

Ms. Krovytska, who opened the New York City Opera's current season in the title role of "Madama Butterfly," is preparing for a number of engagements in the United States and Canada in coming months. She will sing in "Katya Kabanova" with the Miami and Montreal operas, "Fedora" with the Palm Beach Opera, Helena in Boito's "Mefistofele" with the Opera de Montreal, Dvorak's "Requiem" with the New Jersey Symphony and Brahms' "German Requiem" with the Flagstaff Symphony.

Ms. Khoma, like Ms. Krovytska is a native of Lviv, has been a recitalist and soloist with orchestras around the world since winning top prizes at the Budapest Pablo Casals competitions and the Markneukirchen and Tchaikovsky international competitions and first prize at the 1990 Belgrade International Cello Competition. Making her first public appearance on television at the age of 10, she has been featured on numerous European radio and TV stations and on WNYC-FM in New York and WGBH-FM in Boston. She is married to Mr. Bagratuni, a native of Yerevan, Armenia, a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician who has won acclaim for both his traditional and contemporary repertoire. The two often perform together on recordings and at recitals.

News in Brief

Dmytro Bortniansky's second opera "Alcide," written while the young composer was studying in Italy, was recorded on two CD's in Lviv last year through the collaborative efforts of two musical groups in Lviv and one in France - the Gloriya Chamber Choir directed by Yaroslav Hnatovsky, the Leopolia Chamber Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yaroslav Myhal and the Orphina Society in France. Music critic Teodor Teren-Juskiw notes that the handwritten score of the opera was discovered in a British library and published in Kyiv in 1985. Look for the recording under the title Dimitri Bortnianski, "Alcide" opera, World Premiere, 2 CD, EROL, France 1998. Dist. Disques Concord.
Lilia Dlaboha is a native New Yorker whose parents came from Ukraine. She has worked as a newswire editor and on various literary and consumer magazines in New York, taught poetry privately, worked as a private investigator, and has had several of her poems published internationally. Her latest oeuvre, titled "Morning," appeared in a recent issue of Lungfull! magazine alongside Ms. Dlaboha's original attempt (with revisions) at describing a morning soliloquy in free verse. She also performs on drum and vocals with the Carpathian folk band Cheres; she and her husband, Cheres director Andriy Milavsky, spent some weeks this past summer in Ukraine's Hutsul countryside searching for Hutsul folk instruments and costumes.
Actress, model and film star Milia Jovovich, who stars in the newly opened film "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc," is pictured on the cover of Elle magazine's December issue. The Kyiv-born star, described in advance movie publicity as the only child of Russian film star Galina Loginova and Yugoslav pediatrician Bogich Jovovich, made her film debut at age 9 in Disney's TV movie "Night Train To Kathmandu," has been modeling since age 11 and began writing songs at 15. The New York Times film critic Janet Maslin says Ms. Jovovich's performance in "The Messenger" dominates the film, but notes that the actress "remains pedestrian and underwhelming, with leadership qualities that are noticeably dubious." Elle magazine's story, by David A. Keeps titled "Wild At Heart," touting her lucrative contract with L'Oreal and her careers as a singer-songwriter and an actress. Now estranged from her husband, director Luc Besson, she will next be seen in "Million Dollar Hotel" with Mel Gibson and Jeremy Daviies. The story is accompanied by a multi-page photo spread showing Ms. Jovovich in "casual chic" clothing and jewelry fashions by designers Chanel, DKNY and Ralph Lauren.
Following a tip last summer that the Broadway musical "The Scarlet Pimpernel," a classic story of romance, intrigue and swashbuckling adventure, harbored a Ukrainian actor among its stars, "Dateline" asked the Barlow-Hartman PR agency to name the artist in question. In response, we received a bio on Marc Kudisch (Chauvelin) and subsequently reported that Mr. Kudisch was of Ukrainian ancestry. Turns out the actor is actually of Lithuanian and Polish stock. A late-night stop at the Neil Simon Theater on West 52nd Street for corroboration, following a concert at the Ukrainian Institute of America, brought us face to face with Mr. Kudisch outside the stage door. "Sorry, I'm not Ukrainian," the actor told me with a smile, but I'm pretty close to it."
Definitely Ukrainian are women's fashions spotted in the Petites section of some New York department stores. Labels reading "Made in Ukraine/Hecho en Ucrania" have been seen on coordinated charcoal-grey jacket and pants outfits made by Amber Stone Petites and smart-looking jackets by Braetan Petites. Earlier this season Macy's was offering black wide-strap buckled sandals by Aerosole, labeled "Made in Ukraine."
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The Syzokryli Ukrainian Dancers, directed by Roma Pryma-Bohachevsky, recently received a great report card from the Board of Cooperative Educational Services of Nassau County (New York). The ensemble's performances at two secondary schools in the exclusive Port Washington community on Long Island was given an "outstanding rating, based on student response, artistic quality and educational quality. Using a rating criteria of 1-5 points (1 = poor, 5 = outstanding), the board gave marks of "5" to Syzokryli in each category.

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