SOUNDS AND VIEWS: "A genuine vocal phenomenon": Clemens Andrijenko on cassette (11/19/00)

SOUNDS AND VIEWS

by Roman Sawycky

"A genuine vocal phenomenon": Clemens Andrijenko on cassette

A German periodical compared the voice of Clemens Andrijenko (Klym Chichka-Andrienko) to Caruso in the 1920s. Others wrote: "This tenor is a genuine vocal phenomenon" (Dortmunder Zeitung). "The voice and diction speaks of a wonderful culture. The storm of applause was constant" (National Zeitung).

Through decades of singing, the lofty title of "Ukrainian Caruso" had been bestowed on very few tenors. No one really deserved it, but Andrijenko came close to its singular significance: his very bright, metallic voice with baritone underpinnings certainly had the power, dramatic excitement and fluency of a sea of sound. Whether or not he was at the very top of his nation's singers, like Caruso certainly was for Italy (and America, his second home) may now be decided by listeners thanks to a new cassette of Andrijenko's historic recordings.

Selected recordings by famed Ukrainians Ivan Kozlovsky and Borys Hmyria have been reissued with the benefit of contemporary sound processing. However, Andrijenko's daughter, pianist and educator Kalena C. Andrienko, was able to assemble the complete sonic legacy of her distinguished father from discs, cut in the years 1927-1956.

These include heretofore unpublished acetates made in 1927 in Berlin and four wonderful items from that city on very rare Telefunken issues of 1936, when Germany's sound technology began to compete with that of other nations. The discs feature two dramatic selections from Mascagni's "Cavalleria" (part of Turiddu) and two passionate Neapolitan songs. The Telefunken sessions were made with orchestra accompaniment.

This was no easy achievement for a foreign artist amid stiff competition from Germany's leading voices and official hostility towards non-German performers. Yet, the voice was such that it won the day. Andrijenko sang with much success, accompanied by critical adulation (quoted in the cassette notes, which are in Ukrainian and English). He even appeared in a feature film produced by Germany's central UFA Studios.

Besides the Mascagni selections, the tenor is heard in choice selections by Puccini, Leoncavallo, Tchaikovsky, Ostap Nyzhankivsky, Mykola Lysenko, Viktor Matiuk, Denys Sichynsky. The cassette also includes a rarely heard group of art songs by Andrijenko's friend, composer Ostap Bobykevych of Munich (all to lyrics of Oleksander Oles).

Born in western Ukraine, Andrijenko (1885-1967) sang leading roles at the Lviv Opera, and concertized and taught voice at the Lysenko Music Institute of Lviv. Having emigrated to Berlin in 1926 with his family, Andrijenko concertized extensively in Western Europe. His repertoire ranged from lyric to dramatic roles in operas by Mozart, Wagner, Flotow, Verdi and Bizet. He sang lieder by Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Liszt, Richard Strauss and others. Ukrainian art songs and folk song settings were always on his programs.

Maestro Renato Virgilio (accompanist to Caruso as well as Andrijenko) noted that Andrijenko was "the greatest perfection which I had the experience of hearing during recent years," while the German Westfalische Landeszeitung compared Andrijenko with Caruso in terms of vocal beauty and volume, "which would be difficult to attain by other European singing schools ..."

To be sure, Andrijenko developed his own method, which he later taught, writing a singing manual. The tenor projected dramatic concentration, sincerity and that disarming earnestness admired in Mario Lanza.

While this memorial cassette was in preparation some selections were heard and praised by the late pianist and Ukrainian Music Institute President Daria Karanowycz, while Halyna Kuzma of the UMI teaching staff remarked that Andrijenko's voice was like a sea in its immensity. Also impressed with the recording was contemporary conductor Adrian Bryttan, who noted that he "listened with much pleasure to this highest achievement in vocalism and musical taste!"

Commented Bryttan: "Alas, the golden age of singing has passed, and very rarely does one meet young singers today, who really understand 'bel canto' and the cultivated vocal line. More in style now are effects and 'interpretations.' Too bad."

The cassette includes an illuminating interview with Andrijenko's daughter, Kalena of Munich, Germany, whose reminiscences were aired by Kyiv Radio in 1992. The interview was conducted by Halyna Rozniuk.

To order send $10 plus $1.50 for shipping to: Exotic Ukrainian Gifts, c/o Ola Oliynyk, 5253 Glancy Drive, Carmichael, CA 95608.

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