Ukrainian presence at 'Masterpieces of the Russian Underground' concert series at Lincoln Center (02/02/03)

Ukrainian presence at 'Masterpieces of the Russian Underground' concert series at Lincoln Center

by Ika Koznarska Casanova

NEW YORK - Ukrainian violinist Oleh Krysa, professor at the Eastman School of Music and former prominent student of David Oistrakh at the Moscow Conservatory - who was esteemed in the former USSR as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher, is among the featured performers taking part in the three-concert series "Masterpieces of the Russian Underground," presented by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at Alice Tully Hall on January 24-February 2.

Among composers featured in the program is Ukrainian Valentin Silvestrov whose compositions - String Quartet No. 1 and "The Messenger" for Solo Piano - were performed on January 28 in the second part of the series, titled "Song of Innocence and Experience: Serialism and Post-Modern Style."

The series, curated and directed by pianist Vladimir Feltsman, features music by proscribed composers of the second half of the 20th century whose music did not comply with Soviet aesthetic strictures and who experimentally broke with accepted musical conventions.

Mr. Krysa was slated to perform in all three concerts, beginning with the first program titled "Russian Expressionism: From Shostakovich to Schnittke" (January 24). Well-known as a champion of Alfred Schnittke's music, Mr. Krysa premiered many of the late composer's pieces, including several that were dedicated to him, such as "A Pagannini," "Concerto Grosso No. 3," and "Piano Quartet after Sketches by Mahler."

(As special guest with Irina Schnittke, widow of the composer, Maestro Krysa appeared with the Winnipesaukee Chamber Players (of which he is a member) and the New York Symphonic Ensemble, under the direction of Mamoru Takahara, in a commemorative concert tilted "Remembering Alfred Schnittke" at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall on April 29, 1999.)

Mr. Krysa's close relationship to Schnittke was underscored in a lenghty New York Times article titled "Where Composers Still Held Sway, From Underground," by Joseph Horowitz, (Sunday, January 19 issue) that appeared as a prelude to the series. The article, which explores the paradoxical influence and prestige attained by the proscribed underground composers in the Soviet Union, prominently features the festival's artistic director and former "refusenik" Mr. Feltsman.

Featured performers in the concert series are Mr. Feltsman, piano; Gary Hoffman, cello; Ani Kavafian, violin; Mr. Krysa, violin; Paul Neubauer, viola; and David Shifrin, artistic director, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, clarinet.

"Masterpieces of the Russian Underground" program is supplemented by poetry readings, a film program ("Soviet Sounds: Russian and Soviet Composers in the Cinema"), a photography exhibit, and lectures.

* * *

As happens all too often in such forums, the program organizers used imprecise and misleading terminology when they labeled the entire series "Masterpieces of the Russian (rather than Soviet) Underground."

In fact, the third musical program of the series, "Mirror in the Mirror: Search for Unity and Order" (February 2), features exclusievely non-Russian composers from the new independent states, among them, Ashot Zohrabian (Armenia), Faradzh Karayev (Azerbaijan), Arvo Pärt (Estonia), Giya Kancheli (Georgia) and Sofia Gubaidulina (Tatar Republic).

The Ukrainian composer Silvestrov, however, although correctly identified in the program's website as "a leading voice of the new Ukraine," appears in the second musical program, titled "Song of Innocence and Experience: Serialism and Post-modern Style (January 28), along with the Russian composers: Andre Volkonsky, Nikolai Karetnikov, Edison Denisov and Victor Kissine.

| Home Page |