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The Road Less Traveled An Exploration of Unfamiliar Works Shostakovich wrote a haunting Viola Sonata.
When I browse through CD stores, I notice that much attention is given to the best-known performers and the standard repertoire, often produced on big-name labels. While many of these recordings deserve our attention, they sometimes take it away from equally accomplished efforts by lesser-known performers, composers, and labels. CDs can provide a fun and relatively inexpensive way to expand our knowledge of the variety of repertoire and performers out in the world, and as a reviewer, I am often presented with terrific material by both friends and strangers. Here I have focused on works for solo cello or cello and piano (with one viola CD slipping in), primarily from the 20th century. While the names may be unfamiliar, I hope that you will be persuaded to become better acquainted with them. Cellist Karen Kadaverak has premiered many new works and performs frequently with well-known early-music ensembles. She is also a poet, singer-songwriter, and playwright. She has assembled a collection of really terrific works on her 1998 CD, Cello Alchemy: Music from Russia and Eastern Europe (GM Recordings, available from 167 Dudley Rd., Newton Centre, MA 02459; [617] 969-6328). Kadaverak, an accomplished performer, combines forces with the superb pianist Randall Hodgkinson to present fascinating 20th-century works. Produced by noted composer and conductor Gunther Schuller, the CD is a pleasure to hear. It opens with a great, brief work by Moscow Conservatory–trained Rodion Shchedrin, who was born in 1932. Entitled In the Style of Albéniz, Shchedrin’s 1961 work is a vivid, virtuosic homage to that Spanish composer. The most familiar of the composers on the disc is Leos Janácek, here represented by his three-movement Fairy Tale and a Presto, both composed for cello and piano in 1910. The works are charming and ought to be performed more often. Also included are two works for solo cello, both of which deserve to be in the standard repertoire: Aram Khachaturian’s Sonata-Fantasia, composed in 1975, and Alfred Mendelsohn’s 1960 Suite for Solo Cello. The Armenian-born Khachaturian (1903–1978) also wrote solo works for violin and viola; his two-movement cello piece on this disk is really lovely, soulful, and thought-provoking. Mendelsohn (1910–1966), a Romanian composer not related to Felix, trained in Vienna. A prolific composer, he wrote many chamber works, including ten string quartets. His charming Cello Suite follows the format of the Bach Suites: an introductory Prelude followed by five brief, dancelike movements. Nikolai Roslavetz is represented by a 1911 Meditation for cello and piano, a thick, chromatic work that predates his experimentation with 12-tone systems. The CD ends with Alexander Mossolov’s 1924 Legend for cello and piano, a wild, exciting work that is, in some ways, the most modern-sounding of the bunch, since it delves into unusual tone colors and is harmonically and tonally experimental. Another exploration of Russian music comes from the duo of violist Michael Zaretsky and pianist Xak Bjerken. Their 1998 CD Black Snow: Music of Russian Composers for Viola and Piano (Artona, available from PO Box 1376, Amherst, MA 01004) features sonatas by Mikhail Glinka, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Jakov Jakoulov. Zaretsky, a native of Moscow, is now a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. A cum-laude graduate of the Moscow State Conservatory, he has also been principal violist of the Jerusalem Broadcast Symphony. He plays beautifully, with a hearty, rich sound, and is well matched by the sensitive accompaniment of Bjerken (who teaches at Cornell University). Glinka and Shostakovich are familiar composers, and their sonatas for viola and piano are heartily welcomed into the repertoire. The Glinka Sonata (1825–28) is an incomplete work: only two movements long, it lacks the planned, but never realized, Finale. Written early in Glinka’s musical career, before his sojourns to other countries, the Viola Sonata is lovely and romantically impassioned. In contrast, Shostakovich composed his Viola Sonata at the end of his life, as his health was declining. Spare and haunting, the work is a masterpiece. The first movement opens with the viola plucking fifths, a motive that permeates the work. The middle movement, a frenzied Scherzo, contrasts markedly with the final Adagio, which is haunted by an eerie but recognizable quote from Beethoven’s "Moonlight" Sonata. The CD’s third composer, Jakoulov, was born in the Soviet Union in 1958, received a doctorate in composition from Boston University, and now lives in Boston. He has composed music for film and theater, written concertos and quartets, and had his music widely performed. Two of his compositions are on Black Snow: a substantial Sonata for viola and piano, and the humorous set of variations, Mikhail Glinka, Valse-Fantasie, Stylistic Reminiscences. Both were dedicated to Zaretsky and are terrific. The Sonata, completed in 1995, consists of two sizable outer movements framing a diminutive middle movement that Jakoulov labels "A Tango in a Madhouse." The first movement, in sonata form, has some resonances of the Shostakovich Sonata, particularly in its opening theme. There are wild mood shifts between introspective, melancholic sections that echo Shostakovich and unexpected violent outbursts. In the final movement, Jakoulov evokes the Romanian gypsy music of his mother’s heritage. The viola, which reaches the top of its range at times, mimics the sound of a human voice and is accompanied by a very athletic piano part. The CD ends with Jakoulov’s 1997 homage to Glinka. Humorous and touching, contemporary but looking back, it is a satisfying conclusion that brings the CD full circle. Armenian-born Suren Bagratuni won the Silver Medal in the 1986 Tchaikovsky Competition, received an Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory, and is now a faculty member at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. A phenomenally gifted cellist, Bagratuni champions the solo cello works of Armenian composer Adam Khudoyan, as well as the solo sonatas of George Crumb and Paul Hindemith, in an impressive self-titled CD (Ongaku Records, 1995). Khudoyan, born in 1921, has written three Solo Cello Sonatas (in 1961, 1984, and 1993) and all three appear on this disc. Bagratuni has premiered a number of Khudoyan’s works and commissioned Nostalgia, and all of the Khudoyan pieces on this CD, except for the First Sonata, received their world-premiere recordings here. Bagratuni is a compelling performer and really makes this music sing. All three sonatas contrast slow, sonorous sections with more energetic, rhythmic segments. Khudoyan incorporates Armenian folk tunes as well as respectfully echoing other composers, such as Reger, Shostakovich, and Janácek, in his works. A pair of his works for two cellos, a Sonata and Nostalgia (both from 1994), are also included; Natalia Khoma, a Ukrainian cellist, ably performs the second cello part. In the Sonata, Khudoyan starts with two slow movements: both are plaintive, introspective, and beautiful. The final movement, marked Allegro giocoso, is more outgoing and enjoys a fine interplay between the two cellos. Nostalgia sets a slow and melancholy melody in the first cello over the second cello’s double-stop ground bass line. Bagratuni performs Khudoyan’s technically challenging works with great panache. His renditions of Crumb’s 1955 Sonata for Solo Violoncello and Hindemith’s 1922–23 Sonata for Cello Solo are equally compelling—clean and clear, and very musical. Bagratuni’s performance of the fourth movement of the Hindemith, marked Lebhafte Viertel, must be one of the quickest on record; it lasts but 29 seconds, and the notes go by almost faster than the ear can detect! Hindemith can also be heard on 20th-Century Works for Cello and Piano (1995, Music and Arts Programs of America CD 903), performed by the inimitable Hampton-Schwartz Duo. This husband-and-wife team of pianist Nathan Schwartz and cellist Bonnie Hampton, both on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, has premiered many new works. The disc includes wonderful performances of five really interesting, rarely performed compositions. First is the Hindemith Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 11, No. 3 (1919, revised 1921), a big, complex, three-movement work that is very contrapuntal. It is quite a contrast to the more mature, tightly woven Solo Cello Sonata reviewed above, which was written just a few years later. Then come Recollections and Revel, composed for the Hampton-Schwartz Duo in 1978 by Elinor Armer (b. 1939), who also teaches at the San Francisco Conservatory. Recollections, says Armer in the program notes, is "the image of two people remembering an experience together"; you can really hear the dialogue between the two. And Revel is quite lively and exciting. There is the 1948 Sonata of Seymour Shifrin (1926–79), a terrific early work by this student of William Schuman and Darius Milhaud. The outer movements are rhythmic and gregarious, contrasting with a slow, highly melodic middle movement. All three movements reinvent the material of the cello’s opening statement. I don’t know why this isn’t performed more. The fourth work on the CD is Paul Turok’s 1984 Sonata, Op. 50, which also was written for Hampton and Schwartz and has three movements. Turok (b. 1929) is a noted critic as well as a composer. His Sonata is very lyrical and highly programmable. The first movement is rhapsodic, with much interplay between the two instruments; the second movement, a Scherzo, dances wildly at times. The last movement is a well-crafted set of variations. The final work on the CD is a world-premiere recording of Darius Milhaud’s 1959 Sonata. This little-known work is full of depth and deserves much more attention. The first and last movements are rooted in dance, while the slow middle movement is expansive and expressive. I don’t know why this work has been overlooked for half a century. This is a well-performed, well-crafted CD, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it. Cellist Elizabeth Morrow, who holds a DMA from the University of Southern California, is on the faculty of the University of Texas at Arlington. A champion of newly commissioned and lesser-known cello works, Morrow has recently released a CD of just such compositions entitled Soliloquy: Contemporary Works for Unaccompanied Cello (Centaur Records CRC 2426, 1999). Morrow is a superb cellist and, more importantly, a thoughtful and emotionally committed musician; she gives meaning to the music at hand and makes it speak to the listener. The warm and resonant sound on the disc was recorded with only two microphones. There are eight composers represented on Soliloquy, and most are faculty members at various universities. The pieces are varied and interesting; many are brief and would make excellent additions to more traditional cello programs. Geoffrey Gordon’s 1998 Lorca Musica per Cello Solo, which Morrow commissioned, is the lengthiest work, clocking in at just over ten minutes. Inspired by the life and work of the celebrated Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca, Lorca Musica is a thoughtful, brooding work that hints at Spanish folk music and makes full use of the cello’s range. Daniel Kessner, who teaches at California State University, Northridge, contributed Four Studies in Melodic Expression (1991), which explore different ways of composing with melody. For example, the first, "Cantilena," begins with a singing melody that slowly moves throughout the range for the cello, while "Continuum," a brief bit of perpetual motion, expands on a simple four-note idea. Zae Munn’s 1984 Projectual for Solo Cello is rather like an Escher print, in that it transforms from one thing into something altogether different: it begins as a piece of very tonal minimalism and ends, some four minutes later, as a serial tone row. Robert Fleisher provides Two Movements for Violoncello (1973), which were originally for bassoon but perfectly suit the singing quality of the cello. Mark Sforzini, a bassoonist, composed his 1997 Remembrance Upon a Midnight Hour as memories of a fictional woman. The work tells quite a story and explores many emotions. Kevin Malone is the only composer on the CD not based in the United States; he teaches in Cheshire, England. His Four Pieces for Cello (1987) explore different modalities and mixed meters. Professor and jazz saxophonist Benjamin Boone provides the jazziest work, Buffing the Gut: A Jazz Etude for Solo Cello (1995), which he says is about playing for the sheer joy of playing. It requires a lot from the cellist and is great fun. The CD ends with George Chave’s Three Reflections, which transforms the same thematic ideas into different emotional entities. Morrow is to be commended for this excellent recording of interesting works. I was very impressed by the quality of the performances on all of these CDs, and amazed at the variety of great music. I’m sure that there is much more wonderful music waiting to be recorded, and many more enterprising performers ready to do so. In the meantime, take a listen to some of these deserving and engaging recordings.
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