Classical and Modern Music
Format: CD
Code: 112577
EAN: 3838898112577
... DIALOGUES
Aleksandra: What piece of advice is given to us by the selected compositions, which are penetrating through us and changing us, and at certain moments seem to be connected with a magic threat? This thin invisible thread or these moments of silence in breaks are the sound of soul. So the choice of programme is fate… Oleg: While choosing the programme for the compact disc we did not notice the many parallels between the
compositions as we do now…
A.: The interpretation of compositions depends not only on the performer but also on the sequence they are played at. If we played only Chopin, the music would sound differently from that followed by Debussy and Kogoj. The interweaving of compositions from different composers creates a new different atmosphere.
O.: Yes, it seems that all these composers are talking to each other, although they belong to different periods of music history.
A.: Some hidden dialogues between composers arise… Time becomes completely unimportant, and my most favorite saying appears: “time is only a man’s invention”.
O.: And there we are…
A.: Shall we?… No… Chopin dedicated one of his last works, his only sonata for piano and cello, to his friend Franchomme, a cellist who stayed with him in last moments of his life.
O.: It is true. He was writing it for two years and was not very satisfied with the first movement. While performing with Franchomme they only played the second, third and fourth movements.
A.:… In the first movement it seems as if certain scars were damaging the balance of the musical form. It is incomplete…
O.: As we, ourselves, are incomplete. We have to accept this as it is and play without any special philosophy. This is the only way to perceive beauty in spite of its small deficiency and asymmetry.
A.: Chopin is quite natural and direct in his Mazurkas op. 63, there are no scars, but there is only a reflection of his rich personality: a noble, proud, temperamental Pole and a tender French fragrance of tiny violets… “Eau de parfum”…
O.: Yes, French art is soaked with impressive sensuality. A.: It is unbelievable how effective the French can be on our feelings, senses, and even on our skin. I was tingling with excitement when I first read Baudelaire and then I discovered Debussy Prelude “Harmonies du soir”…
O.: Look… Again you have missed the point entirely. That is exactly what brought us to the “sad Pierrot who was offended by the moon…”, that is how Debussy wanted to call his sonata in the subtitle.
A.: Yes, with this title you see the bizarre, nostalgic and grotesque pieces of this sonata in quite a different light. It reminds me of “Pierrot lunaire” by Arnold Shoenberg…
O.: What a metaphor, ha? I knew you would like it. The whole sonata is theatrically expressionist.
A.: Pierrot… the clown, then like Kogoj in his real life: antisocial, eccentric, strangely dressed, not accepted or understood, a funny figure. A terrible fate of a man without a proper name is felt in his music.
O.: Then he is an expressionist hero, and his music takes us into his pure but insane world of strong perception.
A.: There is still something very naive in his music, and the form is fragile as the finest china. It is interesting how an imaginative world full of strange metaphors can sometimes be much closer and much easily understood then bare reality… Talking about expressionism, I have chosen two tiny, contrasting compositions: “Anxiety and Ecstasy” by Vilko Ukmar, my fellow-citizen from Postojna, and from Postojna to Gorica — “The little story of the Gorica wild wind» composed for us by Marijan…
O.: Light, gentle, with jazz elements…
A.: It is witty but a little eccentric. Well, we musicians very often behave in the same way… I do not find any real connection between the compositions and their titles… Undoubtedly, the title is connected with us and our concert in Tolmin, when a strong wind was pulling out trees and un-roofing houses in Nova Gorica. As if there was something fatal in the loud little story about the Gorica wild wind…
O.: Hm… And again we are at the beginning… With a fate which plays on us.
A.: As with puppets…
O.: Pierrots lunaires…
Oleg Bugaev, Russian cellist, Moskoncert soloist, prize winner in numerous state and international competitions. He completed his graduate and post- graduate studies with honors at the State Conservatory P. I. Ciaikovsky in Moscow where he also took his
Master Degree. His professors were Alexander Kniazev and Natalia Shahovskaya. Oleg has been playing with the Slovene pianist Aleksandra Pavlovič for many years, and he describes her: Aleksandra is very special. She is exeptional not only in art but also in her life. When playing with her I feel a palette of various complicated emotions: she is a pianist of phenomenal talent. Her solo piano evolves admiration and an exceptional feeling and attention to the partner on stage. The connection of
these two qualities is necessary to a chamber musician that wants to achieve high and magical results. Aleksandra catches a phrase without discussing it. We define the basic things and then we simply play. We rather talk through music.”
Aleksandra Pavlovič, Slovene pianist, prize winner in state and international competitions. She completed her graduate and post-graduate studies with honors at the State Conservatory P. I. Ciaikovsky in Moscow. Here professors were Lev Naumov, V ladimir Viardo and Andrey Diev. She says about Oleg : “Being with him on stage is something extremely beautiful, and every time I know it will become an extraordinary
experience. Every concert is the result of our momentary inspiration. We both know that one is never the same, nor is his music. His tone is surprisingly soft and velvety. His interpretations radiate absolute love and are always sincere and direct. With him and his “princess” as he calls his cello, one becomes spontaneously better.
Translation: Sonja Caharija
COMPOSITIONS:
Frederic Chopin (1810–1849)
Sonata za klavir in violončelo v g-molu, op. 65 (1848)
1. Allegro moderato
2. Scherzo
3.Adagio
4. Finale — Allegro
Mazurke op. 63 (1847)
5. Mazurka v H-duru, Vivace
6. Mazurka v f-molu, Lento
7. Mazurka v cis-molu, Allegretto
Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
Sonata za violončelo in klavir v d-molu (1915)
8. Prologue (Lent)
9. Serenade (Moderement anime)
10. Final (Anime)
Marij Kogoj (1895–1956)
11. Andante za violino in klavir Vilko Ukmar (1905–1991) Ekspresije za klavir (1954)
12. Nemir (Exitacion) — Presto
13. Zamaknjenost (Extase) — Adagio
Marijan Mlakar
14. Goriške burje zgodbica (2011) (listen!)
