MUSIC REVIEW: Baley and Kiev Camerata dazzle audience at Yale (11/22/98)

MUSIC REVIEW: Baley and Kiev Camerata dazzle audience at Yale

by Alex Kuzma

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The Kiev [Kyiv] Camerata under the direction of Ukrainian American conductor Virko Baley provided a dazzling display of virtuosity at its November 1 concert at Yale University's Morse Recital Hall. In a performance that featured an ambitious array of works by Ukrainian composers, as well as Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 and Prokofiev's Symphony No. 1 (the "Classical"), the Camerata unleashed a tremendous display of creative energy that left many concert-goers catching their breath and reaching for superlatives.

At a time when many American orchestras are struggling financially, it is rare to find an ensemble willing to challenge the tastes of its audience - much less on its first foray into uncharted territory. The more common tendency is to pander to ticketholders' demand (whether real or imagined) for guaranteed crowd-pleasers and to err on the side of underestimating their appetite for something out of the ordinary. Not many musical directors would dare to win their listeners' hearts with a program that begins with Schoenberg, Silvestrov and Karabyts. The Camerata had no difficulty in revealing the virtues of its risky repertoire.

It began by feasting on the rich lyricism of Schoenberg's "Verklärte Nacht" (Transfigured Night), making its harmonic twists and ambushes as appealing as the most familiar lines of Brahms or Rachmaninoff.

Performed by a lesser orchestra, Silvestrov's "The Messenger" might have come across as a contrived and esoteric lament. At times, the piece bewilders the listener with its elusive grief. ("The Messenger" was composed as an elegy for the composer's wife, who passed away in 1996). Under Maestro Baley's direction, however, the piece achieves a number of poignant and riveting moments.

The overall effect is that of a musical haunting, with subtle piano overtones and delicately dissonant strings overlaid on a well-known melody from a requiem. One gets the sense of a lovely spectral presence moving in and out of focus, like a series of double-exposed photographs shot through a gauzed lens. At times "The Messenger" feels more like a noble failure, full of words unspoken and feelings incompletely expressed, until one realizes that this must be close to a precise expression of the regret and unextinguished longing we are left with after the death of a loved one.

Out of Silvestrov's disquieting meditation, Maestro Baley led his ensemble on a brilliant premiere of Stankovych's Passacaglia No. 2. Maestro Baley has a way of finding sufficient elbow room in even the tightest, most fleeting passage to draw out flashes of dynamic color and finely punctuated rhythmic lines, and the Camerata is wonderfully responsive to his every whim. At the same time, he is shrewd enough to leave his team of virtuosi plenty of leeway to bring out their own independent voices, transcending even his most elegant cues. The result is a rich and textured surge of complimentary impulses and effects that overwhelm the senses.

These 32 musicians play with a self-assurance and a playful, lusty zeal that defies complacency. They are able to coax the most wayward and provocative musical ideas and make them feel both coherent and comfortable, even to a skeptical listener with fairly stodgy tastes. To harness all this prodigious talent is no mean feat, and Maestro Baley never missed an opportunity to showcase his players' subtlety or depth of expression.

Maestro Baley directs with such clarity and chutzpah that one gladly follows his internal logic, looking forward to the orchestra's next surprising turn and wondering how far it will test the limits of its persuasive power.

Nowhere was this more evident than in Prokofiev's Symphony No. 1. The final movement (molto vivace) was taken appropriately at near-breakneck speed, to maximize the frolicking, almost farcical nature of the relentless scherzo passages. This is a piece that can push woodwinds to extremes. Yet the flute soloist Bohdana Stelmashenko and her partner Anatolii Marynchenko executed every hairpin turn with consummate grace and imagination. Throughout the evening, they played well enough to send the highly touted but often overrated Jean-Pierre Rampal into hiding.

Honorable mention should also be given to French horn players Oleksander Tokarenko and Valentyn Maroukhno, whose seemless entrances and soulful execution were gloriously understated.

Following the intermission, pianist Mykola Suk took the stage for a much anticipated performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4. Mr. Suk's interplay with the orchestra was superbly executed as he lavished affection on every phrase and baited the strings to match his emotionally taut wizardry. The strings obliged. Maestro Baley tempered the Camerata's fervor perfectly, never letting it indulge in the needless pomp or bluster that muddles other directors' interpretations. Instead, he allowed the innate power of Beethoven's music to speak for itself.

As the concert came to a close, the audience made it obvious by its response that this was no ordinary musical debut. Rarely has a standing ovation been so richly deserved.

* * *

Editor's Note: On November 3, the New Haven Register published a very favorable music review by Dennis Cashman whose headline read: "With passion and style, Kiev Camerata proves it's world-class."

Alex Kuzma is a resident of the New Haven area, a free-lance writer and choral conductor. His regular profession is in law and non-profit fund-raising.

| Home Page |