Ukrainian avant-garde in classical music applauded in Chicago (08/13/06)

Ukrainian avant-garde in classical music applauded in Chicago

by Maria Kulczycky

CHICAGO - Ukraine's rich musical heritage is being shared with wider audiences in Chicago.

Last October, the festival of Kyivan Liturgical Music brought musicologists, choristers and the public to a two-day celebration of a musical tradition threatened with neglect.

Another venerable tradition - modern Ukrainian classical music - is being promoted by an American group, MAVerick Ensemble, artists-in-residence at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago, through a series of concerts around the city.

The latest MAVerick Ensemble program was held July 31 at the Chicago Cultural Center, overlooking Millennium Park, a major tourist magnet in the center of the city. The program took place in conjunction with the center's exhibition "Modernism in Ukraine, 1910-1930," a landmark exhibit of Ukrainian avant-garde artists. Both were presented by the city's Department of Cultural Affairs.

The concert echoed the modern theme of the exhibition. Works of Borys Liatoshynsky, a contemporary of the original modernists, and Valentin Silvestrov and Virko Baley, both composing currently, were presented.

For the past three years MAVerick Ensemble has been researching, studying and performing works of modernist Ukrainian composers, providing many with their U.S. premiers. The ensemble, consisting of 10 musicians, also promotes the works of cutting-edge composers such as John Cage, Christian Wolff and Morton Feldman.

There is no way of knowing if Liatoshynsky's Trio No. 1, Op 7 (1922) has been performed here before. Called the first great trio by a Ukrainian composer, it has a lovely and vibrant melodic line. At turns lyrical and explosive, it evolves through three movements in a continuous rhythmic drive to a triumphant conclusion. The three artists - William Jason Raynovich, ensemble director, violoncello; Soo Young Lee, piano; and Elizabeth Brausa Brathwaite, violin - performed this challenging piece with grace and verve.

Liatoshynsky (1895-1968) studied and lived in Kyiv, but traveled widely in the West and taught in Moscow. A member of the post-World War I musical renaissance in Kyiv, he initiated the modern movement in Ukraine with works that originally reflected expressionism. He is a composer who deserves a greater reputation, which could grow with greater exposure in the West.

Messrs. Baley and Silvestrov represent a younger generation, having been born just before World War II. Mr. Baley, born in Ukraine, has spent his creative life in the U.S. Multi-lingual and multi-disciplinary, he is a conductor and music director of the Nevada Symphony Orchestra in Las Vegas and distinguished professor of music and composer in residence at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He infuses his music with contemporary and traditional motifs.

" ... a trois" (1998), the Baley piece performed at the Cultural Center, was written to honor the death of Liatoshynsky, as well as the 60th birthday of Mr. Baley's friend, Mr. Silvestrov. The work is a fragment of an imaginary piece. The piano reiterates a motif reminiscent of Proust's "Madeleine." The final melody was composed when Mr. Baley was 13, bravely attempting to write a symphony.

Mr. Silvestrov, born in Kyiv and a student of Liatoshynsky, continues to live and work in Kyiv. While lyrical and melodic, his work embraces free serialism, as well as aleatory and textural explorations. "Postludium No. 3" (1981/2), his work played at the concert, represents a period when, as Mr. Silvestrov explained, he explored "poetry in music. The postlude can be compared to a collection of resonances. A form in which one suspects the existence of a certain imaginary text connected to the real, given text." This metaphorical style preoccupies Mr. Silvestrov to the present.

"Postludium No. 3," a conversation between the piano and the cello, is a meditative, slow exchange the performers instilled with deep emotion and simplicity.

The audience in the spacious marble and Tiffany-glass hall burst into generous applause at the conclusion of the concert, demonstrating their appreciation for both music and performers. Predominantly non-Ukrainian, the audience nevertheless included several members of the Ukrainian community, among them were Ukraine's Consul General Vasyl Korzachenko and members of his staff.

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