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Frid: Complete Music for Viola and Piano / Artamonova, Guild
Toccata

Frid: Complete Music for Viola and Piano / Artamonova, Guild

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Details

Composer
FRID VUSTIN
Artist
Artamonova, Guild
Format
CD
Label
Toccata
Released
Jan 08, 2016
Catalog #
TOCC0330
UPC
5060113443304

About

The Russian composer Grigori Frid (1915–2012), whose long life encompassed the entire existence of the Soviet Union, is best known for his 1969 chamber opera The Diary of Anne Frank. His sizable output, which has yet to be properly explored, includes three major works for viola and piano, their dignified restraint and emotional honesty taking the late works of Shostakovich as their stylistic starting point. They are followed by In Memoriam Grigori Frid, a touching tribute by Alexander Vustin (b. 1943) to his former teacher.

REVIEW:

Grigori Frid’s long life was marked by political turbulence and unease. His father had been sentenced to a five-year period in a vicious labor-camp in 1927 but the family survived intact. Frid was a teacher and educator, a disseminator of contemporary music and a composer of wide gifts whose portfolio includes three symphonies, numerous chamber works, and choral music as well as a raft of incidental, theater and radio works.

His complete viola music is the subject of this disc. Frid admired the instrument for its qualities of ‘reflection and contemplation’ as he related to the violist in this disc, Elena Artamonova, who gave the British premiere of the Viola Sonata No.1 in 2011. The work dates from 1971. The viola opens solo, and muted, revealing a Fridian fusion of lyricism and austerity with hints of March elements too. The central movement is a fast one, opening attaca, toccata-like and full of verve. The slow finale – the ground plan is vaguely Prokofiev-like – opens with a free cadenza, the piano cushioning or commenting quietly on the viola’s inexorable ascent to its highest register and silence.

The Sonata No.2 followed in 1985. Its subject matter is the Greek myth of Phaedra and it’s cast in four movements. There is appropriately somber tolling embedded in the work, and a heavily oppressive atmosphere, though Frid also embraces polystylism, introducing a stylized Baroque dance into the second movement, Music in a Palace, which is then subjected to much development and fragmentation. The Catharis movement takes the viola very high and introduces an element of equilibrium before the tolling finale of the Epilogue leads the viola to meander amidst the lament and reiteration of the opening movement. Some elements here suggest Shostakovich’s influence but this stoically aloof piece need not be seen as part of that lineage; it stands on its own feet. The Six Pieces (1975) are little character sketches, strong on sul ponticello, off-kilter dancing, interrupted dialogues, some tart dissonance and a highly developed sense of introversion, perfectly exemplified by the concluding Lento.

Talking of conclusions, that marks the end of Frid’s viola music. The disc is rounded out with his pupil Alexander Vustin’s In Memoriam Grigori Frid, composed in 2014. In two movements it builds strongly, through a quietly complex structure, to produce a work of weighted gravity whose lyricism formulates into a kind of somber refraction. It’s a fine salute from student to teacher.

Both Artamonova and Christopher Guild have recorded before for Toccata. She recorded Grechaninov and Vasilenko, whilst Guild has recorded Ronald Center and Ronald Stevenson. Together they make a fine team, though the violist has in the past more usually been paired with Nicholas Walker, who accompanied her in the two discs just mentioned. The recording is well-balanced and the notes – by the violist – are full of important biographical and musical information.

– MusicWeb International (Jonathan Woolf)

Tracklist 15 tracks

  1. 1 I. Phaedra: Andante sostenuto 04:42
    Track
    1
    Title
    I. Phaedra: Andante sostenuto
    Duration
    04:42
    Composer
    Grigory Frid
    Performer
    Elena Artamonova, Christopher Guild
  2. 2 II. Music in a Palace: Andantino 06:04
    Track
    2
    Title
    II. Music in a Palace: Andantino
    Duration
    06:04
    Composer
    Grigory Frid
    Performer
    Elena Artamonova, Christopher Guild
  3. 3 III. Catharsis: Sostenuto assai e poco rubato - Doppio movimento - Tranquillo 08:10
    Track
    3
    Title
    III. Catharsis: Sostenuto assai e poco rubato - Doppio movimento - Tranquillo
    Duration
    08:10
    Composer
    Grigory Frid
    Performer
    Elena Artamonova, Christopher Guild
  4. 4 IV. Epilogue: Doppio meno mosso - Tranquillo e molto sostenuto 04:46
    Track
    4
    Title
    IV. Epilogue: Doppio meno mosso - Tranquillo e molto sostenuto
    Duration
    04:46
    Composer
    Grigory Frid
    Performer
    Elena Artamonova, Christopher Guild
  5. 5 No. 1. Moderato 01:53
    Track
    5
    Title
    No. 1. Moderato
    Duration
    01:53
    Composer
    Grigory Frid
    Performer
    Elena Artamonova, Christopher Guild
  6. 6 No. 2. Con moto (Moderato) 01:39
    Track
    6
    Title
    No. 2. Con moto (Moderato)
    Duration
    01:39
    Composer
    Grigory Frid
    Performer
    Elena Artamonova, Christopher Guild
  7. 7 No. 3. Allegretto 01:22
    Track
    7
    Title
    No. 3. Allegretto
    Duration
    01:22
    Composer
    Grigory Frid
    Performer
    Elena Artamonova, Christopher Guild
  8. 8 No. 4. Andantino 02:37
    Track
    8
    Title
    No. 4. Andantino
    Duration
    02:37
    Composer
    Grigory Frid
    Performer
    Elena Artamonova, Christopher Guild
  9. 9 No. 5. Allegro ma non troppo 02:02
    Track
    9
    Title
    No. 5. Allegro ma non troppo
    Duration
    02:02
    Composer
    Grigory Frid
    Performer
    Elena Artamonova, Christopher Guild
  10. 10 No. 6. Lento 04:29
    Track
    10
    Title
    No. 6. Lento
    Duration
    04:29
    Composer
    Grigory Frid
    Performer
    Elena Artamonova, Christopher Guild
  11. 11 I. Tranquillo e molto cantabile 04:28
    Track
    11
    Title
    I. Tranquillo e molto cantabile
    Duration
    04:28
    Composer
    Grigory Frid
    Performer
    Elena Artamonova, Christopher Guild
  12. 12 II. Allegro 03:41
    Track
    12
    Title
    II. Allegro
    Duration
    03:41
    Composer
    Grigory Frid
    Performer
    Elena Artamonova, Christopher Guild
  13. 13 III. Lento 04:54
    Track
    13
    Title
    III. Lento
    Duration
    04:54
    Composer
    Grigory Frid
    Performer
    Elena Artamonova, Christopher Guild
  14. 14 I. Introduction: Semplice 04:49
    Track
    14
    Title
    I. Introduction: Semplice
    Duration
    04:49
    Composer
    Alexander Vustin
    Performer
    Elena Artamonova, Christopher Guild
  15. 15 II. Farewell Song: L'istesso tempo 06:22
    Track
    15
    Title
    II. Farewell Song: L'istesso tempo
    Duration
    06:22
    Composer
    Alexander Vustin
    Performer
    Elena Artamonova, Christopher Guild