Myroslav Skoryk: Music For Violin And Piano
Toccata
CD
$20.99
Jul 10, 2012
SKORYK The High Pass: Melody. Violin Sonatas: No. 1; No. 2. Hutsulian Triptych: Allegretto and Dance. Caprice for Solo Violin. Carpathian Rhapsody. Poem. Spanish Dance • Solomia Soroka (vn); Arthur Greene (pn) • TOCCATA 0137 (65:42)
Violinist Solomia Soroka, who has collaborated with the composer in performances of his works, herself wrote the booklet notes for Toccata’s collection of Miroslav Skoryk’s music for violin and piano, in which she’s joined for recital by pianist Arthur Greene. The notes trace the composer’s early years in Siberia, to which his family had been exiled, through his attempts to study musical composition in Ukraine, to his final work with Dmitri Kabalevsky. They also trace his affection for Hutsulian modes and the kolomyika , a dance of the same ethnicity (familiar from one of the most intoxicating of Béla Bartók’s duos for two violins).
The Melody (from 1981) recalls Skoryk’s work as a composer for movies, this being an adaptation from his first effort, The High Pass , which movie—and melody—Soroka relates, became “universally popular” in Ukraine. Firmly tonal and strongly evocative, it nevertheless sounds a bit edgy in Soroka’s performance, perhaps due to the strong but slightly abrasive quality of the tone she produces (still, her generally suave manner of performance hardly sounds unnuanced). The engineers have focused the spotlight on her, and she appears to dominate the piano in the recorded sound. The First Violin Sonata, from 1963, recalls the dark harmonic shimmer of Prokofiev’s work (Soroka relates that Skoryk wrote his doctoral dissertation on that composer’s modal practices). Passages crop up in the first movement (of three) that recall the earlier composer’s haunting Five Melodies , which Prokofiev himself arranged for violin and piano. In these moments, Soroka adopts a throaty manner that accentuates the music’s sultriness, a manner that continues, intensified, in the brief Largo. The finale thrusts and slashes in this performance, relieved by searingly intense expressivity.
If anything, the Allegretto and Dance from Hutsulian Triptych (1964) sound even more accessible; they come from another Ukrainian movie, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors , and Soroka and Greene extract all the poignant lyricism and stormy drama, and gaiety, respectively, that the music and its program suggest. The four-odd-minute Caprice for Solo Violin (1978), according to Soroka, harks back to Paganini’s 21st Caprice, but it also bears some connection, in its combination of a declamatory slow opening section and a brilliantly animated concluding one, with Kreisler’s Recitativo and Scherzo Caprice (with double-stopped tremolos and pizzicatos, although, of course, in a completely different style); Gustave Samazeuilh’s similar piece, Lamento et Moto perpetuo , also comes to mind.
The Carpathian Rhapsody (2004) and Poem (2006), the most recent items on the program, both began their lives, according to Soroka, as required repertoire for violin competitions. The first sounds forbidding, perhaps because Soroka makes it seem more difficult than ingratiating. Although the Poem opens more reflectively, and overall sounds less ethnic, it nevertheless contains its share of purely violinistic difficulties and probes further into the harmonic penumbra than any of the pieces that precede it on the program. The Second Violin Sonata (1990) explores differing styles, but Soroka points to the recurrence of material from Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata as a unifying element. The slow movement (the center one of three) makes a more consistent impression, centered on a single somber mood, captured by Soroka in a long-breathed melodic outpouring. The virtuosic finale recalls that of Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto but also interweaves some lyrical jazzy elements. The Spanish Dance, from 1978, also began as incidental music, for The Stone Ruler . It’s heavier, darker, and more smoldering than Sarasate’s pieces, and could serve as a substitute for one of them on almost any program. According to Soroka, Bodhar Kotorovych, of the Kiev Conservatory, considered the original arrangement of this final movement from a suite for string orchestra to be technically too simple. Violinists should hear how Skoryk responded. In fact, violinists should hear the whole disc, as should those interested in relatively recent repertoire for the instrument. In fact, its workable performances, fascinating booklet, and clear recorded sound should appeal to almost anyone with the slightest interest in the violin.
FANFARE: Robert Maxham
