Ukrainian Piano Quintets
Boris Mikolayovich LYATOSHYNSKY (1895–1968)
Ukrainian Quintet, Op 42 (1942, rev. 1945) [40:17]
Valentin SILVESTROV (b. 1937)
Piano Quintet (1961) [19:28]
Victoria POLEVA (b. 1962)
Simurgh-Quintet (2000, rev. 2020) [17:45]
Bogdana Pivnenko (violin); Taras Yaropud (violin); Kateryna Suprun (viola); Yurii Pogoretskyi (cello); Iryna Starodub (piano)
rec. December 2020, Large Concert Hall, M.V. Lysenko KSSMBS, Kyiv, Ukraine
NAXOS 8.579098 [77:21]
In the 1920s, Boris Lyatoshynsky headed a group of new generation composers in Ukraine. The Soviet government had introduced a policy of korenizatsiya (putting down roots) and with this came some new-found freedom, manifesting itself in a “vibrant yet short-lived cultural renaissance”. This new generation of composers’ music saw fusion of Eastern and Western influences with their own national heritage. Stalin bought a sudden halt to all of this towards the end of the decade, and Socialist realism became the norm. Lyatoshynsky’s expansive four-movement Piano Quintet dates from 1942. It is tonal and melody-based, suffused with passionate intensity, heartfelt emotion and peppered with an irresistible Slavonic flavour. The emotional heart of the work is the profound and reflective Lento e tranquillo second movement, one of unfeigned sincerity. There’s a restless middle section, where the viola takes a central lead. The third movement is in the form of a scherzo, consisting of a dialogue between piano and strings. The work ends with a resolute finale.
Valentin Silvestrov hailed from Kyiv, and after some early musical education went on to study engineering. However, the pull of music was too great, and from 1958 to 1964 he studied composition with Boris Lyatoshinsky and counterpoint and harmony with Levko Revutsky at the P. I. Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine. I’m fortunate to have had one brief encounter with his music in 2016, when I reviewed two CDs of his orchestral music. Silvestrov dedicated his 1961 Piano Quintet to his teacher Boris Lyatoshynsky. A shorter work than his teacher’s, the Quintet has a duration of 20 minutes, and is cast in three movements. Richard Whitehouse comments in the accompanying booklet that the Piano Quintet “finds Silvestrov somewhere around the start of his Modernist odyssey”, in his experimental stage so to speak. Bathed in atonality and angularity, it sounds a lot more modern than that of his teacher’s backward looking work. The two outer movements are serene, expressive and introspective, and bookend a forceful and angular central Fugue, marked Allegro.
Victoria Poleva also originates from Kyiv, and is a graduate of the Conservatoire there. Her single-movement Simurgh-Quintet dates from 2000 and was revised in 2020. The title of the Quintet alludes to a winged creature of Persian mythology. The work is minimalistic and has both a static and hypnotic character in its chorale-like texture. For most of its duration the dynamics remain at a subdued piano level, save for a section of ricocheting strings and bird-like piano figures about 13 minutes in. The closing bars die away to nothing.
These are engaging and riveting performances, both colourful and deeply expressive. They’ve been admirably captured by the excellent digital recording. These exciting scores will appeal especially to the adventurous.
Stephen Greenbank
Previous review: Rob Barnett
