Iryna Krechkovsky and Sookkyung Cho, Classical Interludes, First Lutheran Church, Torrance
BARBARA GLAZER
This recital, given by Iryna Krechkovsky (violin) and Sookkyung Cho (piano), was an extraordinary performance by a pair of supremely talented performers who, though in only their first concert together, played with one heartbeat, and translated the music into exquisite aural paintings.
It used leitmotifs—recurring musical ideas—to build meaning, often with complex, chromatic harmonies to emphasize the internal, psychological, or mystical rather than the merely sensory. Impressionism is about how things feel, sensory impressions; Symbolism is about what things represent—for a deeper meaning of their truth and reality. Debussy, indeed, bridged both traditions, as to an extent did Lili Boulanger.
Lili's ill-health stemmed from a bout of pneumonia at the age of two which led to the intestinal TB that eventually killed her, yet she produced a body of extraordinary work. She was the first woman to win the Prix de Rome (in 1913) for the cantata Faust et Hélène based on Goethe, but was too ill to receive the award in person. Her father won this prestigious prize in 1835, but her more famous sister failed to accomplish it even after four attempts. (The Prix de Rome, established in 1683, was only opened to women for music in 1903.)
Gabriel Fauré’s Violin Sonata No. 1 in A major, Op. 13 (1875-76), was at first refused by a Leipzig publication house, but then reconsidered if the composer would waive his fee, which he did. It was a sensation at its 1877 premier, and is now deservedly considered a crown jewel in chamber music. Fauré dedicated it to Paul Viardot, the brother of his lover Marianne Viardot.
The encore was Lullaby by Valentin Silvestrov. He was born in 1937 in Kiev (then part of Russia, before Ukraine achieve independence after WWII), and taught himself the piano, not having a lesson until he was 15. He attended night music school in Kiev while he studied civil engineering, before he transferred to the Kiev Institute for Music. He fled to Berlin after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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| Sookkyung Cho. |
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| Iryna Krechkovsky. |
Nocturne (1911) and Cortège (1914), the opening two pieces by Lili Boulanger (1893-1918, younger sister of Nadia Boulanger, the globally acclaimed piano teacher and composition instructor), set the stage for a concert showcasing the refined, elegant, French style, often identified with French Impressionism, though Lili—who indeed was inspired by Fauré and Debussy—also represented the Symbolist tradition in music. While Impressionism in music focused on fleeting sensory moments—light, atmosphere using fluid rhythms, blurred harmonies, to create impressions—Symbolism (from the Latin Symbolium, meaning signs of recognition), heavily influenced by literature, aimed to suggest deeper spiritual or abstract meanings (dreams, myths) using symbolic motifs and complex structures to reveal “inner truth.”
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| Lili Boulanger, by Jean Dupas, 1916. |
She was born into a Parisian musical family: her father, Ernest Boulanger (1815-1900) was a famous cellist, conductor and vocal teacher, who married one of his vocal students, Raissa, a Russian princess, 41 years his junior. He was 77 when Lili was born, six years after her sister Nadia, and concerned about his remaining life-span, introduced Nadia to her infant sister as the “adult” responsible for her care and welfare. Nadia took that responsibility seriously and for Lili's short life Nadia fulfilled the role as her surrogate parent and musical (and cultural) tutor (a familial relationship I can identify with as that is the role my own older brother played for me).
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| The last extant photo of Lili Boulanger, 1917. |
Beginning this concert with Boulanger’s two pieces was brilliant programming. The term “nocturne” was first used by the Irish composer John Field (1782-1837) for works that evoke the night-time and inspire contemplation, and was famously developed by Chopin, typically with a slow, lyrical, dreamy, singing melody over flowing arpeggiated chords. But Boulanger's Nocturne is more than a dreamy impression. It does have a gorgeous main theme, a delicate interplay between the violin and piano (alternatively flute and piano), but it goes from a sparse beginning to an intense emotional peak, speaking of the sense of loss of a loved one. Haven't we, on some night, had such an ineffable feeling, when suddenly the loss of a loved one floods our very being? Krechkovsky and Cho gave an exquisite performance that sculptured this music into a categorical truth—beyond an impression of night.
By contrast, Cortège is a cheerful, energetic, and joyful piece. Here, semantic is important: the word might have solemn associations for Americans, as in a funeral cortège or procession, but in French it means “attendants,” and the music can very well embody, as in Boulanger's Cortège, merriment and joyful display by the attendants at any event. It's a wonderful piece, with fragmented motifs, pentatonic scales, strong changing textures, and a super display of violin pizzicati, done exquisitely by Krechkovsky with Cho's brilliant keyboard dexterity and lyrical forte on full display, all with a sparkling French voice of elegance and optimism and a stark contrast to Nocturne, pointing to Boulanger’s wide creative range.
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| Gabriel Fauré by John Singer Sargent, 1889. |
The movements are Allegro molto, showcasing a very bold coda; Andante (like a barcarolle); Scherzo, Allegro vivo, with gorgeous cross-rhythm runs and pizzicati that at the premier brought down the house, demanding an encore.
The duo of Krechkovsky and Cho performed it so magnificently that I used the excellent Vimeo video to hear again before going on to the Finale, Allegro quasi presto, which is filled with melodic fertility, rhythmic variety, and gorgeous harmonic progressions with awesome violin double stops. This sonata is a duo concertante: the instruments equal with each other—never solo with accompaniment—each having independent and intricately interwoven lines. Krechkovsky and Cho played it wonderfully.
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| Valentin Silvestrov. |
Silvestrov has produced a huge body of work, including nine symphonies—a deep roster representing every genre of classical music. At first he was a modernist and championed “new music,” which he has now rejected for Post Modernism, hoping to revive classicism. "Lullaby" is difficult to translate: it can be a soothing song, with a slow, simple, repetitive melody to induce sleep, but also, as in the French term “berceuse,” a song or composition conveying cultural knowledge, to pass down traditions and values from one generation to another.
Silvestrov’s Melodies of the Moment, for violin and piano, is a series of works with seven cycles composed at different times. Cycle VI, from which Lullaby comes, has 22 movements (written about 2004, and premiered in 2009), with a"lullaby" theme that circulates throughout the composition, which is dedicated to Tchaikovsky. He is interested in the boundaries between “appearance” and “disappearance,” and I felt this very quiet selection spoke loudly of the fragility of culture under stress. It was very fitting for an Ukrainian-born violinist, Krechkovsky, to play a Ukrainian composer's work at this time in history.
I enjoyed this concert tremendously—music that spoke to me, and played magnificently. Thanks to the performers, Classical Crossroads, and Jim Eninger for mounting a superb concert, with an excellent quality video allowing me to listen again and again.
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Images: The performers: Classical Crossroads, Inc., and artists' websites; Lili Boulanger: Philharmonie de Paris, Musée de la Musique; Fauré: Wikimedia Commons; Silvestrov: photo Kaupo Kikkas, courtesy Huxley.
