Virtuosi of the Planet 2010 comprises musicians with interesting destinies and well-conceived images: the winner of international competitions, button accordion player Oleksandr Khrustkevych (Ukraine), winner of the 2010 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Composers Competition Vadim Neselovskyi (US), winner of the International Competition for Young Pianists in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz Alexandre Pirojenko (Saint Petersburg, Russia) and winner of the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition Adam Laloum (France). The “planet’s” virtuosi entered the stage of the Lysenko Column Hall in this order. An accordion player, a jazzman, and two academic pianists accompanied by the Orchestra of the National Philharmonic Society of Ukraine — this was truly a grand defile of styles and streams. Instead of the usual “monochrome” concert programs, the audience was offered many styles, resembling Robert Schumann’s Carnaval, which lasted two concert evenings.
Many things would seem chimerical, even explicitly fake, in the current parade of the Virtuosi: masterpieces meant for the violin were performed on the accordion, American jazz was given a Slavic melodiousness (the performer was Odesa-born), and the grandiose works for piano with orchestra by Cesar Franck and Johannes Brahms did not suggest any ostentatious virtuoso effects. It all produced the feeling that the title of virtuoso is also a mask for the musicians, which they agree to wear only on occasion.
A virtuoso mask obliges. Thus, every participant of the festival had to solve not only artistic issues, but also existential ones. Who is a virtuoso these days? A show man? An eternal winner of prizes? A star of the Ukraine Has Got Talent TV show? It turned out that for the musicians the answers to these questions are connected not only with career growth, but also with things more important like the rethinking of their destination in art and establishing relations with the audience and fellow musicians.
Thus, a brilliant pianist from France, Adam Laloum, “a classical virtuoso,” who plays the instrument like no other, had to correlate his mastery with the ignorance of the audience. His interpretation of Brahms’ Concert No. 2 was mercilessly split up by the applause between the concert parts. Some of the audience even rushed to give him the flowers after the third part. What could he think about his performance at that moment? Apparently, the TV talk show model followed by applause at each pause has ousted the image of a concert from the consciousness of average people.
The Russian pianist Pirojenko found himself in a particularly favorable situation. The Symphonic Variations for piano and orchestra by Franck is a one-part work. Yet it appeared extremely difficult to play this composer’s music as a virtuoso. For many music-lovers Franck ranks second only to Bach. And who will dare call Bach a virtuoso? Piety in music does not suggest technical ability and emotional storms. It is not accidental that Franck’s Symphonic Variations are known in interpretations of the “content virtuosi” such as Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Emil Hilels, Alfred Cortot. Pirojenko found an apt emotional condition for his work: it was simple, restrained, and extremely attentive to the intonation, like a priest who happened to hear an informal confession.
For Neselovskyi and Khrustevych the participation in the festival was connected with self-realization in art. Both musicians have performed with the world Jazz Olympus stars, they are famed and enjoy positive comments online. Neselovskyi is known as a virtuoso composer who was invited by the best known jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton to join his quintet. At Ukrainian jazz festivals in Odesa and Koktebel Neselovskyi has performed together with Andrei Prozorov, another successful emigre jazz musician, who was supported by the renowned Australian jazz keyboard player Joe Zawinul. In Kyiv Neselovskyi played a solo, but one must admit it was a courageous and important step to show the audience “who I am without Burton and Co.”
Khrustevych is also known in jazz circles. Last January he performed at the Kyiv concert of Bob McFerrin. Then he found himself in the semifinals of the Ukraine Has Got Talent show. For this aim he placed the video where he performs The Four Seasons by Vivaldi online and gained public recognition. At the festival Khrustkevych defended the right of the five-row button accordion to perform classical works.
Understanding that violinist Paganini is the legendary virtuoso of all times and peoples, the accordionist staked on the adaptations of the works meant for the violin. At the festival Khrustevych played Henryk Wieniawski’s Scherzo-Tarantelle, Melody by Myroslav Skoryk and the finale of the violin concert by Pyotr Tchaikovsky adapted by Volodymyr Zubytsky. The new versions were not easy to digest for classically-minded listeners, and sounded strange in the new timber. The works by Lviv-born Skoryk sounded like Viatka lamentations, Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise (known in adaptations for cello and piano) suddenly lost its Chekhovian-Levitanian aristocratism and turned into a Soviet song. Works that were safe for being performed on button accordion included Johann Pachelbel’s organ chaconne and the brilliant piano fantasy by Russian classic Mily Balakirev Islamey. In the latter one the accordion reinforced the Kabardian coloring of the work.
On the whole, the presence of an accordionist was no surprise for anybody. Pursuing the main target of the festival — to make the audience acquainted with the young music elite, the organizing committee invited, besides pianists, musicians of other specializations, such as vocalists, guitarists, string instrument and wind instrument performers, organists and harpists. All this is wonderful, as it indicates our society’s need for academic art.
