Recent visit of the outstanding composer Sofia Gubaidulina to Ukraine became the central event in the cultural life of the country. The initiator and organizer of the visit and also the performer of accordion parts in music pieces composed by Gubaidulina was Roman Yusypei – accordion player and music columnist. Yusypei was born in 1979 in Kherson, in 1998 he graduated from Kherson School of Music (class of Petro Bashmakov), and in 2006 he graduated from Pyotr Tchaikovsky Ukrainian National Music Academy (class of Professor Mykola Davydov). In the time from 2009 through 2012 he received training at the University of Music and Drama Hannover (Germany, class of Professor Elsbeth Moser). Yusypei was a scholarship holder of the public fund “Russian Performing Art” (2009-10), Yehudi Menuhin Foundation (since 2010). Musician was the winner of the 9th International Competition Premio di Montese (Italy, first prize), First International Competition Golden Accordion (New York, USA, second prize). He also was a member of the jury at the International Accordion Competition in Lanciano (Italy). Yusypei has performed at more than 50 live concerts as a soloist with following conductors: Roman Kofman, Volodymyr Sirenko, Bohdan Kotorovych, Petro Tovstukha, Volodymyr Runchak, Volodymyr Syvokhyp, and Stanislav Velianyk. He actively collaborates with contemporary composers. He was the first accordion player to perform music by Giya Kancheli, Viktoria Poliova, Dmytro Kurliandsky, Oleksandr Shchetynsky, Anna Havrylets, All Zahaikevych, Serhii Zazhytko, Serhii Pyliutykov, Maksym Kolomoets, Alexander Khubeyev, Bohdan Sehin, Liubava Sidorenko, Zoltan Almashi, and Maksym Shorenkov. Yusypei is author of a number of projects held within the framework of the international festivals of new music, including Accordion with All of Its Unknowns, Accordion Extreme, De profundis (based on works by Sofia Gubaidulina), Only YOUsypei (music of gender paradox).
We asked Roman Yusypei to tell us about the visit of Sofia Gubaidulina and about accordion as a serious academic instrument.
Why did you choose accordion? How did this happen?
“My father played accordion when he was little in village music school. His music notebook with handwritten polkas and waltzes is still stored in our family archive. Almost 25 years later I was guided along the same path. My relationship with music was the kind any normal child has: I skipped classes, changed time on the clock in order to get done with the music practice faster. The best part was when instead of learning some fugue or the final part of a concert (as a child I played various things) I would open the book In the Circle of Friends and play music from there – this was a great joy for both me and those around. Later I got used to it. And, I must say, I was lucky with teachers.”
What is the most difficult in playing such an instrument and how do you deal with it?
“Difficulty number one is periodic pain in your back from wearing 18 kilograms on you. The ways to deal with it are: training the back muscles and purchase of a vehicle with combustion engine in some distant future. Difficulty number two is the labels that are associated with accordion like ‘castaway of music community,’ ‘instrument of village clubs,’ etc. I deal with it by means of long explanations and personal example. If that’s not enough, another way out might be physical impact on the stereotype bearer.”
It is obvious that accordion is heavy instrument in every sense of this word. How do you manage to make it sound light?
“What do you mean in every sense? There have never been and never will be an instrument greater and more wonderful for people than accordion!”
Well, let’s say it this way: what is the beauty of accordion? What does it enable a performer with?
“Its beauty is in the closeness, almost Siamese connection with the body of the musician, in common breathing and pulse. Its beauty is also in the range of colors: from some very simple human warmth to faceted coolness of an organ. This instrument has multiple roles: it is democratic and elitist, classically melodious when playing old music, heart-felt when playing folk songs, and adventurously prickly when playing tango. Accordion player is a plain straightforward man who breaks the musical peace. Words of Serhii Proskurin come into my mind, he once told me: ‘Accordion player must be an alcoholic, daredevil, sexual maniac. Where is all of this?!’ I confess I haven’t perfected it. But tell me, what can a pianist do to surprise people? He can surprise others only with his talent. Accordion players because of the young age of their instrument will have to prove their equality on the concert stage for a long time. But they will also give people the explosive feeling of discovering something new, bright, and unusual for just as long. They can even hide some of their drawback behind this flash.”
According to your observation, are there many people playing serious repertoire on accordion in Ukraine and in Europe?
“What do you mean by ‘serious’? Contemporary academic music? Believe me, Yurii Shyshkin’s performance of Sparks by Moritz Moszkowski or Oleksandr Skliarov’s performance of Retro-Suite by Vladimir Podgorny is much more serious than many opportunistic attempts to join the ‘actual music process.’ One person told me that a true musician is determined by the ability to play Bach, Mozart, and Schubert. I think he is right. In terms of being able to do this and, at the same time, being able to open to Kyiv public works by contemporary composers, I have always been amazed at Pavlo Feniuk. If to speak about promoting new music in Ukraine, accordion player from Odesa Ivan Yerhiiev is unique at this. Generally, perhaps, there are more accordionists who devoted their lives to contemporary art in the West. I think it is so due to the social order and totally different intensity of concert life.”
Continuing the topic of composers: how and when did you meet with Sofia Gubaidulina?
“We met in fall of 2001 at the library of NMAU. I found the directory with a collection of her works with partite Seven Words for accordion, cello, and strings. I made a copy of it and in a dark alley I came up to the maestro Roman Kofman saying: ‘I want to play this with you.’ Despite all the strangeness of the situation, in two months we performed this chamber concerto at the National Philharmonic Society. After the concert, Kanchelli himself came into the dressing room to congratulate us. He was then in Kyiv on tour of the Robert Sturua Theater. This was the beginning.”
Why do you like her music?
“I remember when we worked on her concert for accordion Fachwerk, she kept saying: ‘It has something bestial in it. I love this beast!’ The composer heard something special in the sound of accordion, she discovered its new ‘wild’ side. This music has abundance of pain, despair, anger, enlightenment, and glee – things that you feel in key moments of your life. Because of this you develop trust to her right away.”
How have you come up with an idea to invite her to Ukraine? How difficult was it to organize this visit?
“The main difficulty laid in the fact that Gubaidulina, due to her advanced age and desperate desire to protect her time for creative work, often rejects proposals of such kind. On the way back to Germany she admitted that she recently refused to go to Chicago, where her Labyrinth for 12 cellos had to be performed, and to Canada, where Anne-Sophie Mutter will play her Second Violin Concerto.
“The process of implementation of this idea – from conceiving it to the actual realization – took about eight months. I came up with the idea in Hannover, having a cup of tea with a wonderful Lithuanian pianist Gintaras Janusevicius. He told me then: ‘Remember this. It is most likely that you will have only one conversation regarding Ukraine with Gubaidulina and the way it will go totally depends on you.’
“I did my best. Of course, she was greatly impressed with the image of the Lviv Festival Contrasts led by Volodymyr Syvokhyp, where at various times concerts of music by Arvo Part, Peteris Vasks, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Valentyn Sylvestrov were held with the presence of the authors. The idea of the National Music Academy in Kyiv to present her with a mantle of Honorary Professor did not hurt at all. Once in Ukraine the great composer was pleased and inspired by chamber orchestras Kyiv Soloists and Lviv Virtuosos, conductors Volodymyr Sirenko and Stanislav Velianyk, violin player Maria Tkachyk, and cellist Ivan Kucher.”
Have you managed to do everything that was planned?
“Many of those who watched it from the side were amazed at how we managed to plan and execute everything literally hour by hour. Well, and let’s leave behind the scenes the things that did not quite work out. After all, everything depends on people, organizations who can take on the responsibility. At the critical moment, when the director of the Lviv Philharmonic Society said: ‘I guarantee that the project will take place in any case,’ and the head of Rossotrudnichestvo in Ukraine until two in the morning waited for the plane with Gubaidulina that was late, I realized that only thanks to such attitude to work, to partners, and, finally, to music you can do something really serious.”
What was the most memorable from personal communication with the composer?
“Her tirelessness. Night plane to Kyiv, two hours of sleep, the morning flight to Lviv, and the rehearsal with the orchestra. Then there was a press conference, meeting with students and professors at the Lviv Academy of Music (by the way, it was brilliantly conducted by the musicologist Liubov Kyianovska) and later two hours of unforgettable one-on-one work in the office of the rector. The following morning at the new orchestra rehearsal I saw not a respectable woman, tired of traveling, but a young girl from paintings of Edgar Degas flying around the room.”
What have you learnt from her during this trip?
“You know, it is incredibly difficult to be an organizer and, at the same time, the solo performer. In fact, this should not be done. I have learnt from her to complete anything you’ve started even at the limit of your strength.”
Are you satisfied with your performance?
“To be honest, I admitted to Gubaidulina that in order to perform her music I still need one very important thing – work out it a gym. Anyone can tell that this is true. After performing Seven Words in Kyiv composer Valentyn Sylvestrov came up to me, put his hand on my shoulder, and said: ‘Just look at this, he rose after all… And I thought you wouldn’t survive until the end.’”
What does the visit of Gubaidulina mean for Ukrainian music and music performance in general?
“This was a unique event that knocked our lives of ordinary gauge, real cultural shake. It caused great interest especially among young people. The feeling of co-existence with the classic, model, standard in music. And our worlds are still connected with living threads. What a joy it was, for example, for Gubaidulina to meet our famous flutist Professor Oleh Kudriashov at the concert in Kyiv. They studied together at the Moscow Conservatory. And in Lviv she met an extravagant lady, who once shared a room with her in a dormitory.
“What concerns the accordion performance, I will quote Professor of Lviv Music Academy Dmytro Kuzheliov. He wrote to me that after the concert he met with his fellow pianists who said that accordion was a surprise for them, they changed their attitude to this instrument and are now looking at it from a totally different perspective.”
Finally, how do you see your future for both you and your instrument?
“Bright and for sure we’ll stay together.”
