Vasyl Barvinsky (1888-1963)

[Christopher]

  His arrest in 1946 (after the war) may have partly been because his works had been published in Germany by Forsberg.. fortunately, those printing plates survived.

More likely because he was upper-middle class ("bourgeois"), talented, and Ukrainian.

[semloh]

What a fascinating thread, thanks to our marvellous UC members and their willingness to share their knowledge and insights.

[eschiss1]

do you mean Forberg (if so, Robert or Otto?)
A number of Soviet composers had their music copublished / published by UE, Breitkopf , or Koussevitzky's Editions  russes de musique. Some of these (like Prokofiev) were accused of writing formalistic music, but never for this reason that I know of. Is this connection more than conjecture

[dhibbard]

Robert Forberg / P Jurgenson publishers

[Oliver Fraenzke]

Christopher, it would be too much to say, I worked with her, but we shared some scores and recordings, especially for the interest of getting the Ukrainian composers more known. She recorded a lot of them.

But Skorulskyi? I never heared about him?

[Christopher]

Christopher, it would be too much to say, I worked with her, but we shared some scores and recordings, especially for the interest of getting the Ukrainian composers more known. She recorded a lot of them.

But Skorulskyi? I never heared about him?

Well Oliver I am happy if I have brought Skorulskyi to your attention.  There are some threads and download threads on him in this forum:
http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,6506.0.html
http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,7295.msg77099.html#msg77099
http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,6035.msg63927.html#msg63927
http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,5978.msg77098.html#msg77098

Anyway, as Alan would say,....

[Christopher]

I have put two Barvinsky pieces in the Downloads section.

1. Return to Ukraine
65 minutes long.
This is a song cycle for soprano and orchestra.  The orchestration is actually by a contemporary Ukrainian composer Bohdana Frolyak (born 1968, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohdana_Frolyak), although she keeps it "on style". I think the title "Return to Ukraine" is hers rather than Barvinsky's.

It was broadcast by several Ukrainian channels and websites in 2020, the mp3 which I have uploaded is my rip of the premiere shown on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9jtwgAEKj8 - I have removed the announcements and applause.

For me it's one of those rare pieces which has struck me at first listening, I am finding it exceptionally haunting and ethereal. And very unusual. In some ways it's like a late romantic precursor of Gorecki's Symphony of Sorrowful Songs, though less bleak, more of a kind of sweet-sadness. But that could be just me.  I understand that Barvinsky is one of the composers that the musical establishment in Ukraine is particularly focusing on rediscovering as he was "repressed".

Barvinsky lived 1888-1963, so I don't know when he wrote these songs, or even if he wrote them as one piece or they stretch over years.


2. Ukrainian Wedding
7 minutes
For soprano, tenor and orchestra.  Also orchestrated by Bohdana Frolyak.

[Christopher]

There's a new recording of his piano concerto. I would say better than the previous recordings put up on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfK2XfTcgxE

Oksana Rapita, piano
Lviv National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra  of Ukraine
Andrii Savchuk, conductor
   

Myroslav Skoryk Lviv National Philharmonic,
Lviv, June 10, 2022.

[semloh]

Thanks, Christopher. The new YT upload of the piano concerto is definitely better than the previous one, in all respects.

[Christopher]

A new recorded performance of Barvinsky's cello concerto has been uploaded to youtube.  This is, in my view, a far superior rendition of this attractive piece by comparison with the only other (to my knowledge) available version (also on youtube), which has been mentioned in another thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XE_yOCIyWA

Vasyl Barvinskyi - Concerto for cello and orchestra (orchestration by Viktor Kaminskyi)

Denys Lytvynenko - cello
Luhansk Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra
Ivan Ostapovych - conductor
duration - 23 minutes

Live recording from the concert in Lviv Organ Hall (31.08.2023)

(For more on the concert at which this took place, please see the following thread on Skorulskyi's piano concerto - https://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,9315.0.html)

(Note - the other recording which I mentioned is here - https://youtu.be/tR4vNb_Qj9U?si=_nCsJy7A5YydUB6s)

[Christopher]

Another attractive (and short - under 3 minutes!) piece by Barvinsky:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyA4G2b0-Xk

Melody

Petro Bodnar - cello
Lviv Ensemble of Soloists

[Alan Howe]

The Cello Concerto is quite an attractive piece but, frankly, it does rather meander - it pales beside, for example, the magnificent and memorable Cello Concerto by his contemporary, Myaskovsky:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iftG4VnsFzI

Barvinsky's Piano Concerto is a better piece, I think - it was mentioned earlier in this thread:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0OvG19v_ic

[eschiss1]

There are some scores of Barvinski's music here (since he died in 1963, they will not be accessible in the UK or EU until 2034, I fear.)

[pianoconcerto]

I believe that the Oksana Rapita recording of the Barvynsky piano concerto uses the revised orchestration (with a lighter texture) by Bohdana Frolyak, 2019.  This version was also used for the following CD:

INSO-Lviv ("Bridges, Vol. 1"):  Kateryna Titova/INSO [Internat. New SO]-Lviv Youth O/Yaroslav Shemet (2023)

I do not have the scores to compare.  Perhaps Christopher can confirm.

[Christopher]

I don't have the scores I am afraid.  I used to have Ms. Rapita's email address.  I should be able to find it in case you'd like me to ask?