https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/9748971--ukrainian-piano-concerts-works-by-vasyl-barvinsky-viktor-kosenko
A disc of Piano Concerti by Barvinsky and Kosenko played by Violina Petrychenko will be released on Feb. 21st.
I especially welcome the first modern commercial recording of all three movements of the Kosenko concerto, since the second movement is my favorite. Previously I can only enjoy the old LP recording uploaded on youtube and a piano solo version of that movement, also played by Petrychenko in her quest of neglected Ukrainian repertoire.
By the way, Petrychenko also played Kosenko's Nocturne-Fantasy, Op. 4 gorgeously, taking a slower pace than most performances I have seen online.
Excellent news! I kept on at Hyperion to do the Kosenko ( as well as the Borowski & Schütt!) to no avail unfortunately; but this more than makes up for that! What a promising start to the new year!
I heartily echo Martin's enthusiasm. Two excellent PCs which should have been on Hyperion's radar. Marvellous news.
It'll be good to have these - finally!
I note that the TT for the Kosenko is 48:45: something of a monster (size-wise, I mean), then?
The old recording available on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMIbzkNYa-E&t=77s) comes in a 42 minutes, so that seems about right. It's a lovely work, very much in the Rachmaninov tradition, but I do feel that the first movement is rather overlong.
Members may like to know that this is being offered by jpc at the substantially reduced price of EUR 5.99 for as long as stocks last:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/ukrainische-klavierkonzerte/hnum/12130048
Quote from: Mark Thomas on Monday 20 January 2025, 09:18but I do feel that the first movement is rather overlong.
I feel the recapitulative cadenza is spectacular but uneccesary, since there is a formal recap after that. I'm not usually a big fan of cadenzas anyway, so I don't feel missing something coming back to the old Soviet recording with the cadenza cut.
Quote from: Alan Howe on Monday 10 February 2025, 16:27Members may like to know that this is being offered by jpc at the substantially reduced price of EUR 5.99 for as long as stocks last:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/ukrainische-klavierkonzerte/hnum/12130048
Might have been an oopsie; it's back to 16,99.
Well, not an oopsie/whoops for me - I got mine for the discounted price! ;D And I did say as long as stocks last! (They must have sold out and re-stocked).
My initial impressions: the Kosenko is probably too long for its material (especially the first movement at 23:53), but no doubt familiarity will bring a greater a sense of what the composer was trying to achieve. A word of warning, though: this is not Rachmaninov - Kosenko was from a later generation. Think Medtner, perhaps? By contrast the Barvinsky (at 20:37) is much easier to grasp and has greater immediate appeal.
The orchestra is somewhat thin-sounding in the string department, well though they play overall. I wonder what toll the war may have taken in respect of their numbers?
Nevertheless, a very fine release which deserves the widest possible exposure.
Only 6 years separate Rachmaninoff and Medtner, which is hardly a "generation"... Kosenko is indeed from 20 years later though, closer to the time of Lyatoshynsky, Ornstein, Eckhardt-Gramatté...
I was trying to convey the reality that Kosenko's music doesn't really sound like Rachmaninov and struggling to think of possible comparisons in a corner of the repertoire I don't know a lot about. What's clear, though, is that Kosenko is nothing like, say, Prokofiev or any of the modernists; at heart he is a late romantic, producing a work which outdoes anything by Rachmaninov in terms of scale while not quite sounding like him. Rather a clever compositional niche (which Medtner sort of occupies too). And then an obvious steal from Rachmaninov comes along only to develop in a different direction - Kosenkoesque, I suppose. Fans of Rachmaninov and Medtner will love this, though. Very Slavic...
A thought: invite these Ukrainians (orchestra, conductor Volodymyr Svokhip and soloist Violina Petrychenko) to perform the Kosenko at this summer's Proms: they'd go down a storm.
I favor that for all sorts of reasons.
You think the controller of Radio 3 would have the imagination to do that? Dream on!!!
No. But what a prospect it would be...
Quote from: Gareth Vaughan on Tuesday 18 February 2025, 08:22You think the controller of Radio 3 would have the imagination to do that? Dream on!!!
The controller of BBC radio 3 most probably has never heard of Kosenko, and also many of the composers that are regularly dicussed on this forum!
How on earth did they manage to put on Brian's Gothic back in 2011? The exception that proves the rule?
Quote from: Alan Howe on Monday 17 February 2025, 19:03A thought: invite these Ukrainians (orchestra, conductor Volodymyr Svokhip and soloist Violina Petrychenko) to perform the Kosenko at this summer's Proms: they'd go down a storm.
Hear hear! Could it echo or even surpass that moment in August 1968 when the USSR Symphony Orchestra appeared at the Proms on the same day as Soviet tanks rolled into Czechoslovakia to crush the Prague Spring.
Quote from: Gareth Vaughan on Tuesday 18 February 2025, 08:22You think the controller of Radio 3 would have the imagination to do that? Dream on!!!
Perhaps we could design a Ukrainian evening for BBC 3 controllers.
Mine would be:
Lysenko - Taras Bulba overture
Skorulskyi - Mykyta Kozhumiaka (Mykyta the Tanner) symphonic poem-story
Kosenko - Piano Concerto
Bortkiewicz - Symphony 1 or 2
encore piece 1 - Skorulskyi - Adagio of Mavka and Lukas for violin and orchestra from "A Forest Song" ballet
encore piece 2 - Hulak-Artemovsky - Ukrainian Dances from the opera "The Cossack over the Danube"
A separate Ukrainian evening could be devoted to Gliere's "Ilya Muromets" Symphony No.3 (is that still the subject of the longest thread on here (deservedly so)?!)
I think I know Alan's next comment... ;D
Meanwhile, back at the Kosenko/Barvinsky ranch...
My CD has just arrived, very much looking forward to getting home this evening and listening.
Having listened to the Kosenko a few more times, the Rachmaninovian fingerprints are becoming more and more obvious to me, so I think I must apologise and amend my initial opinion. This is very much 'son of Rachmaninov'- more so than any PC I can recall, with the possible exception of works by André Mathieu.
More importantly, this is without doubt the most impressive unsung piano concerto I have heard in recent years: its themes are intensely memorable and Violina Petrychenko plays it for all its worth. I'm tempted to say that I hear the work of passionate Ukrainian patriots here - which is some compensation at a time when a certain world leader has decided (contrary to the facts) that it was their country that started the war currently raging on their territory.
I've always found the first movement of the Kosenko fairly Rachmaninovian, which is no slight to it as its own voice also shines through. Movements 2 and 3 less so (and acc to the sleeve notes they were constructed many years later from Kosenko's sketches).
It's still a magnificent beast - all 48+ minutes of its late-romantic hyper-emotionalism and pianistic rhetoric. Which I adore!
I see Bortkiewicz hasn't been played at the Proms either (though his symphonies -were- recorded by the BBC Scottish Symphony...)
The Barvinsky too - all its qualities are fully brought out in this recording, which was not the case with previous recordings, when it sounded more like a nice-enough piece badly played. With this recording we can now hear what a fine concerto it actually is (and its story is tragic too - Barvinsky had to "consent" to the destruction of all his work, before being sentenced to a gulag in Mordovia: he recreated the score in a 2-piano version which decades later was re-orchestrated by others).
Here's an online review of the Kosenko at operius.de, translated into English:
This (i.e. the Barvinsky) is followed by the Piano Concerto in C minor by Ukrainian composer Viktor Kosenko (1896-1938) with the movements Allegro, Andante con moto and Allegro moderato. He worked on his work for nine years, but was unable to complete it. There were only sketches for the second and third movements, which Levko Revutskyi and Heorghij Majboroda completed.
The first movement begins slowly and contemplatively with low winds and is very melodious and emotional. Here, too, there are increases in tempo and dynamics and an alternation between thoughtful, emotional and dramatic, effervescent passages. What is also striking here is that the orchestra and piano are fully harmonised and Violina Petrychenko interprets her part in a powerful and energetic manner. The second movement of the romantic work is thoughtful, slow and deliberate and is repeatedly interrupted by dramatic outbursts. Violina Petrychenko also impresses here with her deeply felt playing with a delicate to powerful touch. The third movement is energetic and provides a brilliant finale with renewed climaxes.
Pianist Violina Petrychenko focusses on the preservation and dissemination of Ukrainian music and founded the Sounds of Ukraine festival in 2023. She began playing the piano at the age of six and continued her education at music academies in Kyiv, Weimar, Cologne and Essen. She has so far recorded the similarly themed albums 'Slavic Nobility', 'Ukrainian Moods', Mrii- Ukrainian Hope' and 'Winter Whispers - Ukrainian Piano Tales".
The concept of making milestones in Ukrainian music history that had previously received little attention accessible to a wider public was a complete success. For listeners interested in musical works that go beyond the usual and often recorded pieces, this CD is a real recommendation. Anyone who wants to hear more about Ukrainian music has also come to the right place.
Dr. Claudia Behn
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
The section of the review quoted by Alan above which is about the Barvinsky reads as follows:
Following her CD "Winter Whispers – Ukrainian Piano Tales" (2024), Ukrainian pianist Violina Petrychenko once again provides a feast for the ears full of new impressions of Ukrainian music with a world premiere recording. This time, together with Ukrainian musicologist and conductor Volodymyr Syvokhip and the Lviv National Philharmonic Orchestra, she performed two piano concertos by Ukrainian romantic composers.
This is how Vasyl Barvinsky's (1888-1963) Piano Concerto in F minor sounds with the movements Maestoso, Andante non troppo and Allegro moderato. Barvinsky worked on this from 1917 until its completion in 1937. He incorporated Ukrainian folk melodies and folkloristic elements into his romantic-tonal music. After a dramatic introduction that seems to build to the highly dramatic, his music changes into something lively and lively, almost cheerful. The change in intensity from contemplative to dramatic, booming passages is impressive, interpreted with emotion and intensity by Violina Petrychenko. Everything is woven into a dialogue between orchestra and piano, which is subtly differentiated and recorded in impressive sound quality, making the smallest nuances audible. The piano's depth of sound, the melodic passages in the piano and strings, the imitations of the piano and orchestra alike, which lead to an echo effect, but also the thematic motifs that recur, are what make the piano concerto and its interpretation so appealing. The piano is ensnared by a warm orchestral wave in which it seems to literally unfold.
https://www.operius.de/post/ukrainische-musik-von-barvinsky-und-kosenko-l%C3%A4sst-aufhorchen-violina-petrychenko-bringt-2025-erneu (https://www.operius.de/post/ukrainische-musik-von-barvinsky-und-kosenko-l%C3%A4sst-aufhorchen-violina-petrychenko-bringt-2025-erneu)
Has anyone else encountered this very fine recording?
I just found the live performance video that anticipated this recording of the Kosenko concerto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcKr1eI8pHQ