Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov almost didn't make it out of his hometown of Kyiv at the beginning of the 2022 Russian invasion. First, his daughter had to convince him to escape to safety; then, every train was too packed to board. Luckily, an acquaintance spied him and drove, via back roads, to the Polish border, where he caught a train to Berlin.
If you don't know the 86-year-old composer's music, a new album by conductor Christopher Lyndon-Gee and the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra makes a sonically satisfying place to start. It contains a pair of symphonic works that embody two recurring ideas for Silvestrov: that an end can also be a beginning, and that sweet, nostalgic music can thrive alongside concussive eruptions.
In Postludium for Piano and Orchestra, the composer essentially offers an ending, a "postlude," that becomes something brand new by mixing the avant-garde with old-school romanticism. The piece convulses in orchestral earthquakes of low brass (complete with aftershocks), but eventually gives way to delicate music that yearns for the long-ago beauty of Mozart.
The more expansive work on the album is a 44-minute symphony for violin and orchestra titled Dedication. Who's it dedicated to? Lyndon-Gee, writing in the album's booklet, treats it as an homage to the "life-force" of the human race — which encompasses not only tragedy, but also love and renewal. And yet for Silvestrov, he says, "Everything is a postlude to that which is slipping, inevitably and unceasingly, from between our fingers."
In Dedication, the violin — played with unwavering detail by Janusz Wawrowski — is not battling against the orchestra for domination, as in a typical concerto. Instead, the two protagonists complement each other, breathing as a single organism in Silvestrov's colossal exhalations of sound. Great waves of percussion crest over a spiky violin, a reminder that Silvestrov's early works from the 1960s were considered too avant-garde for Soviet-era officials.
Silvestrov has created his own sound world, charged with turbulence and bittersweet fragments of melody that can seem like quotes from other composers, but aren't. Near the end of Dedication, an elegiac theme, reminiscent of Gustav Mahler, emerges in the strings, struggling to rise ever higher through a dark cloud of roiling harmonies.
It's a tragic irony, but Silvestrov's stock has risen since the Russian onslaught. He's now the de facto musical spokesperson for his homeland, and more people are hearing his music. The day after he found himself in exile in Berlin, he began composing again, most likely thinking of the past — of endings and beginnings that are undoubtedly finding their way into his extraordinary music.
Transcript:
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Ten years ago in early 2014, Ukrainian citizens gathered in the Central Square of Kyiv to protest pro-Russian influence in their government. Ukraine's greatest living composer, Valentin Silvestrov, was there, and he responded by writing "Prayer For Ukraine."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PRAYER FOR UKRAINE")
WARSAW PHILHARMONIC CHOIR: (Vocalizing).
SHAPIRO: Silvestrov now lives in exile in Berlin, and a new album of his symphonic music has caught the ear of our reviewer, NPR's Tom Huizenga.
TOM HUIZENGA, BYLINE: Valentin Silvestrov almost didn't make it out of his hometown of Kyiv during the 2022 Russian invasion. Every train was packed. Luckily, an acquaintance spied him and drove via back roads to the Polish border, where he caught a train to Germany. If you don't know the 86-year-old composer's music, this new album by conductor Christopher Lyndon-Gee and the Lithuanian National Symphony is a terrific place to start. It contains a pair of symphonic works that embody two recurring ideas for Silvestrov - that an end can also be a beginning and that sweet, nostalgic music can thrive alongside concussive eruptions.
(SOUNDBITE OF LITHUANIAN NATIONAL SYMPHONY PERFORMANCE OF SILVESTROV'S "POSTLUDIUM FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA")
HUIZENGA: That's Silvestrov's "Postludium For Piano And Orchestra." The composer is saying, look. Here's an end, a postlude that I'm turning into a new beginning by mixing the avant-garde with old-school romanticism. And those orchestral earthquakes we just heard - they give way to music that yearns for ago with the delicacy of Mozart.
(SOUNDBITE OF LITHUANIAN NATIONAL SYMPHONY PERFORMANCE OF SILVESTROV'S "POSTLUDIUM FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA")
HUIZENGA: The larger work on this album is a 44-minute symphony for violin and orchestra titled "Dedication." What's it dedicated to? Perhaps something that has slipped by us, like the past. Here, Silvestrov orchestrates a tidal wave of brass and percussion with a spiky violin reminiscent of his early works, considered too avant-garde for Soviet-era officials.
(SOUNDBITE OF LITHUANIAN NATIONAL SYMPHONY PERFORMANCE OF SILVESTROV'S "DEDICATION")
HUIZENGA: Silvestrov has created his own sound world, charged with turbulence and bittersweet fragments of melody that can seem like quotes from other composers, but they're not. Near the end of "Dedication," an elegaic theme reminiscent of Mahler emerges in the strings, struggling to rise ever higher through a dark cloud of roiling harmonies.
(SOUNDBITE OF LITHUANIAN NATIONAL SYMPHONY PERFORMANCE OF SILVESTROV'S "DEDICATION")
HUIZENGA: I hate to say it, but Silvestrov's stock has risen since the Russian onslaught. He's now the de facto musical spokesperson for his homeland, and more people are hearing his music. The day after he found himself in exile in Berlin, he began composing again and most likely thinking of the past, of endings and beginnings that are undoubtedly finding their way into his extraordinary music.
SHAPIRO: The album is Silvestrov's "Dedication And Postludium." Our reviewer is NPR's Tom Huizenga.
(SOUNDBITE OF LITHUANIAN NATIONAL SYMPHONY PERFORMANCE OF SILVESTROV'S "DEDICATION")
