[an error occurred while processing this directive]Russian libretto with English translation only. Comprehensive notes in English.
Dimitri Klebanov (1907-1987) Japanese Silhouettes
for Soprano, Viola d’amore and ensemble
Natalia Biorro soprano
Mela Tenenbaum viola d’amore
Philharmonia Virtuosi conducted by Igor BlazhkovViola Concerto
Mela Tenenbaum viola
Philharmonia Virtuosi conducted by Richard KappESS.A.Y Recordings CD1052
[58'53"] full-priceby Ng Yeuk Fan
"Fenced flowers fade in time of winter…
A rose? Or am I mistaken?"
From the libretto of Japanese Silhouettes
- D.L. KlebanovKlebanov. So how many people out there know Klebanov? Put up your hands. One, two, five… not many. Dmitri Lvovich Klebanov was born in 1907 in Kharkov, Ukraine. How many of you know Ukraine? More hands… Good. Well, you will be glad to know that in Kharkov, there is a music school, a music and drama institute and also the Kharkov Conservatory. Who knows what is a conservatory? Many hands… very good. A university dedicated to music, it was there that Klebanov spent most of his life teaching composition. Now why did Klebanov, a composer of relative skill remain so unknown and why did he choose to stay within Kharkov?
As it is - we are told that Klebanov at the youth of his career had an extremely unpleasant brush with the revolutionary authorities in Russia. Nearly losing his life, he suffered immense humiliation from misfired communist-extremists who targeted writers, composers and artists - all this for his controversial composition of a First Symphony - a work centred on the atrocities at Babi Yar (a massacre of Jews outside Kiev in 1941). In the aftermath, Klebanov not only forever banned the performance of this symphony, he also withdrew into his own world and decidedly remained in Kharkov, never really fully recovering from these images.
This Viola Concerto is seen as an acutely autobiographical outburst - a sort of work which finds a rare spiritual resolution at the edge of terror and despair. The Philharmonia Virtuosi play with lilting ease. Where the music is tender, sweet accompaniment meanders through this unlikely concerto. Elsewhere, they play their best under Richard Kapp to bring across the really exciting moments, such as in the first movement development section. Ms Tenenbaum fails to conjure enough gusto at the really derisive moments. She is not helped by the viola sounding laboured in its tone production. Nevertheless, I think it is stylishly played and paced rather well. All that appeared lacking is the intense bite required to do justice to Klebanov’s "edge of terror and despair".
The moody elements in the music are captured effectively on the chosen instrument, reeling full of dark grace and nobility - Ms Tenenbaum plays evocatively in the second movement. I feel though, that the intense despair fails to come across in this setting for 13 instruments. There are elements suited to a full symphonic scope here. Perhaps - if one keeps in mind a composer who has spent a lifetime in self-imposed ‘exile’ - intent on remaining cut down, clipped, as it were - doing so, this music produces a burning desire for freedom fired by the muted voice of the viola, stronger all the more for its innate grace and imagery of humanness.
Japanese Silhouettes, on the other hand, a work with a much happier disposition, was composed with inspiration fired by Ms Tenenbaum’s (the dedicatee of the viola concerto) playing of the viola. How Japanese elements, the soprano voice and the viola d'amore found its way together in one work is in fact anybody’s guess. One possibility is that Klebanov was aware of his failing health and decided to combine two works he was working so as to complete them while he still could. As such, its conception is, if I might opine, rather suspect. However, the work itself works and the separate pieces for voice and viola reflect different moods which suit each instrument. The voice is given pure, pastel-like reminisces while the viola set to richly emotional and full lines.
Upon sampling, Japanese Silhouettes is a set of very intriguing numbers. The tunes are simple and effective - the voice constantly more searching, evocative and dreamy beside the folksy Japanese numbers for the viola. Klebanov has made very interesting use of Japanese percussion together with the western viola d'amore parts. Though Ms Tenenbaum is not consistently astute in her tone or technique, hers is not a flat reading. This is not helped by the poor recording - the lack of spaciousness in Essay’s recording reduced the Philharmonic Virtuosi to a compressed front lacking in depth and clarity. The Japanese drums sounded almost like popping bubbles. Less affected by the poor recording is Natalia Biorro, whose stylish evocative voice, husky at parts, is effective in conjuring the imaginations of silhouettes of mountains, hillsides and chestnut blooms. Nevertheless, there is a certain air of depression that seems to affect all the performers - almost as if the sad story of Klebanov comes through in his spirit…
Whatever the case may be, Klebanov's exploration of Japanese themes makes for very interesting listening. His music is fun and this alternation between Russian and Japanese elements must surely score one for originality.
History has it that as a way of celebrating Klebanov’s 80th birthday, a concert was planned in Kiev. Included in its programme was both Japanese Silhouettes and the inauspicious "Babi Yar Symphony" (Shostakovich’s own "Babi Yar" was composed at least 10 years later than Klebanov’s and hence escaped denouncement) … its performance in Kiev was to symbolise the final steps in the rehabilitation of Klebanov’s reputation. Ironically, Klebanov was to pass away just weeks before the celebration was to take place…
With Klebanov’s death, the end of the Soviet Union and Ukraine’s separation, whatever remained of this composer was understandably only celebrated in the minds of those who loved him. This recording is a labour of love - thorough efforts were made to locate missing scores and performers. Though adversity may make miserable the lives of men, love would eventually champion those who in love have touched the hearts of others. In Ms Tenenbaum’s own words - "He was a very lonely man…"
Ng Yeuk Fan longs for the blue seas and giant clams of the P. Perhentian Islands.
Back to the Classical Index!... or read previous Russian music reviews and features at the Inkpot Archives.Other classical music reviews by this or any other writer can be obtained from the InkVault by doing a key word search with the writer's name.
449: 4.4.1999. cor.12.4.1999 ©Ng Yeuk Fan
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