From 12 to 16 December, BBC Radio 3’s Composer of the Week is devoted to a Russian composer who continues to be comparatively little identified – and unjustly so.
The main target of this week’s programmes is the composer Leokadiya Kashperova (1872-1940), and the sequence marks the a hundred and fiftieth anniversary of her start. Exceptionally, the sequence will characteristic a variety of UK premieres. Plus – for the primary time within the historical past of Composer of the Week – your entire week might be made up of specifically recorded works.
For a lot of many years, Leokadiya Kashperova was finest identified, if in any respect, as piano instructor to 1 Igor Stravinsky. Her full story as a musician and composer has lastly now been unearthed, via the researches of Dr Graham Griffiths, supported by Radio 3’s Forgotten Girls Composers venture.
Throughout her lifetime, Kashperova was described as ‘a most welcome phenomenon of St Petersburg’s musical life’. She studied composition with Nikolay Solovyov and piano with Anton Rubinstein, who predicted that she would eclipse all the lads on the St Petersburg Conservatory. The up to date Russian composers Alexander Glazunov and Mily Balakirev favoured Kashperova within the interpretation of their music and he or she travelled internationally as a soloist, performing her personal compositions and others.
Earlier than 1917 most of Kashperova’s works have been printed and heard, however the arrival of the Russian Revolution prompted her voice to be silenced. Public performances of Kashperova’s music stopped altogether due to her connections with the gentry. Personal performances have been uncommon. She continued to compose – however now with none hope of listening to it performed.
Right here, a number of the performers concerned within the Composer of the Week sequence – together with soprano Claire Sales space, cellist Anastasia Kobekina and conductor Jane Glover – focus on their favorite piece by Kashperova.
Claire Sales space, soprano
‘Kashperova’s vocal repertoire has been an absolute revelation. Her Songs of Love, and certainly all of the songs I used to be lucky sufficient to document, present such a pure affinity for the voice – hovering vocal strains, and brilliantly paced.
‘Simply once you really feel you perceive the concord, she takes you off in one other route. Take Gebet for instance – initially the tune evokes a hymn-like simplicity, however then it passes via all method of modulations within the piano. The vocal line manages to keep up a way of reverence, even because it rises to a beautiful climax, underpinned by essentially the most lovely harmonies.
‘This mixture of German Classicism and Russian Romanticism is a heady brew certainly, and these songs are completely ripe for rediscovery. Having carried out Schumann’s Frauenliebe und Leben as a solo efficiency (accompanying myself in recital), I’m significantly happy to notice that Leokadiya envisaged her Songs of Love to be self-accompanied… and I sit up for honing my piano approach!’
Jane Glover, conductor
‘I used to be thrilled to be requested to incorporate the B minor Symphony by Leokadiya Kashperova in a programme of music by forgotten feminine composers.
‘I knew little about Kashperova past the truth that she had taught the piano to Stravinsky, and was a substantial pianist herself. So discovering the unbelievable qualities of her personal composition via this massively spectacular symphony was an exquisite expertise.
‘With out query, Kashperova was formidably outfitted: her orchestration is remarkably sure-footed, strong and ingenious; her lyrical qualities are passionate and gloriously affecting; she has an amazing sense of construction, even drama; and, above all, her music is totally Russian.
‘She consists of two Russian themes in the midst of the symphony, one within the second motion and one other within the finale, and past these her entire palette of color and gesture is steeped on the planet of her nice Russian symphonic forebears.
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‘This pretty work deserves to be heard an amazing deal, and I felt so honoured and privileged to be a part of its reawakening.’
Hiroaki Takenouchi, piano
‘I’m one of many few folks this week who have been requested to take a look at the compositions by Leokadiya’s cousin, Elizaveta Kashperova. I went via a few of Leokadiya’s piano works as properly, and it was fairly clear that they have been two very completely different composers.
‘Directly, Elizaveta is extra inward-looking, and her piano writing is within the grand custom of the golden period of Russian Romantic pianism. From the small variety of items I noticed by Leokadiya, in contrast, it appeared that she favoured a lot clearer textures and lighter expressions.
‘The attention-grabbing works by Elizaveta I recorded for this programme have been each written because the accompaniment for poem recitation. The febrile symbolist poems of Konstantin Balmont are supplied with a vivid musical-commentary in each works. They’re so eloquent that they work completely as solo piano items.
‘I’m joyful that Leokadiya is lastly getting this well-deserved recognition, and I hope it will likely be sooner or later prolonged to her great cousin Elizaveta!’
The Gould Piano Trio
‘Kashperova’s Piano Trio is a large-scale work within the conventional kind, with 4 contrasting actions. There’s a nice undercurrent of power driving the primary motion: that is adopted by an harmless, childlike gradual motion, a crystalline scherzo with a very Russian central part, and an nearly Germanic final motion.
‘It was thrilling to find Kashperova’s distinctive harmonic language. This appears to have each toes within the nineteenth century, however typically it is taken to a spot of discomfort, on the lookout for the resolutions the ear craves.’
Anastasia Kobekina, cello
‘I keep in mind when Graham Griffiths, a researcher with a ardour for Kashperova’s music, approached me with the concept of recording a chunk by this unbelievable composer.
‘I started on the lookout for a brave pianist with whom to document Kashperova’s improbable Second Cello Sonata. Brave, as a result of Kashperova gave the impression to be an extremely virtuosic pianist herself (her piano writing is sort of unplayable). I used to be fortunate to collaborate on this venture with a tremendous musician: London-based Georgian pianist Luka Okros. Collectively we dived into this undiscovered world of Kashperova’s music.
‘It’s unbelievable how mature her works are, contemplating her age. Each Cello Sonatas have been composed when she was solely 23, and a brand new graduate of St. Petersburg’s Conservatory.
‘The Second Cello Sonata is stuffed with completely different sides. It has attractive tunes in all 4 actions, that you end up singing for days after listening to them. Her writing can be very lyrical, with dreamlike, nearly fairytale themes.
‘Nonetheless, you’ll be able to sense a powerful will and a passionate character, proper from the piece’s opening. The second motion is sort of a miniature pastoral, with easy folk-like melodies: time appears to decelerate after the stormy first motion, and the Trio is a really charming waltz.
‘Making the primary recording of this sonata greater than 120 years after it was written could be very symbolic. I hope her music will turn out to be identified to a broader viewers, inspiring a brand new era to create extra lovely music.’
For more information on the Composer of the Week sequence on Leokadiya Kashperova, go to the BBC’s Composer of the Week.
Prime pic courtesy of The Russian Nationwide Museum of Music, Moscow, with due to Mikhail Bryzgalov and Olga Kuzina.
