The Four Seasons. Vivaldi. Almashi. Piazzolla

On September 12, the National Ensemble of Soloists “Kyivska Camerata” will visit the Lviv Philharmonic with a unique project – it is an orchestra where every musician is a virtuoso and a solo performer!

This is a team with a clear mission – the promotion of Ukrainian music in all the colorful styles, currents and compositional schools. The collective “Kyivska Camerata” is the first performer of hundreds of works of modern composers.

In 1977, conductor Valerii Matiukhin created the Chamber Music Ensemble as an enterprise of the Union of Composers of Ukraine. Since the restoration of Independence, in 1993, the collective acquired its artistic autonomy with the assigned status of “state”, which marked a new page of creativity. This year, “Kyivska Camerata” celebrates 30 years of activity as an independent collective and gives a series of concerts dedicated to long-time mentor and creative director Valerii Matiukhin.

Returning from a tour in Germany, the orchestra will play a program with the music of Antonio Vivaldi, a modern composer, and the soloist of the “Kyivska Camerata” – Zoltan Almashi. “Seasons” became the central idea of the program: from the times of Italian art of the beginning of the 18th century to the sound of modern academic music in Ukraine. The masters of the Baroque era combined and reconciled the elements, and the dynamics of the development of opposite ideas and materials became the key to the human heart. Music that sets human feelings free and frames them in a submissive form, as if imprinting them for eternity. Antonio Vivaldi’s cycle of violin concertos has remained a masterpiece of the world’s musical repertoire for several centuries and to this day.

From the middle of the 20th century, the classical world scene was filled with passionate tango music. It is thanks to the Great Astor that the dance genre of tango, most characteristic of the Buenos Aires region, has gained such popularity in the world. Piazzolla’s “Seasons in Buenos Aires” is an appeal to the tradition started by Vivaldi, and with a particular sensuality of the instrumental music and dance of South America.

Undoubtedly, the composer Zoltan Almashi drew inspiration for writing his cycle from the music of both Vivaldi and Piazzolla. Vivid musical images, saturated with naturalistic ideas – this is how Ukrainian nature shines through the musical canvas. The author gives poetic titles to each and turns to the Baroque genre of Concerto grosso, creating “Seasons” for violin and chamber orchestra. The calendar year for each composer begins at different times: for Vivaldi, without a doubt, it is spring. Piazzolla’s sensual melody “Seasons” originates from a hot summer in the Argentine capital. Instead, for Zoltan Almashi, the beginning of the year is connected with the annual calendar and its first month.

Artists:

• Bohdana Pivnenko, violin
• Dmytro Tavanets, piano
• National Ensemble of Soloists “Kyivska Camerata”
• Oleh Marynchenko, conductor

Program:

• Antonio Vivaldi.
  Cycle of violin concertos “Seasons of the Year” (1725):
  Violin Concerto in E major, RV 269 “Spring”
  Violin concerto in G minor, RV 315 “Summer”
  Violin Concerto in F major, RV 293 “Autumn”
  Violin Concerto in F minor, RV 297 “Winter”
• Astor Piazzolla.
  “Seasons in Buenos Aires” (1970) arr. for violin, piano and chamber orchestra. Arr. by Andriy Rachmanin
• Zoltan Almashi.
  Concerto grosso No. 4 “Seasons” for violin and chamber music
  orchestra (2009):
  1. Introduction “Holiday Song” (January)
  2. Intermezzo “Valentine’s Day Waltz” (February)
  Triptych “Spring”:
  3. “Thaw” (March)
  4. “Sprouting” (April)
  5. “Water flows and gardens bloom…” (May)
  Diptych “Summer”:
  6. “Nostalgic dialogue” (June)
  7. “Very quickly” (July-August)
  8. “Autumn”
  9. Epilogue “First Snow” (December)