Contrasts 32. 1 + 1

Programme

• Morton Feldman. The Viola in My Life 3 for viola and piano (1970)
• Borys Liatoshynsky. Nocturne and Scherzino for viola and piano, Op. 65 (1963)
• Krzysztof Penderecki. Cadenza for solo viola (2010)
• Volodymyr Zahortsev. Sonata for viola and piano (1979)
• Helmut Lachenmann. Guero for solo piano (1970)
• Valentyn Bibik. Sounds and Harmonies for viola and piano, Op. 142 (2001) — Ukrainian premiere
• Zoltan Almashi. Sarabande and Tango for solo viola (2018)
• Valentyn Silvestrov. Triptych for viola and piano (2023) — Ukrainian premiere
• Steve Reich. Clapping Music for two performers (1972)

Performers

• Kateryna Suprun — viola
• Maksym Shadko — piano

The evening begins at the edge of silence, where each sound depends on the one before it — that is, with Morton Feldman’s The Viola in My Life 3 for viola and piano. Borys Lyatoshynsky’s Nocturne and Scherzino (1963) carries the exchange between the two instruments into the warm language of late Romanticism, where they sing toward one another.

From there the ensemble begins to shift. In Penderecki’s Cadenza (2010) the viola is left on its own, holding a conversation with itself. Zahortsev restores the full duo in his large-scale Sonata (1979). And Lachenmann’s Guero shows the piano from an unexpected side: the pianist doesn’t play the keys but runs fingers across them and along the body of the instrument, until it sounds like percussion, like a rustling.

The second half brings two premieres by masters of Ukrainian music: Sounds and Harmonies by Valentyn Bibik and the Triptych by Valentyn Silvestrov (2023). Another contemporary Ukrainian composer, Zoltan Almashi, draws together two dances seemingly opposite in nature and impossible to reconcile — Sarabande and Tango (2018).

By the end of the programme the instruments disappear altogether. In Steve Reich’s Clapping Music, two people clap their hands, one rhythm slowly shifting against the other, and the whole piece rests on nothing more than the two of them doing it together, precisely, in the same time. It could not be simpler: no notes, just two pairs of hands and the time between them.