Seeing through Sound
Seeing through Sound:
Chamber Music by Ivan Sokolov
Lord of the Mountain Lutheran Church
Dillon, Colorado
Sunday, March 17, 2013 at 4:00 pm
Lamont School of Music Recital Hall
Denver University, Denver, Colorado
Wednesday, March 27, 2013 at 7:30 pm
Ivan Sokolov, Piano & Composer
Karen Bentley Pollick, Violin
Basil Vendryes, Viola
Richard Slavich, Cello
Trio for Violin, Viola and Cello (2009)
I Prologue
II Waltz
III Interlude
IV Aria
V Recitative
VI Nocturne
VII Epilogue
When I began working on this piece, I was thinking about Beethoven’s Serenade Op. 25 for flute, violin and viola and about a saloon-type of music, which nevertheless requires considerable virtuoso skills from the performers. Inevitably, the piece turned out to be with a Russian influence, with the reminiscences from Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Myaskovky and partially Chopin who is very close to Russian music in spirit. The suite principle is combined in this Trio with the sonata cycle elements. Thus, the first movement – Prologue – is a very brief sonata, and you can feel some incompleteness there. All other movements except the last one are the interludes or episodes what are nevertheless connected with each other both thematically and by their content (contemplation, lightness). Waltz is a nostalgia for Glinka and Tchaikovsky; the short Interlude and Aria are something like Grieg, that is something close to early Rachmaninov and Myaskovsky; the Recitative is Chopinesque; the Nocturne is like Borodin… and only in the final Epilogue, or, to be more precise, in the last measures of the Nocturne, the mood and the thematic elements of the first movement return. The piece suddenly obtains a conceptual sense that would be difficult to expect from a suite or serenade. Such a mixture…
Quartet for Violin, Viola, Cello and Piano (2010)
I Moderato
II Andante
III Allegro moderato
I wanted to write a big and diverse work, both in the content and character; a serious, strict and at the same time beautiful one. The first sonata movement is a center of the entire quartet. Here, I tried to express a maximally broad spectrum of emotions within one movement. The second movement is very dark. I see this movement as a prayer for the world that had been expressed in the first movement. The finale is a bright dream; it expresses the light, momentous and blissful mood that embraces you when the soul is peaceful, joyful and quiet. As in a dream, the subjects from the first movements are remembered.
For online program notes and more information about the performers:
www.obst-music.com/artists/sokolov.htm
https://portfolio.du.edu/pc/port?portfolio=rslavich
http://www.du.edu/ahss/schools/lamont/faculty/viola/vendryes-basil.html