Moscow Virtuosi: more Russian music please

It was 1979, the Shah fled Iran for Egypt, the United States and China established full diplomatic relations, Senator Ted Kennedy announced he would challenge President Carter for the Democratic nomination, and at the Chicago Symphony violin virtuoso, turned conductor, Vladimir Spivakov, made his conducting debut.

Not long after his debut in Chicago, Spivakov returned to the Soviet Union and founded the Moscow Virtuosi. Spivakov hand picked many of the 24 members from the Soviet Union’s elite orchestras. The original 24 didn’t last very long. A retreat to Spain, with the goal of enhancing the nascent ensemble’s sound and precision resulted in half of the players staying in Spain. Undeterred, Spivakov returned to the Soviet Union, replenished the group’s ranks, and proceeded to launch the Virtuosi on a thirty year trajectory recognized this year with a North America tour by the group.

The U.S. leg of the tour has been selling out venues from Boston to California. Sunday, the Virtuosi came to Benaroya Hall with a program that is an atypical mix of classical and Twentieth Century works for an ensemble known for their interpretations of Russian music.

In the 30 years that have passed by since the group’s founding, the Virtuosi have cultivated a sound that can only be described in timbre and temperament as Russian. Exposed emotion and occasional brashness are at the core. An RCA recording of the Virtuosi and Evgeny Kissin performing Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No.1 is an indulgent listening experience. Finesse takes a back seat to a volcanic performance by ensemble and soloist alike.

On Sunday it wasn’t Kissin but Olga Kern who joined the group to perform Shostakovich’s concerto.

Kern’s star has risen rapidly since 2001 when she won a Gold Medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. It isn’t surprising Kern’s reputation is quickly rising; she started playing the piano when she was five and her family’s lineage has direct links to both Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff. In addition to Shostakovich’s concerto, Haydn’s D Major Piano Concerto was also on the program.

Absent though were Tchaikovsky and Schnittke. Prokofiev was no where to be heard either. Shchedrin? Nope. In their place was Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklarte Nacht “Transfigured Night.” This seemed like a strange choice for a Russian ensemble’s 30^th anniversary. Schoenberg’s claim to fame isn’t with his post-Wagner compositions like Transfigured Night, but with his rejection of harmony in favor of twelve tone writing. His compositions are known as cerebral and not heart felt. Transfigured Night is an early exception to the Schoenberg rule.

Transfigured Night is easy enough to understand, the composition follows Richard Dehmel’s poem about two lovers as they amble through a forest. They interact with one another as the woman reveals to her lover that she is pregnant with a child from another man.

Transfigured Night was originally conceived for a string sextet, but Spivakov and Virtuosi performed the more popular chamber orchestra version. Lush strings, romantic in sentiment, characterize the piece. But Schoenberg’s music is also sharply ordered as the music’s passages follow the dramatic narrative of Dehmel’s poem.

Earlier in the year the Seattle Symphony strings performed Transfigured Night with Ingo Metzmacher conducting. That performance was marked with an opulent tone but a keen attention to the narrative foundation of the work. A well rounded performance. By contrast, Spivakov’s take on the piece was all tone and no structure. Spivakov pulled out a thick, bold sound from his ensemble. If Metzmacher understood the shape of the music, Spivakov understood the heart of the music. Spivakov’s interpretation was at the same time moving and frustrating. The sound was big and almost melting but without the tension that would be found in a more attentive interpreter.

For the remainder of the evening, the Virtuosi and Spivakov were accompanied by one soloist or another. The middle of the program featured Olga Kern at the piano and the final Piazzolla tangos were assisted by Nikita Vlasov on accordion.

The best of the concert was reserved for Olga Kern. Shostakovich’s piano concerto may seem like a novelty with its scoring for chamber forces and trumpet soloist, but strip the novelty away and what’s left is a fine piano concerto by a composer who knew how to rebound from whithering Soviet criticism. Kern provided a blistering and effortless performance. Her sound matched Shostakovich’s witty writing better than the Haydn which at times sounded prickly. She received good support from Spivakov’s strings as well. They played with panache and ample sound.

The panache carried over into the concert’s concluding moments with vibrant performances of Piazzola tangos and Friedrich Gulda’s Aria. Gulda’s Aria deserves to be heard more. Gulda’s music has been panned as derivative and unimaginative. His Aria is so strikingly beautiful that it begs the question: who cares if it’s derivative? The work is dominated by melody more closely aligned with Tchaikovsky than with Gulda’s Twentieth Century contemporaries.

A large Russian contingent made up the bulk of the Benaroya audience and vendors in the lobby sold Russian compact disks. The Schoenberg and Haydn received polite applause, but the audience really took to Kern and the Moscow Virtuosi’s crack at Shostakovich’s concerto. Like the audience, the Virtuosi seemed much more comfortable with the Shostakovich. Perhaps Spivakov should have considered more Russian music rather than less.

The Moscow Virtuosi can be heard next in: Denver Colorado-May 6, 2008; Vancouver, BC-May 8, 2008; San Diego, California-May 9, 2008; and Los Angeles, California-May 10, 2008