Russian pianist Ilya Yakushev.
The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra program on Feb. 22 was, in a sense, two concerts in one.
The first half was designed to demonstrate the impact of jazz on Russian composers of the 20th century, or at least three of them. It was also built around the presence in Madison this weekend of Russian pianist Ilya Yakushev, who is also giving a recital and classes at Farley’s House of Pianos. Yakushev is a jazz specialist, and his choice of repertoire reflected that concentration.
He played the Bagatelles for Piano and Orchestra of 1918, by Russian-American Alexander Tcherepnin (1899-1977). Originally composed for solo piano, it was augmented with an orchestral part, which was essentially whipped cream on the cake. Befitting the title, this was a set of short trifles, 11 of them. They are spirited things, but more kinda-like jazzy than anything close to true jazz.
Yakushev’s other contribution was a Jazz Suite for Piano and Orchestra, composed in 1945 by a Soviet jazz addict, the little-known Alexander Tsfasman (1906-1871), a contemporary of Shostakovich. Again, the actual jazz content was superficial, and there was more of a late Romantic quality in the tradition going back to Tchaikovsky. Its four movements include a lovely waltz and a spunky polka, and the totality was in fact quite whimsical and entertaining.
Wedged in amid these pieces (with constant furniture moving) were two brief ones by Stravinsky. Now, the ingenious Igor certainly tinkered with jazz but assimilated it totally in his own ways. His delightful Suite No. 2 for Small Orchestra, a 1921 arrangement of short piano pieces, is familiar from recordings. His Ragtime for Eleven Instruments (1918), which includes an exotic but hardly jazz-related cimbalom in its ensemble, is another of the composer’s dabblings in popular elements.
In all, the actual involvement and influence of jazz in all this music was rather minimal. That was symbolized by Yakushev’s encore, unannounced and unidentified, that sounded to me like Chopin.
Then there was the second half of the program, completely occupied with Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G minor. This was the latest in Maestro Andrew Sewell’s attentions to “mainstream” works of the late Classical and pre-Romantic eras. And what a taut and unsettling masterpiece it is. With an ensemble of 20 string players and 10 on winds, the WCO was able to offer a finely balanced texture, with all parts clearly audible. Sewell took the repeats, and wrought some fine nuances in his strong interpretation — once again demonstrating his very idiomatic grasp of this literature.
