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Festival Miami takes on a Russian accent

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  • Festival Miami takes on a Russian accent

    Sun-Sentinel.com, FL
    Oct 1 2005

    Festival Miami takes on a Russian accent

    By Alan Becker
    Special Correspondent

    Festival Miami continues to offer some enticing concerts at a time of
    year when the cupboard seems bare. Wednesday's program, at the
    University of Miami's Gusman Theater, presented Russian composers and
    artists, with one exception in each case.

    The justification for the presence of Aaron Copland on the program
    was his Russian Jewish lineage and the presence of a Jewish folk
    theme in his "Vitebsk" Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano.

    An abrasive work with clashing sonorities dating from 1925, the Trio
    showed violinist Sviatoslav Moroz and cellist Semyon Fridman at their
    best. Each player had absorbed the idiom fully, bringing insight and
    imagination to the music.

    Performing in all the works with piano was University of Miami
    faculty member Paul Posnak, who has the digital control and authority
    to assert himself as an equal partner with any ensemble. During
    Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake excerpts with Moroz, he undertook the role of
    orchestra.

    If the piano arrangement seemed awkward at times, the violinist did
    his best with the mostly original solos.

    Three of Gliere's engaging pieces for violin and cello easily
    demonstrated what a creative composer could do with a string duo,
    rather than relying on a keyboard to fill in the harmonies.

    While only the slow movement from Rachmaninoff's beautiful Sonata for
    Cello and Piano was performed, it provided a striking contrast to the
    splashy emptiness of Rodion Shchedrin's take on Albeniz for Cello and
    Piano.

    Alexander Arutiunian's Impromptu is another matter altogether, and
    provided a joyful and fiery alternative to the Armenian composer's
    more frequently heard Trumpet Concerto. The language is almost pure
    Khachaturian, and the composer weds this to an arresting rhythmic
    exuberance. Fridman, with his luxuriant tone, milked the piece and
    had a field day with Arutiunian's tricky rhythms.

    Shostakovich's Op. 67 Trio has a vicious, sardonic intensity in its
    two faster movements, and wears a doleful countenance for the
    remainder of the work.

    Considering that it dates from the war years and contains a portrayal
    of the Jews being horribly forced to dance just before their
    slaughter by Nazis, the composer avoids most of his depressive
    tendencies. It was given a reading that, while not note-perfect,
    conveyed the music's stature and feeling.

    Alan Becker is a freelance writer in Davie.
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