Im Spiegel I Kitsch musik
Program note
The first concert features music by Valentin Silvestrov from the 1970s, the most important period for understanding his work, performed by the brilliant Ukrainian pianist Antonii Baryshevskyi, who is already familiar to the St. Gallen audience from his 2018 performance at the Tonhalle. The ironically titled piece “Kitsch-Music” from 1977 is a kind of manifesto in which Silvestrov declares his “break” with the “avant-garde” past.
Music by two other Kyiv composers, Victoria Poleva and Svyatoslav Lunyov, will also be performed. Lunyov’s cycle is titled “Mardongi”, with each piece referencing a different composer or compositional school. For Lunyov, his style is the key to infinite possibilities of interpretation. But in many cases, he radically reshapes the source material of various works.
Poleva’s cycle titled “Numbers” consists of 7 parts and uses only a 7-step diatonic scale. This music reflects the spiritual experience of prayer — the mystical communion between the icon and the worshipper.
The concert concludes with works by their younger colleague Maxim Shalygin, who combines sensuality, depth, and original textures and forms in his compositions.
Program
Viktoria Poleva Numbers (1996)
Valentin Silvestrov
Sonate 2 (1975)
Kitsch-Musik (1977)
Svyatoslav Lunyov Mardongs (1992–2005)
Maxim Shalygin
Engel (2020)
Gavotte (2010)
Etüde “Au vent sur la pointe des pieds” (2019)
Musician:
Antonii Baryshevskyi, piano
ANTONII BARYSHEVSKYI
Antonii Baryshevskyi is a prominent Ukrainian pianist and first prize winner of several of the most prestigious international piano competitions, such as the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, the Premio Jaen, and the F. Busoni International Piano Competition. He is a soloist with the National Philharmonic of Ukraine and gives masterclasses both in Ukraine and abroad.
Baryshevskyi has performed in concert halls such as Wigmore Hall in London, Konzerthaus Berlin, Berlin Philharmonie, Cologne Philharmonie, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Mariinsky Theatre Concert Hall, and Teatro Comunale di Bologna. He has given concerts in almost all European countries, as well as in Israel, Japan, South Korea, and the USA.
He has also performed with some of the leading European orchestras, including the Munich Radio Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Arturo Toscanini Philharmonic under the baton of maestros such as A. Fisch, F. Chaslin, H. Griffiths, O. Lyniv, K. Karabits, and many others. He has recorded numerous albums, including for Naxos, as well as radio and television productions for Italian, Danish, Spanish, and German broadcasters.