Rachmaninov, Rimsky-Korsakov and Shostakovich: Opus Femina Chorus (under Falia Papayannopoulou), Male Chorus of the Commercial Bank of Greece (under Stavros Beris) Soloists: Valery Sagaidachny, piano; Dmitri Stepanovich, bass Athens State Orchestra, conductor: Byron Fidetzis Athens Concert Hall 22.12. 2006 (BM)

 

Rachmaninov: “Three Russian Songs” for mixed chorus and orchestra, op.41

Rimsky-Korsakov: Piano Concerto in C# minor, op. 30

Shostakovich: Symphony No.13 'Babi Yar' Op.113

 

Byron Fidetzis, currently director of Athens State Orchestra, is one of the best things that has happened to the Greek classical music scene in recent years. He has single-handedly excavated a great deal of lovely, hitherto practically unknown works by 19^th century Greek composers, resulting in performances and recordings which have earned him the nickname “Schliemann” among some of his admirers. What’s more, he is keen on introducing his compatriots to more than “merely” the German and Viennese classics, and made sure that 2006 in Athens was not just mostly Mozart, but rather a year commemorating Shostakovich and Schumann as well. Last December, Fidetzis’ holiday gift to his audience was Berlioz’ oratorio L’Enfance du Christ. This year it was the Babi Yar Symphony, one of the great Soviet composer’s last works, first performed 44 years ago in Moscow, just a few days before Christmas.

“Why choose such a “depressing” piece at this festive time of year?”, more than one person wondered out loud during intermission, no doubt having read in their programs that the symphony begins with a poem by the Ukrainian writer Yevtushenko, entitled Babi Yar, after the ravine near the center of Kiev where 150,000 men, women and children – mainly Jews – were slaughtered under the Nazis. Naturally I can only speculate as to Fidetzis’ motives, but certainly a great deal of what should be part of “the Christmas spirit” is reflected in this work. The poet who inspired the music identifies with Jews through the ages, with Christ on the cross, with Dreyfus, with Anne Frank, declaring himself - as an enemy of such persecution - a true Russian. Anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination were swept under the carpet in the “classless” Soviet Union, and by the same token, modern-day citizens of Greece don’t usually like to admit to feelings of xenophobia either. Many of them have not yet come to terms with fact that their society has changed, radically and irreversibly so, over the past years and now includes people of various creeds and colors, many from the Third World, but also from former Soviet Republics.

 

 

Valery Sagaidachny

One of these many souls is the Ukrainian pianist who performed the Rimsky-Korsakov concerto, the composer’s only full-scale work for the piano, dedicated to the memory of Liszt and based on the theme of a Russian folk song (hence the connection to the rousing opening by the two choruses with Rachmaninov’s “Three Russian Songs” – although the orchestra was perhaps more stirring than the singers). A consummate artist of the old Russian school born in Harkovo in 1939, Valery Sagaidachny arrived in Greece - his father’s native land - in the wake of Chernobyl and the demise of the USSR, only to initially be turned away from many a door he knocked on (does this ring any Christmas bells?) Fortunately for his audiences, he has since had many an opportunity to perform, and on this particular evening he was clearly delighted to be playing ionce more, treating us to a genuinely ethereal rendition of the concerto’s pianissimo passages and giving three moving encores.

 

Dmitri Stepanovich

 

For the next and last work on the evening’s program, Fidetzis had recruited a “true Russian” from Moscow, young Dmitri Stepanovich, his booming bass eminently suited to the solo part and capable of enormous subtlety - a luxury import, no less! He graciously accepted the applause following his performance by holding up the photograph of Shostakovich on the front of his score, and he, too, presented his listeners with a poignant encore, singing in Greek from the Christian Orthodox liturgy, as if he had sensed their need for a connection between the symphony and the forthcoming Nativity celebrations. Fidetzis himself comes across on stage as a mild-mannered, unpretentious man and an accomplished conductor who has developed a first-rate rapport with his musicians, with accurate and engaging playing to show for it. Not only that, here is an artist who clearly has his mind set on extending our musical horizons and putting things into perspective. I for one look forward to whatever else he may have in store for us!

Naturally, I was thrilled to see that first thing after the holidays on January 11^th, Byron Fidetzis and his orchestra will be traveling to Istanbul to perform contemporary Turkish composer Ahmed Adnan Saygun’s Piano Concerto No.1, featuring pianist Gülsin Onay, a student of the composer himself. 2007 will mark the centenary of Saygun’s birth in September 1907 in Izmir, or Smyrna (just a year after Shostakovich’s in September 1906 in St. Petersburg) at a time - before the Asia Minor tragedy - when Turks and Greeks still lived together in this city. Also on the program is an orchestral work, “Innerscape”, by Greek composer Alexander Mouzas, born in 1962 (the year Babi Yar was first performed) in Istanbul, or Constantinople, the name by which most people still refer to this city in Greece. Fortunately for all of us back in Athens, a matching Greek-Turkish friendship concert is scheduled here for the very next day, January 12^th, at the Athens Concert Hall, featuring Istanbul Opera’s Orchestra performing works by Turkish composers including their new artistic director Selman Ada, as well as Saygun, alongside music by Manolis Kalomiris (1883-1962), the Smyrna-born Greek composer who spent quite a few of his formative years in Harkovo, Ukraine.

Bettina Mara