Bohdan Kozak, Zasluzhena kapela Ukrajiny "Trembita". Cantata Symphony by S.Lyudkevych "Kavkaz" and the Literary and Musical Composition "Dumas", lyrics by T.Shevchenko. (2CD).

Lyudkevych's "Kavkaz" (1905-13), mentioned in several articles as a bold landmark in Ukrainian late Romantic music, was so far missing from the record catalogue. This CD fills the gap in a highly satisfactory manner, with a technically competent and committed performance by the "Trembita" Chapel and the Lviv Philharmonic conducted by Ivan Yuzyuk. (The other CD in the box will delight lovers of the Ukrainian language and poetry.)

While the piece itself is hardly modernist for its time, its harmonic writing is indeed individual, its rich use of enharmony is penetrating and shows affinities with his contemporaries Hugo Alfven and, more remotely, Aleksandr Scriabin. More importantly perhaps, its dramatic sharpness and urgency are compelling. Orchestral textures are vivid and the handling of Slavic choirs is both fervent and dynamic. The text could have been printed in the notes, but T. Shevchenko's classic poetry is not difficult to find. Understanding the words is not essential to the musical enjoyment, even though it would most probably enhance it.

This is a rhetoric, powerful cantata ambitiously cast in a long tradition (the end of the first part verges on the Neo-Baroque). Its organic, symphonic concentration is strengthened by the return of a motive from Part I in the vast final movement (Parts III and IV linked together). It mostly manages to avoid bombast, not least thanks to a beautiful melodic vein, in turns brooding, melancholy, consoling. The sections around 9:00 in Part I, 6:00 in Part II are particularly endearing.

Amply developed, noble themes act as the pillars of a deeply-felt, well-balanced, memorable work. It would deserve similar exposure to vocal-symphonic frescoes by Rachmaninov or the more advanced Enescu. Within the history of the Ukrainian symphony, it marks a step forward from Volodymyr Sokalsky's beautiful, if still traditional G minor symphony (1892), and directly anticipates on Levko Revutsky's 2nd symphony (1927, rev. 1940). Comparing both pieces, my feeling is that Lyudkevych's profile is rather stronger than Revutsky's, without denying the latter's poetic qualities and refined instrumental command. In some ways, it paves the way to another vocal symphony, the highly original "Simfonija Orijenta" by Josip Stolcer Slavenski. A major rediscovery, in a reference recording.