Vedrana Subotic, piano.
ROMANI TRADITIONAL (arr. Igor Iachimciuc): “Djelem, Djelem” (“I went, I went”)
BOSNIAN TRADITIONAL (arr. Christopher O’Riley): “Kad Ja Podjoh Na Bembašu” (“When I went to Bambaša”)
MACEDONIAN TRADITIONAL, Jonče HRISTOVSKI (arr. Christopher O’Riley): “Makedonsko Dvoječe” (“Macedonian Girl”)
MONTENEGRIN TRADITIONAL (arr. Igor Iachimciuc): “Još Ne Sviće Rujna Zora” (“Crimson Dawn Has Not Yet Broken”)
BOSNIAN TRADITIONAL (arr. Christopher O’Riley): “Mujo Kuje Konja Po Mjesecu” (“Mujo Shoes His Horse Under the Moonlight”)
Franz LISZT:Sonata in B minor, s.178
Blue Griffin Records (BGR673)
Formats: CD, digital
Release Date: October 17, 2024
Total Duration: 61:10
Giorgio Koukl | 2 DEC 2024
A new recording of the Piano Sonata by Franz Liszt combined with five arrangements of Yugoslav folk melodies has been released by pianist Vedrana Subotic on Blue Griffin Records.
BGR673 cover art
At first glance, this may seem a strange combination, but it has a convincing logic behind it. Subotic is a renowned Serbian-Croatian-American pianist celebrated for her dynamic career as a soloist, chamber musician, and pedagogue. Critics have praised her performances for their expressiveness, technical mastery, and nuanced interpretations. She has performed in prestigious venues worldwide, including Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater and London’s Southbank Centre. So, any product coming out with her name is certainly worth closer scrutiny. This album, Chiaroscuro, gives her much space to showcase her steel-like technique and prodigious dexterity.
The Piano Sonata in B minor, S.178, completed in 1853, is one of Franz Liszt’s most celebrated and groundbreaking works. It is a monumental single-movement composition that challenges conventional sonata form and represents Liszt’s genius as a composer and virtuoso pianist. It is dedicated to Robert Schumann in response to Schumann’s dedication of his Fantasia in C to Liszt.
Although the Sonata is written as one continuous movement, it can be divided into four main sections, resembling a traditional multi-movement sonata. Liszt uses thematic transformation to unify the work. The main difficulty for any pianist approaching this score is unifying this thematic material into one powerful flow without excess in dynamic extravaganzas. Here, Dr. Subotic is fully competent and logical and never allows weaker moments. The use of the piano’s full range, with powerful bass lines and shimmering upper register textures, creates an orchestral effect — just another trap for most pianists, as too many recordings resort to wild banging in an attempt to achieve this effect, which is difficult to obtain. The work concludes with a dramatic fugato passage and a return to the primary thematic material, which gradually dissolves into a serene and introspective ending in B major, symbolizing resolution and transcendence.
The Sonata is a tour de force of pianistic virtuosity, requiring immense technical skill and interpretative depth. Dr. Subotic is particularly laudable for balancing the stormy, dramatic passages with the lyrical and spiritual ones. By presenting the entire work as a single movement, Liszt breaks away from the traditional four-movement sonata structure, creating a seamless narrative.
The five folk songs arrangements from the former Yugoslavia complete the disc.
The music of the Balkans is a reflection of the region’s rich history, complex cultural interactions, and diverse ethnic influences. It is a vibrant, dynamic art form incorporating traditional and modern elements, often serving as a cultural bridge among its peoples. Balkan music is renowned for its irregular and asymmetric time signatures, such as 7/8, 9/8, 11/8, and 13/8. These unusual rhythms give Balkan music a distinct feeling, contributing to its lively and dynamic nature. The excellent booklet describes this particular region’s stylistic influences and features in depth. No wonder that composers like Bartók or Martinů frequently used its thematic material.
The first score, “Djelem, djelem,” is a traditional Romani song in a slow rendering. Sometimes, the players tend to enrich the style with virtuosity improvisation, which is not the case in this version.
The Balkans are home to numerous ethnic groups (Slavs, Albanians, Greeks, Romani, Turks, etc.), each contributing unique musical traditions. Centuries of Byzantine, Ottoman, and Austro-Hungarian rule left deep cultural imprints, resulting in a fusion of Eastern and Western musical traditions. Music has played a crucial role in preserving cultural identity, especially during periods of political upheaval.
The second song comes from Bosnia and uses a traditional Turkish romantic song called “Kad Ja Podjoh Na Bembašu.”
The Balkan music scene has gained international recognition, with artists and festivals showcasing its energy and complexity worldwide. The influence of Balkan music is evident in genres like jazz, film scores, and world music collaborations. But if you expect some Goran Bregovic-style energetic music, you will be deceived. This song, too, has a slow pace and no dance rhythms in a strict sense, so the third song is called “Makedonsko Devojče” (“The Macedonian Girl”).
The last two songs, “Još Ne Sviče Rujna Zora” and “Mujo kuje Konja Po Mjesacu,” from Montenegro and Bosnia, complete this installment.
While the pianist’s playing is well crafted, there are some difficulties with the arrangements, generally speaking. It is certainly not an easy task to transform a melody into a modern piano piece, but most of the arrangers, in my opinion, have overloaded their scores with harmonic solutions that do not reflect the particular Balkan sonic world.
Despite this minor problem, this new album from Vedrana Subotic is well-recorded and well-played, so it is an easy recommendation. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Vedrana Subotic: vedranasubotic.com
Read more by Giorgio Koukl.
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