Bringing the viola out of the shadows
Kim Kashkashian is probably the world's greatest living violist. To understand why, you need only listen to a few moments of any of her recordings.
Immediately you encounter her tone, as recognizable a calling card as any soloist's. That tone is a beautiful paradox. It is full of color and intensely lyrical, singing even in the most arduous music. Yet for all its richness, there is something hesitant about it, as if the instrument's voice were emerging only reluctantly from its self-imposed shadows. No doubt that magical balance has a lot to do with the viola itself and its dusky tenor sound. But the haunted lyricism that Kashkashian manages to coax from her instrument is her own, and it makes her one of the most compelling soloists alive.
Kashkashian, who plays a duo recital with pianist Robert Levin on Tuesday at Jordan Hall, is a serious and unpretentious musician, averse to titles like "greatest living violist."
"I'm not so sure about that," she demurs during a phone conversation. Of course, the fact that one can use the title with even a modicum of seriousness shows how far the viola's fortunes have come. It wasn't long ago that the tag would have seemed closer to the punch line to a conservatory joke than the object of serious debate.
Those fortunes have had a lot to do with Kashkashian. Beyond her superb playing, her tireless quest for new music has enriched the viola's solo repertoire. She has formed working relationships with an array of composers, including Gyorgy Kurtag, Peter Eotvos, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Tigran Mansurian. Many works have been written for her; others get the benefit of her intensely focused musicianship.
Kashkashian says that the new music has, in turn, raised musical standards in the way that other virtuoso pieces did for other instruments, something she sees at close range as a faculty member at New England Conservatory. "The demands made on the player, the challenges, are such that we have created a couple of generations of young violists who play extremely well," she says. "There's absolutely no question that they play on a level that's as skilled as their other string-playing counterparts."
An element that underlies much of her repertoire - most of which is on the ECM label - is what in a program note she calls her "constant fascination with songs," either in arrangements or as reworked into new forms. That passion is front and center on her newest recording with Levin: "Asturiana," an elegant collection of arrangements of songs by Spanish and Argentine composers.
"Any musician's interest in song has to go way back, because it's an essential part of any composer's music," she says. Some of the first works she and Levin played together were songs by Manuel de Falla. Other composers featured on the new disc, like the Argentines Carlos Guastavino and Carlos Lopez Buchardo, were introduced to them by Levin's students at Harvard. "That was a bit of a kicker for us," she says.
One of the challenges of the project was to retain the songs' poignant lyricism without a sung text. "We did a lot of unusual colors," she says. "I did a lot of adjusting of the octaves, as if both a baritone and a soprano were singing, instead of just one."
"Asturiana" can also be seen as a testament to Kashkashian and Levin's musical partnership, which goes back some 30 years and must, at this point, function as something akin to ESP.
"My take on it is that he and I embody a completely opposite set of strengths and weaknesses, and therefore it's a pretty good fit," she says. "There's one thing we have in common musically, which is that we have the same sense of breathing, which is something you can't explain or produce. It's one of those imponderables.
"We can actually help each other in areas where we need to," she continues, "sometimes without even saying anything. It just happens by itself. His sense of harmonic structure complements my sense of elastic melodic shape, for example."
Tuesday's recital will feature two groups of songs from "Asturiana." Flanking them will be a viola da gamba sonata by Bach, Benjamin Britten's fragmentary "Lachymae," and Brahms's F Minor Sonata for viola and piano. That should make for a fascinating array of colors, forms, and emotional contours. Told so, the unaffected Kashkashian gives a brief laugh. "Well, we try."
Information: concerts.new englandconservatory.edu
Longwood to tour
The Longwood Symphony Orchestra will embark on its first concert tour next year. The orchestra, whose members are drawn from the Boston medical community, will perform under music director Jonathan McPhee in three cities in the United Kingdom in June. Members will also participate in local symposia on cancer care. Proceeds will benefit Marie Curie Cancer Care, one of the UK's largest medical charities.
Information: longwoodsym phony.org
