John Schneidermann & Oleg Timofeyev (Seven-string guitars), 74:38
Prima Classic PRIMA075
Mikhail Vysotsky was a Russian guitarist who was born in 1791 in the village of Ochakovo. He moved to Moscow in 1813, where he performed as a virtuoso guitarist, and was in demand as a guitar teacher. In his liner notes, Oleg Timofeyev describes Vysotsky as “Disorganized and impractical in daily life. Vysotsky drank himself to death by 1837.” Vysotsky wrote music for the Russian seven-string guitar, which had become extremely popular by the beginning of the 19th century. Timofeyev notes that there are about a hundred of Vysotsky’s compositions which were published: preludes, fantasias, dances, transcriptions of piano music and opera arias. There are a few pieces which survive in manuscript. The twelve tracks on the present CD are variations on popular Russian songs. The first eight tracks are performed by John Schneidermann, and the last four by Oleg Timofeyev.
The first track, “Along the street”, is Vysotsky’s take on a well-known Russian song. It is a jolly piece, with variations involving continuous quavers, with slurred notes and harmonics thrown in here and there for variety. There are little touches of chromaticism which brighten what is straightforward conventional diatonic harmony. Vysotsky is in good company: the Spanish composer Fernando Sor, wrote variations for two guitars on the same song in his “Souvenir de Russie”.
“Show yourself the clear moon” is in a similar vein. There are grace notes and similar decorative effects, and attractive scalic passages running up and down the neck of the guitar, but harmony is limited to the folk singer’s three-chord trick of tonic, dominant and subdominant. One variation switches to triplets, followed by another which consists of dotted rhythms.
A more sombre mood pervades “Mother I have a headache”. It is in a minor key, and a feeling of unease is created by occasional diminished sevenths. Schneidermann plays expressively with a delicacy of touch, so it is unfortunate that there are occasional obtrusive noises from the strings as he slides his finger along them. Perhaps this can’t be helped, but it does stand out at 3.07. In contrast, portamento slides are used to good effect in “Variations on a Tyrolean Theme.” Vysotsky’s music is designed for easy listening, and Schneidermann’s nimble fingers create a charming performance.
Oleg Timofeyev is responsible for the last four tracks. I like his interpretation of “I used to know no worries”, which is a delightful piece full of contrasts. The very high notes towards the end are particularly satisfying. The music for track 11, “My strip of land”, is available online at IMSLP, where it has the title “Is it not the Field, my little Field”. I wonder if Timofeyev used a different source for the recording, because there are so many places where what he plays does not match the IMSLP score. Variation 6 begins with a passage of 20 single notes. Timofeyev plays them as harmonics, apart from c# which is not available as a harmonic. The result is unsatisfactory, since the c#s obtrusively sound an octave lower than the other notes. It is clear from the IMSLP score, that the first 13 notes should be played normally at the written pitch, and only the last seven notes should be played as harmonics.
One welcome feature of the CD is Oleg Timofeyev’s commentary in the liner notes: He provides information about the songs and their text, about Vysotsky’s life, and the musical context in Russia. “Russia of that time was a place of constant singing everywhere. Coachmen in carriages, rowers in boats, women washing the laundry – everybody was singing in villages, towns and cities.”
Stewart McCoy