An Ox on the Roof 47: The Ox in Times of War. An Introduction to Contemporary Music in Layman’s Terms.
Episode forty-seven of A Ox on the Roof by Thea Derks, inspired by her book A Ox on the Roof: modern music after 1900 in a nutshell.
Today, the Ox is once again focused on music from Ukraine; the country proves to be a treasure trove of unfairly overlooked pieces.
We start with Violin Concerto No. 8, composed by Miroslav Skoryk (1938-2020) in 2010 to mark the 200th anniversary of Frederic Chopin’s birth. He artfully weaved several themes from Chopin’s piano music into the solo violin part, hence the subtitle ‘Allusion to Chopin’.
Iryna Aleksiytsjuk [see photo] was born in 1967 in the Donbas region, now occupied by Russia, but moved with her parents to Chmelnytsky, about a thousand kilometers further west, as a child. She studied piano, composition and organ at the Kyiv Conservatory, where she later taught composition herself. Due to the Russian invasion, she had to flee her homeland in March 2022; she now lives and works in Bilbao. ‘When Russia occupied Donbas in 2014, I volunteered to work for the army and medical services at the front. Over the years, I have lost so many friends, seen so much sorrow and blood, that I will hate Russia for the rest of my life.’
Ivan Karabits (1945-2002) also comes from a region occupied by Russia: he was born in Yalta, in the Donetsk region. Karabits studied composition, also at the Kyiv Conservatory, among others with Miroslav Skoryk and Borys Ljatoshynsky, whose music has been heard on this program before. Today, Kirill Karabits conducts the Concerto for Orchestra No. 2, which his father Ivan composed in 1987.
Finally, we hear So Close… for violin and piano by Iryna Aleksiytsjuk; she accompanies the violinist Nina Sivachenko, a fellow teacher at the Kyiv Conservatory.
The first edition of A Ox on the Roof is sold out, but you can get a copy of the second edition via boekenbestellen.nl.
- Miroslav Skoryk. Violin Concerto No. 8 “Allusion to Chopin”. Andrej Bjelov, violin. Ukrainian National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Volodymir Sirenko.
- Iryna Aleksiytsjoek [see photo]. Breath of Time. Kyiv Municipal Chamber Choir ‘Khreshchatyk’ conducted by Larysa Buhonska.
- Ivan Karabits. Concerto for Orchestra No. 2. George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Kirill Karabits.
- Iryna Aleksiytsjoek. So close… Nina Sivatsjenko, violin. Iryna Aleksiytsjoek, piano.
Compiled, presented, and engineered by Thea Derks.
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