A Study In Folkish Contrasts

Chiaroscuro Vedrana Subotic, piano. Blue Griffin Records 673 Total Time:  61:10 Recording:   ****/**** Performance: ****/****

Vedrana Subotic is a professor of piano at the University of Utah—Salt Lake City and also directs the Liszt Competition there.  She studied with Menahem Pressler and Ralph Votapek.  International recitals and concerto performances also occupy her time and she has recorded for Sony and Centaur.  In this Blue Griffin recording, she presents a program of folk and folk-influenced music.

The first half of this recording features some new arrangements of 5 traditional folk melodies from regions of the former Yougoslavia: 1 Romanyi; 2 Bosnian; 1 Macedonian; and 1 Montenegrin.  These are from newly-commissioned arrangements by Igor Iachimciuc and Christopher O’Riley, respectively.  The selections provide a statement of each melody followed by a sort of jazzier, written out improvisational style.  Each of these has special connections for Subotic and feature themes of longing and love.  They are each quite beautiful and subtle modal differences enhance their differences here while also providing an engaging musical essay.  They are touchingly performed and the inflections of local folk colors comes through well.  The move towards a bit more art-like styles by the fourth and fifth track.

The primary work on the program is Franz Liszt’s Sonata in B (1853).  The piece is inspired by the composer’s Balkan roots and Hungarian background.  It exhibits his exploration of thematic transformation in one larger structural work, though one can discern specific sections within.  He weaves regional modal scales with folk rhythms, particularly the czardas.  The work requires some virtuosity, but is not as flashy in this respect demanding a greater depth toward interpretation and shaping of the material.  In a way, it is like a pianistic symphonic poem and sets out to create its own narrative dramatic flow. 

Subotic’s performances of the opening five arrangements provides a good introduction to the melodic lines and modal harmonies explored by the regional folk music here.  This sets up the ear to better hear how Liszt infuses his own work with some of these ideas as well.  Listeners will have their go-to performance of this piece to be sure.  Subotic’s is enhanced by a gorgeous Steinway piano sound that allows for a rich, and warm harmonic palette.  The crisp articulation is also brought out well as things take off in the opening segment and these extended arpeggiations and runs have a breathless quality to them.  The rhythmic outlines are also brought out well.  This helps to delineate the primary melodic idea allowing one to hear its transformation as the piece moves along.  The second, slower melodic section, also has a nice rubato feel with a style that is reminiscent of the relaxed folk performances earlier in the album.  It is quite moving here.  The shifts from the dense harmonic pulses to the linear melodic threads is also quite excellently handled as well.

Chiaroscuro is a colorful album of folk-inspired music with some quite gorgeous discoveries in its first half and an engaging performance of the Liszt sonata in its second.  Blue Griffin provides a beautiful, rich sound picture here which enhances Subotic’s performance quite well and makes for a thoroughly engrossing release worth tracking down.