On May 20, Maya Kulieva Turkmen National Conservatory teachers performed works by Antonín Dvořák, Johannes Brahms, and Ernest Bloch at the Magtymguly National Music and Drama Theater.
The concert, whose program was compiled by Honored Artist of Turkmenistan Vladimir Mkrtumov, featured Antonín Dvořák’s Piano Quartet No. 2, Johannes Brahms’s Cello Sonata in E minor, and Ernest Bloch’s Piano Quintet.
Bakhram Dolyev (violin), Takhir Ataev (viola), Yusup Gandymov (cello) and Vladimir Mkrtumov (piano) took to the stage to perform the piece by the Czech composer, whose 180th anniversary of the birth is marked this year.
Antonín Dvořák’s Quartet opens with a dramatic theme, and then the tone gradually shifts to the light and optimistic mood with subtle hints of lyricism. As explained by the composer himself the music becomes positively dance-like in the final movement. He believed that it is the piano part (written in the traditions of musical Romanticism in the last decade of the 19th century) that should convey the prevailing mood of the piece to listeners.
The virtuoso performance of the Piano Quartet drew loud applause from the audience.
The evening continued with Brahms’s Cello Sonata. The masterpiece of romantic chamber music known for its lyrical and elegiac moods was brilliantly played by Baymurad Kutlymuradov, the winner of the Nury Khalmamedov International Competition, and Vladimir Mkrtumov, who provided piano accompaniment.
Ernest Bloch’s Piano Quintet completed the program. Most critics describe the piece, which was innovative and boldly original for its time, as “suffused with tension” and embodying a “somber, baleful, yet ultimately redemptive vision”. Violinist Khezret Reyimbaev joined the musicians, who had earlier performed the Dvořák’s Quartet. The performers powerfully conveyed the composer’s dark thoughts about the future of humanity.
The concert left a vivid impression on the listeners. It was not surprising that the delighted audience did not feel like leaving the venue and the musicians were called back for bows three times.
Roman TEPLYAKOV
Photo: Suleyman CHARYEV
