Serious connoisseurs of classical music as well as more superficial listeners usually have a certain image of (if not a prejudice
about) Russian music. It is commonly thought of as something big, loud, ashy, emotional, expressive, on the edge, and painfully familiar, such as Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker or Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Let’s face it: a Western listener is hardly aware of any Russian music prior to 1850. But this does not mean that there was no remarkable music in Russia before that. For example, Russia has long had its own original guitar tradition, one associated with the seven-string guitar in a particular tuning. This instrument came into fashion during the age of Catherine the Great (1790s), reached its peak in the 1820s and 30s, and slowly faded away from the mainstream just as Russian piano, orchestral, and operatic music began to attract international audiences.
This great but neglected treasury of Russian guitar music is nothing less than an alternative universe for today’s standard classical guitar repertoire. Yet it contains a paradox: It barely relates to that magic world of “Russian music” that Western audiences are often eager to consume, searching for the depths of the mysterious Russian soul. Instead, the Russian guitar repertoire exists by itself, waiting to be discovered and embraced by conservatories and concert performers while capturing new listeners in the process.
In a certain way, this album is an attempt to reinvent history. We took the alliance of classical Russian composers known as “The Mighty Handful” or “The Five” and built a musical tribute to them with our quartet of four Russian seven-string guitars. We did this in the spirit of the Russian guitar tradition, observing the stylistic peculiarities of the first half of the 19th century. Let me explain.
For many years, Spanish and Latin American repertoires have dominated the classical guitar scene. That is hardly surprising, since we even refer to the instrument as “the Spanish guitar.” One of the distinctive qualities of this music is its rhythmic crispness, reflecting the fiery dances of Spain and Latin America. In guitar terms this means a crystal clear, almost aggressive articulation in the right hand. When we examine the bulk of Russian guitar music from 1800 to 1850, we find a very different picture. A certain legato feel was preferred then; the guitarist was trying to imitate the smoothness of a Russian song as if it were being carried along by the driver of a “troika” (three-horse sleigh) as it traversed the endless Russian steppes. Technically, it meant that instead of articulating every note in the right hand, the Russian masters insisted on cleverly mixing legato passages (called “luxurious legatos” in 1854 by Mikhail Stakhovich) and harplike textures. Such combinations were common in the works of Andrey Sychra (1773- 1850), Mikhail Vysotsky (1791-1837), and their noted disciples. We tried to hold on to this heritage in our arrangements for this recording.
Another way in which our approach differs from that of most guitar quartets in today’s market is our use of the smaller, so-called “quart–guitars” that are tuned a fourth higher than the full-sized ones. This was also a historical practice for 19th-century Russian guitar ensembles: hundreds of duets composed for a full-sized guitar and a quart-guitar survive from that era. In about 1900, quartets consisting of four seven-string guitars of different sizes appeared in Russia. But unfortunately – while such ensembles were documented in photographs and program descriptions, – no sheet music for them has survived. With this recording, The Russian Guitar Quartet is attempting to revive this short-lived, yet extremely promising approach, applying it to the most famous examples of “Russian” music: the orchestral masterpieces of “The Mighty Handful.”
From any music history textbook we learn that The Mighty Handful (in Russian: могучая кучка, literally, “a mighty little heap”) was a group of St. Petersburg composers who were conscious of and enthusiastic about the creation of an authentic Russian national style in music. Sometimes the group is also called the “Balakirev circle” because Mily Balakirev was its main proponent and ideologist.
What textbooks are not telling us, however, is that this group of five composers represents the whole range of exposure, from extreme popularity to complete obscurity. For example, we often hear Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade on the radio. But when was the last time we heard any composition by Cui? Consequently, we created this album’s program on the principles of fair representation: you will find some very familiar melodies next to completely unknown ones, yet both are equally delightful.
A Tribute to the Mighty Handful
The Russian Guitar Quartet
“Our goal is to bring [this music] back because it’s absolutely the best expression of Russian musical soul…” — Oleg Timofeyev
Renowned guitarist and lutenist Oleg Timofeyev, formed the Russian Guitar Quartet in 2006 for the specific purpose of resurrecting Russia’s once-popular seven-string guitar tradition in the 21st century. And what better way to demonstrate the unique sound and style of such an ensemble than to arrange for it the music of “Mighty Handful” – the influential 19th-century alliance of five composers who collectively sought to establish a unique, folk-based brand of Russian national music.
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