A Tribute to Mikhail Vysotsky
John Schneiderman, Oleg Timofeyev (guitar)
rec. 2022/23, The Gustlin House, Santa Ana; IARMAC, Iowa City, USA
Prima Classic PRIMA075 [74]
The seven-string guitar was an instrument exclusive to the Russian empire. With open strings tuned to a G major chord, it was popular from the late eighteenth century to the early twentieth century. Following the October Revolution, all varieties of guitar fell out of favour. The seven-string guitar’s decline was then made doubly worse when Segovia toured Russia in 1926, popularising the six-string guitar. Russian guitarists were divided into two camps of ‘sixers’ and ‘seveners’, with the former becoming dominant.
Recently, there has been a revival of interest in the instrument. Mårten Falk, for example, has a superb album series titled The History of the Russian Guitar (two out of three volumes have been released so far). However, the seven-string guitar’s foremost advocate is Oleg Timofeyev, who literally wrote the book on the subject (The Seven-String Guitar in Russia, Cambridge Scholars Publishing). He has also recorded numerous albums of music for the instrument. This includes a mammoth seven-disc album with John Schneiderman, featuring music for the Russian guitar from 1800-1850.
Schneiderman and Timofeyev again unite for this album of music by Mikhail Vysotsky (1791-1837). These are not duets; rather, Scheiderman plays on tracks 1-8 and Timofeyev on tracks 9-12. Timofeyev’s engaging liner notes tell us that Vysotsky was of humble birth – a serf, albeit under a more liberal landlord than most – and yet attained some degree of celebrity. Timofeyev writes that, ‘Most of his performing activities must have taken place in informal settings among the merchants, students, and Gypsy (Romani) choirs. As a teacher he was extremely popular, although the evidence suggests that he was not a very committed pedagogue. Disorganized and impractical in daily life, Vysotsky drank himself to death by 1837.’
It is tempting to see aspects of his life reflected in the well-chosen cover for this album, a fragment from an 1846 Russian painting: the untidy miscellany of items around the chair and the broken strings on the guitar. But one also wonders if Vysotsky’s life is reflected in his music? All the works on this album are sets of variations on folksongs. However, Timofeyev warns against assuming that Vysotksy had a special insight into these songs on account of his lower-class origins. Russia was ‘a place of constant singing everywhere’, and Vysotsky was likely using music that was familiar to most.
The album begins charmingly with a famous folksong, Along the Street (the song even appears in Tolstoy’s War and Peace, Timofeyev informs us). It is a veritable earworm, as are a few other themes on this album (The Cossack Went Beyond the Danube also comes to mind). The music bounces along jollily – with the amusing interjection of the occasional harmonic. The following variations keep the music moving at a pace, with minimal contrasts between the variations, but its sheer gaiety prevents monotony.
Sometimes the relentless stream of notes often used in the variations does become wearisome. Part of the problem is inherent to theme and variations as a musical form; it seems almost a tautology to say this, but if variations aren’t sufficiently varied, the weaknesses of the form soon become apparent. Vyostsky is not especially adventurous in his variations. Yet, even while sometimes overstaying its welcome, there is an undeniable pleasantness to the music.
Vysotsky’s music is certainly not without its curiosities. In the melancholy variations in Mother, I Have a Headache, a song about ‘the hardship awaiting a promiscuous woman who has a cruel and jealous husband’, there are some delicious descending glissandi and rich harmonic patterns, especially in the final variation. A novel technique is used in Variations on a Tyrolean Theme, where the guitar imitates yodelling by using fretted notes against open strings, usually in unison or minor-second intervals. And My Strip of Land has a compelling theme with some unexpected turns in its phrasing and harmony; the second half then surprises with the use of evocative passages of spare harmonics that alternate with normal playing.
Given the narrow focus of the album – all the works are theme and variations by Vysotsky – it is perhaps welcome that there are two different interpreters. While both performers use similar guitars – Schneiderman is using a replica of a 1858 Johann Gottfried Scherzer guitar, while Timofeyev uses an original Scherzer guitar, c. 1860 – they get somewhat different sounds. Schneiderman’s warm and light tone gives a soft grace to the many busy, ornate variations. His fleet of foot playing is a delight. Timofeyev’s tone is different but no less attractive. He gives the music a bit more space; there is an added grandeur to the music, especially in the melancholy works – In the Valley has a particularly strong expressive power. All in all, a curious album of music for an uncommon instrument, by two fine performers.
Steven Watson
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Contents
Along the Street/I Walked on Flowers
Show Yourself the Clear Moon
Mother, I Have a Headache
Variations on a Tyrolean Theme
The Cossack Went Beyond the Danube
I Loved Rose More Than Any Other Flower
I Love Pear in the Garden
Last Night I Was at the Post
I Used to Know No Worries
Akh, What is My Heart Doing
My Strip of Land
In the Valley (Arr. by Oleg Timofeyev)
