Ninth California Andriasov Festival at O1C

Iosif and Arshak Andriasov (from the Old First Concerts event page for yesterday’s performance)

For as long as I have been following Victor Romasevich’s work as a violinist, I have been aware of his advocacy of the music of Iosif Andriasov and his son Arshak. Romasevich had studied both violin and viola with Iosif; and, when he took over the leadership of the Jupiter Chamber Players in 2002, he worked with his new colleagues to advance that advocacy. My primary encounters with Jupiter and the music of the two Andriasovs has been through Old First Concerts (O1C) programming. Yesterday afternoon O1C hosted the Jupiter’s latest program, named as the ninth California Andriasov Festival. Romasevich was joined by Michael Jones on second violin, Stephen Levintow on viola, and Paul Rhodes on cello. The program was live-streamed from Old First Presbyterian Church and is now available as a YouTube video.

The program provided Romasevich with the opportunity to display a new talent. He took to the piano keyboard to provide accompaniment for three of Iosif’s duo compositions. In “order of appearance,” these were for viola, violin, and cello. The first of these, the Opus 30 “Meditation,” was originally composed for a cappella choir and subsequently arranged for viola and piano. The Opus 4 “Musical Sketch” was originally composed for flute and piano, and Iosif subsequently transcribed the flute part for violin. The Opus 24 “Musical Sketch” began as concertante music for oboe and chamber orchestra; and, in this case, the version for cello and piano was arranged by Arshak. Arshak was also represented on the program by his Opus 7 piece for string quartet; and Jupiter played Iosif’s Opus 1 quartet and his Opus 32, entitled “The Spring.”

The program also featured quartet music by Alexander Glazunov composed in memory of Mitrofan Petrovich Belyayev. Belyayev was the son of a rich timber merchant and an avid amateur musician. He channeled his share of the family wealth into establishing a music publishing house in 1885, which provided a platform for 35 Russian composers, one of whom was Glazunov. After his death (in either December of 1903 or January of 1904 depending on the calendar being used), Glazunov composed his Opus 105 elegy for string quartet as a memorial gesture. He also contributed the final movement of a string quartet whose previous movements were by three other Belyayev composers: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Anatoly Lyadov, and Alexander Borodin. Each of the four movements used the “pitch spelling” B-la-F as a motif.

The program began with Dmitri Shostakovich’s earliest published work for string quartet. His Opus 36 consisted of two short arrangements of previously-composed music. The “Elegy” is taken from an aria sung by the protagonist of Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. The “Polka” involves one of the composer’s best-known short pieces, originally composed for the satirical ballet The Golden Age.

All of this made for an impressively diverse repertoire. All of the performances were satisfying, and Romasevich also provided some context by reading brief passages from Iosif’s diary. Remarkably, the entire program fit into the duration of about one hour. It may be worth noting that the players followed the usual conventions for quartet seating, since eye contact was a critical factor in their performance. This may have put a bit of a strain on proper social distancing, but all four of the players wore masks.