From Dusk Till Dawn
Dobrochna Zubek; Caitlin Boyle
Redshift Records TK 570 (redshiftmusicsociety.bandcamp.com/album/from-dusk-till-dawn)
Hamilton-based violist Caitlin Boyle and Toronto-based cellist Dobrochna Zubek collaborate in 13 short pieces, most of them composed for this pairing of instruments.
Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979) was herself a virtuoso violist; her Viola Sonata ranks among today’s most-often performed, alongside the two by Brahms. Her Two Pieces, Lullaby and Grotesque, are respectively dreamy and mischievously brusque.
Before joining the modernist avant-garde, Witold Lutosławski (1913-1994) drew inspiration from traditional Polish folk melodies and dances, as heard in the five miniature pieces that make up his Bucolics for piano, here arranged by Boyle and Zubek. The fourth, a soulful, songful Andantino, is especially lovely.
The engaging pizzicato-dominated Limestone & Felt by American Caroline Shaw (b.1982) begins with unpredictable dancing syncopations before shifting to sustained, slow, pensive pulsations. (The title, writes Shaw, refers to hard and soft surfaces.)
In the duo’s arrangement, Song of Ophelia from Seven Verses of Alexander Blok, Op.127 by Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975), originally written for soprano Galina Vishnevskaya and her husband, cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, retains its haunting sense of sorrowful plaintiveness.
The Break of Dawn by the cellist’s father, Andrzej Zubek (b.1948), progresses gradually from darkness to light, encountering subtle touches of Gershwin and Viennese waltz along the way.
A moody Prelude, sprightly Gavotte and warm-hearted Berceuse from Eight Pieces, Op.39 by Reinhold Glière (1875-1956) end this entertaining disc. Lasting only 33 minutes, the CD left me wanting much more entertainment from this very talented pair of musicians.
Listen to 'From Dusk Till Dawn' Now in the Listening Room
