The Death of Juliet and Other Tales - Music of Prokofiev

Violinist Yevgeny Kutik is a high-voltage new representative of the Russian violin school (even if he is Belarusian-American). He has been welcomed not only by those who enjoy that rich style but also for his bold programming, once again evident on this release. Its not totally a Prokofiev release, for some of the program consists of Russian folk melodies that Kutik enjoyed in childhood. Some of these (Song of the Volga Boatmen) are quite familiar, but Kutik has a specific goal in mind for them: he wants to link them to Prokofiev, who indubitably had a layer of Russian melody in his music. He puts it this way (referring to a card game his teacher, Roman Totenberg, enjoyed with the composer): "If given the chance to play cards with Prokofiev, what would you hear from him? What traditions, tales, and tunes would he regale you with? How would this change the way you listen to his music? I hope this album might give you that chance, to play cards with Prokofiev, through his music and through the reimagining of his inspirations." The realization of this goal is uneven. Kutik programs the Sonata for solo violin, Op. 115, which has little folk flavor; its a neoclassic piece written for the Soviet government as a school exercise, meant to be played in unison by multiple young violinists. Kutik does much better with the Violin Sonata No. 2, Op. 94a, and here, he is joined by the sympathetic accompanist Anna Polonsky. The pair also delivers a fine, highly emotive arrangement of the "Parting Scene and Death of Juliet" from the ballet Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64, and the pair might have done better with other arrangements than with the solo violin sonata. The Russian folk songs have the requisite showmanship, but the close-up recording, with lots of extraneous noise, is not in the spirit of the recital. Despite some problems here, Kutik is plainly an artist willing to take risks, which is all to the good.