JAVS Spring 2022

violist and seasoned arranger, Vadim Borisovsky while the Stravinsky was put together by Rodolfo himself. We take these two together because they are both arrangements of ballet scores by their respective composers, the first dating from the 1930’s and the second the 1920’s. When one thinks of ballet, grace, beauty, elegance, delicacy, precision are just a few adjectives and things that come to mind. But rarely are the same things said of the viola, sadly. Or is this another slander? So, at first glance and listen, ballet music and the viola might not make the best of mates; translating the wispy featheriness and rhythmic precision of the one to the other is an incredible challenge. This is where Rodolfo and Kang succeed the most in their ballet arrangements. Both the Prokofiev and Stravinsky works are performed with the same musical sophistication, but being that Romeo and Juliet is likely the most familiar to readers (its score is published and available, something I cannot definitively say of Rodolfo’s) I will focus on it. Rodolfo’s tone in the “Introduction” is in turn rich and wistful, with a wonderful smoothness of articulation most difficult to achieve and perfectly matched to the youthful character of the original music and indeed this moment in the ballet’s unfolding tale. The same graceful style is achieved in the memorable “Balcony Scene” where Rodolfo and Kang’s musical depth transports us beyond the lightness of Romeo and Juliet’s youthful infatuation to something far richer, romantic, and passionate as their attachment matures into something more significant and makes its move down a doomed path that is quickly becoming irreversible. The velveteen slippers worn by Rodolfo and Kang for these movements are exchanged for something entirely different in the virtuosic movements: Young Juliet, Dance of the Knights, and Mercutio. In these, the pair display a rapier-like rhythmic precision and virtuosic wit that is dramatic and appropriately theatrical––the music after all was written for the stage. And how can one describe the concluding movement, “Death of Juliet”, other than to say that as it comes to a close with juxtapositions of harmonics in a high heaven and notes laid low in the Capulet tomb, Rodolfo and Kang achieve an emotional atmosphere that is both profound and emotionally detached? Sandwiched between the two ballet score arrangements is another by Borisovsky, Rachmaninov’s Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor op. 19. Having performed this wonderfully weighty work a number of times myself, I can

say with confidence that the hardest part of its preparation is finding a pianist able to tackle its piano part, which is most difficult, and then working up the courage to ask them a question which might as well be this: “Will you forgo preparation of all other repertoire you may be working on and all other plans for your near musical future to prepare an incredibly challenging, taxing, and lengthy concerto for my viola recital?”. Though he probably posed this question differently to Min Young Kang, Rodolfo did find in her a pianist more than able to surmount the Rachmaninov’s technical and musical difficulties. When performing this work, the violist often finds themselves complimenting in a supportive role the piano and Rodolfo does this wonderfully well. And what a pleasure it must have been for him to play this work with a pianist as sophisticated and skilled as Kang. The power of his tone matches and blends with the richness and authority of hers, and with this album the pair have writ into the record an entirely successful, convincing, and worthy performance of Rachmaninov’s op. 19 sonata which here is proved to be just as rewarding with the viola as the other instrument which often plays it.

Kevin Nordstrom

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 38, No. 1, Spring 2022

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