Klebanov Uncovered: The ARC Ensemble Resurrects a Composer Derailed by Soviet Repression
"Chamber Works by Dmitri Klebanov,” the fifth recording in the acclaimed Music in Exile series by the ARC Ensemble (Artists of The Royal Conservatory) will be released worldwide on September 24, 2021. The album furthers ARC’s mission to explore how war, tyranny, and bigotry changed the course of musical history, and represents the first commercial release of these exhilarating Klebanov pieces.
A casualty of Soviet-era cultural suppression and anti-Semitism, Jewish-Ukrainian composer Dmitri Klebanov (1907-1986) is among the scores of musicians whose works are largely forgotten and rarely performed. Fortunate not to have been among those artists and intellectuals arrested, killed, or sent to forced labour camps during Stalin’s brutal reign, Klebanov understood that his career and survival depended on producing works that glorified Soviet accomplishments. But he also managed to produce compositions that reveal a boundless imagination, a spirited vivacity, and melodic confidence, all of which justify his inclusion in the classical canon.
The ARC Ensemble Performs Dmitri Klebanov’s String Quartet No. 4, III Scherzando
“Chamber Works by Dmitri Klebanov” begins the long-overdue process of gaining recognition for a composer undeservedly relegated to obscurity. Klebanov’s legacy includes nine symphonies, two concertos each for violin and cello, chamber pieces for violin and piano, several operas, and ballets, some one hundred songs, and nearly two dozen film scores.
“When we’re choosing a composer to record, we’re hoping to find those pulse-quickening moments that engage, affect, and, sometimes, overwhelm the listener,” says Simon Wynberg, Artistic Director of the ARC Ensemble. “In Klebanov’s work, we found that excitement, emotional appeal, and an inspiring honesty.”
For this recording, the ARC Ensemble revives Klebanov’s vivacious String Quartet No. 4, the stunning Piano Trio No. 2, and boldly dramatic String Quartet No. 5, three pieces that offer a tantalizing taste of a composer worthy of serious attention.
The charming and accessible Fourth String Quartet, completed in 1946, is a lively homage to much-loved composer and Ukrainian separatist Mykola Leontovych, who was killed by the state’s secret police. The piece draws on a popular Leontovych melody well-known in the West as the Christmas favourite, “Carol of the Bells.”
The Fifth String Quartet, written in 1959, reflects a loosening of musical oversight – offending composers were now simply ignored and marginalized, rather than punished and persecuted – and Klebanov was freer to experiment with dissonance and bitonality. The opening motif sets the atmosphere for the rest of the piece’s spiky expressiveness.
“Big-boned, unashamedly romantic, containing captivating themes, its probing, innocent melodies, constantly interrupted and challenged,” is how Wynberg describes the Piano Trio. The piece stands in stark contrast to a bombastic quintet written just four years earlier, in which Klebanov stifled his creative instincts to appease Soviet ideology.
“It’s a paradox that in many ways we know less about 20th century than we do about the 19th and 18th,” Wynberg says. “For me, there is a moral obligation associated with the exploration of music suppressed for no reason other than a composer’s race or political beliefs.”
Nominated for three Grammys and Germany’s prestigious OPUS Klassik awards, the highly respected ARC Ensemble – comprised of senior faculty and guest artists from The Royal Conservatory’s Glenn Gould School – specializes in recovering and recording music suppressed and marginalized under the 20th century’s repressive political regimes. Due to ARC’s commitment to composers whose lives and careers were devastated by war, displacement, prejudice and racism, a growing number of hitherto unknown masterworks are now rejoining the classical repertoire. Recordings in the Music in Exile series have been named to multiple top classical albums-of-the-year lists, including those of the Boston Globe and New York’s WQXR-FM.
The “Chamber Works of Dmitri Klebanov” recording features Erika Raum and Marie Bérard (violin / GGS faculty), Steven Dann (viola / GGS faculty), Thomas Wiebe (cello), and Kevin Ahfat (2018-19 Rebanks Fellow, piano).
The ARC Ensemble’s Klebanov recording is generously sponsored by George and Rayla Myhal & the Shevchenko Foundation.