Malkus-Mosh Concert this Tuesday
MARLENA MOSH, soprano
ALEXANDER MALKUS, pianist
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2011 8:00 PM
WADSWORTH AUDITORIUM SUNY GENESEO
(#9 on this campus map)
Part One - Russian Piano Pieces
Quadrille Alexander Alyabiev
Lark Mihail Glinka - Mily Balakirev
Scherzo As-dur Alexander Borodin
Two Preludes Anatoly Lyadov
Valse fis-moll
Musical Snuffbox
Two Poems, Op. 32 Alexander Scryabin
Spring, Op. 39 No.3 Nikolay Medtner
Russian folksong “Wild ducks are flying”
(solo -- Ms. Mosh)
Barrel –Organ Barcarolle Vladimir Dukelsky
Basso ostinato Rodion Shchedrin
INTERMISSION
Part Two - Ancient Armenian Melodies
Komitas Plowing
In the morning, light and goodness wake up, my ox dzhan, my old dzhan.
Pull it, pull it, drag the plow, my ox dzhan.
Parain Tsap par
Vocalize Dance of the mountains
Komitas The Crane
You know one cherished word, but say nothing. Ave Maria, ave… is it from our country land?...
Komitas Gutanerg (Plow song) (performed in the Karabakh dialect)
Talk with the ox while working — with the breadwinner, nature and God.
Meet with the other shepherds — calf lost, finally found.
Vagharshapat Dance Arno Babajanian
( solo -- Mr. Malkus)
Sayat-Nova Arants kiz (Without you)
And a saz does not sound, and there is no joy from a soibat without you. I have a garden, I will never be seduced by another garden. One remedy-how to apply for two wounds? One servant can’t serve two masters? One gardener for two gardens? But your clown gardener wants to plant new saplings in his single garden. I don’t need all earthly treasures without you. If you go away, I will make no hurt to anybody. I’ll put on my chuhu, put my scarf on my head. In all the churches I will pray for you.
Famous folk dance Shalakho
Soprano Marlena Mosh was born in Stepanakert (Armenia). She graduated from Yerevan State University and subsequently studied with voice faculty at the Moscow Conservatory. During her student years, Marlena traveled throughout Armenia, studying and recording folk chants. Since that time she has made it a life goal to promote the beauty of ancient Armenian song through authentic performance. Much of her work has been archived in the Russian State Library and other Moscow libraries. She also performs widely, and has given concerts in Moscow, Copenhagen, Paris, and the United States.
In 2008 she was a prize winner of the Beauty Will Save the World Competition in Moscow, and also won first place in the Art and Friends Competition in Varna, Bulgaria. In summer of the same year, Marlena was the opening singer for the Bulgaria for All Festival with the old Armenian song Kali Erg. She has performed in many music festivals and on French national radio.
Victor Merzhanov, People’s Artist of the USSR and Professor at the Moscow Conservatory has said of her work: her voice flows naturally, like a mountain stream; she sings with amazing purity and soulfulness, and she creates strong visual imagery. Mosh has found her unique performance style, yet at the same time preserves a genuine Armenian style.
For the past eight years, Marlena has collaborated with pianist and husband Alexander Malkus. She also regularly performs on authentic Armenian folk instruments. She is a member of the Moscow Musical Society and the Union of Russian Writers; she lives and works in Moscow.
Pianist Alexander Malkus studied at the Moscow Conservatory with Natanson. His concert repertoire comprises a large number of music pieces of different epochs and styles, ranging from the music of the old masters to the avantgarde. He particularly focuses on recordings that promote Russian musical culture; for example, he has presented in Moscow a five-concert series of selected Russian piano music of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He has toured extensively, performing in Russia, the former USSR, Czechia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Sweden, Austria, Italy, France, Germany, the UK, and Japan. He has performed in such prestigious halls as Dvorak Hall in Prague, Mozart Hall in Frankfurt, Cologne Philharmonic Hall in Cologne, Verdi Hall in Milan, Casals Hall in Tokyo, and the Bolshoi, Malyi and Rachmaninov Halls of the Moscow Conservatory.
He is a prize winner in three international competitions. He has also participated regularly in over a dozen different European music festivals in Germany, Austria, Italy, Odessa, Moscow, Slovakia, and Bulgaria. He has collaborated with renowned conductors such as Rakhlin and Dmitriev, violinists such as Grindenko and Minev, and the cellists Tchaikovskaya, Gavrysh, Zagorinsky and Krystev. One of his most important collaborations has been with the outstanding modern composer Rodion Shchedrin. He has performed that composer’s cycle Polyphonic Notebook in Moscow and Paris, and has recorded his works on the Melodiya label. He has also recorded the works of Stanchinsky, Glazunov, and Glinka. In keeping with his interest in historical music, he has recorded several archival recordings for Russian radio.
Malkus is an active teacher at the Moscow Conservatory and the Academic Music College attached to Moscow Conservatory. Currently he is actively involved in projects connected with the Russian piano music of the Silvery Century, Russian first-wave avantgarde music, and music of the Russian overseas community in the first half of the twentieth century.
