Credit: astralzlatomirfung
Mention the word Malibu and images come to mind of high-profile movie stars and entertainers living the California dream in opulent homes on the sand or in the canyons - in addition to an unwelcome wildfire or rock slide. Also located in Malibu is Pepperdine University, respected throughout the academic community for educational excellence and its resort style campus that overlooks the really blue Pacific Ocean.
On Sunday afternoon, 20-year-old Zlatomir Fung performed in Pepperdine’s The Recital Series at Raitt Recital Hall, an intimate setting that provides an ideal venue for chamber music with its razor sharp acoustics and really comfortable seats. Fung was born in Corvallis, Oregon where he began cello lessons in the Suzuki Method, studied at New England Conservatory, The Juilliard School then quickly developed into a first prize winner of many international competitions including cello division Gold Medalist of this year’s XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition, Young Concert Artist International Auditions, Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld International String Competition and George Enescu International Cello Competition.
His playing is impeccable and has all the characteristics of a fully developed artist who is completely at ease and in sync with the instrument - as evidenced from his leggierissimo virtuosity, sonic to silky smooth bow arm control and innate musical finesse that gives everything he plays a sense of emotional purity, even during intensely energized passagework. His program featured a satisfying mix of musical styles which included two works by composers of our time.
I could tell you that the opening two pieces were played superbly, which they undoubtedly were, but I missed Gabrielli’s first cello sonata and Miaskovsky’s second cello sonata, Opus 81, which was premiered by Rostropovich in 1949. The reason for my tardy arrival: Elahe Amani, a colleague and Chair of Global Circles of Women’s Intercultural Network was being interviewed by a local television station regarding the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women that the United Nations General Assembly designated for November 25.
“One of the aims of the day is to raise awareness and highlight the fact that the scale and true nature of this issue is often hidden. This day is also recognized as California Women’s Equality Day in recognition of the centennial anniversary of California’s ratification of the 19th Amendment on November 1, 1919 granting women the right to vote,” says Amani. Women’s suffrage in the United States celebrates the right to vote nationwide next year when the 19th Amendment was officially ratified on August 18, 1920.
Back to the music – the last piece before intermission was the premiere of Kitaroidia by Marshall Estrin, a recent graduate of The Juilliard School. Fung’s gracious onstage comments about the work included an explanation of the title and content which evokes the strumming of the Greek kitara or lyre. The work seems to demand a kind of spitfire energy from the performer and Fung dove in with unrelenting overdrive, producing effortless displays of pyrotechnics such as double stop trills and layers of intervallic sequences which he drew out with steely clear intonation producing an effect of intangible starkness and mystery. Estrin is a young composer with lots of potential and knows how to engage an audience with the unexpected. So does Katherine Balch, of which her Prelude was premiered by Fung in February of this year in New York – and was the opening work after intermission.
Balch is managed by Young Concert Artists, an organization that discovers talents and helps promote careers, and she is Composer-in-Residence with California Symphony. Before performing the piece with Derek Wang, a formidable pianist and collaborator who studies at The Juilliard School, Fung spoke about Balch becoming a real trail blazer among women composers. In the program notes, Balch says, “In Prelude, the cello and piano zip through angular and rhythmically off-kilter ascensions before arriving at a slow, whispered chorale that leads the players into the somber, understated, resonant opening of Brahms E-Minor Sonata.” – a very aesthetic link.
Prelude is a challenging work for both cellist and pianist who race up and down the fingerboard or keyboard with speed one might see at an Indy 500 race. The piece definitely has its fascination and peculiarities such as obtuse gestures that require the cellist to move the bow in rapid motions over the strings without touching them, to piano accompaniment or make scrunching noises with the bow as if particles of granola were being pressed into the bridge.
There were also atmospheric touches that included unstructured hints at Debussyian impressionism and an A Minor chord played by Wang which is often used by pianists as a guide for string players to tune their instrument. Fung played with sweeping improvisational conviction which made Prelude even more effective and certainly worthy of hearing this quality work at least once more. I’ve written this before and will say it again – it’s cool to be there when new or premiered works are performed as they reflect a different soundscape and elicit a different way of listening and perhaps even evaluating
Of course, the Brahms sonata, Op. 38 is a staple of cello repertoire and Fung’s interpretation was all about lyricism, seamless legato, intense emotionalism and stylistic integrity. The opening melody unfolded with rich delicacy, the Allegretto quasi Menuetto moved with lilting buoyancy and just the right amount of pizzicato swing and the final movement’s quasi-fugato was big, bold and beautifully structured – although Wang’s exuberant and intuitive playing sometimes covered Fung’s subtleties, especially in the cello’s lower register. After several ovations from the excited audience, Fung walked back on stage for an encore.