Released on Pentatone, cellist Matt Haimovitz's new digital release is titled "La Kobsa," which features the solo cello work of the same name. The piece was inspired by the ancient Ukrainian instrument kobza and composed by Thomas de Hartmann in exile in 1950. The piece captures the resilience, heart, and enduring spirit of a nation at war.

The recording was made at Skywalker Sound in California, but Haimovitz took it on a four-city tour of Ukraine with the Odesa Philharmonic in May 2024, made possible by a grant from the U.S. State Department.

During his travels, he performed impromptu sets in public squares, often for wounded soldiers, accompanied by a documentary film crew. He brought de Hartmann’s music to his homeland for the very first time.

The Violin Channel recently talked with cellist Matt Haimovitz to gain more insight into his latest release.

 

Tell us about Thomas de Hartmann’s “La Kobsa” piece for solo cello?

In his spirited solo piece, Ukrainian composer Thomas de Hartmann transforms the cello into a Ukrainian kobsa, an ancient lute-like instrument played by the Kobzars or bards. Composed in 1950 when the composer was residing in the US, “La Kobsa: deuce musique de veilleurs Ukrainiens pour violoncelle solo” is part of a larger collection of his chamber music. I have been performing La Kobsa on various programs including throughout Ukraine.

 

How does the piece relate to Ukrainian folklore?

In both movements of La Kobsa, there is a dance character with a folkloric feeling. Ukraine has many layers of culture and history from so many directions. De Hartmann tapped into these rich musical languages. Although folk in character, these short pieces are his compositions. De Hartmann clearly felt a deep nostalgia and connection with his native land.

 

What are its main musical characteristics?

After the initial introductory lament of the first movement, even the d minor key of the dance cannot contain the celebration of life. The second movement is more overtly raucous, the plucking and strumming reminiscent of the kobsa.

 

How does it differ from Thomas de Hartmann’s cello concerto that you recently recorded?

The two works share some similarities. The cantorial opening of La Kobsa is related in my mind to the slow movement of the Cello Concerto. There is also a folkloric thread that weaves through both works. De Hartmann refers to Ukrainian folk elements in the Cello Concerto, especially in the third movement. The first movement of the Cello Concerto features not one, but two cadenzas! De Hartmann was fearless in writing for solo cello. The second extended cadenza ends with a drone that transforms the cello into another folk instrument.

To answer the question of how they differ, La Kobsa is a much smaller-scaled work compared with the Cello Concerto. It is an entry point to de Hartmann’s Cello Concerto which I recorded live in 2023 with the MDR Orchestra and Dennis Russell Davies at Leipzig’s Gewandhaus. The Cello Concerto is featured on the 2024 album “Thomas de Hartmann Rediscovered” which includes the Violin Concerto played by Joshua Bell, INSO-Lviv Symphony Orchestra and Dalia Stasevska.

 

Can you tell us more about the Thomas de Hartmann Project?

It is a group that advocates for the long-neglected music of Thomas de Hartmann. From one of its principals, Efrem Marder, I first became aware of the De Hartmann Cello Concerto. As I became more of an advocate myself, I was grateful to be introduced to La Kobsa and the Cello Sonata of 1941.

 

What do you hope listeners will take away with them?

It was my honor to join the Odesa Philharmonic and Maestro Hobart Earle on a four-city tour of Ukraine in May 2024. Made possible by a grant from the US State Department, we brought Ukrainian-born composer Thomas de Hartmann’s Cello Concerto from 1935 to war-weary audiences in his native country for the first time.

Outside of the concert halls and opera houses, I explored the breadth of Ukraine, visiting among others Odesa’s Potemkin Stairs, an outdoor farmer’s market in Lviv, and the center of Kyiv displaying captured Russian tanks. With cello in tow, I played impromptu solo sets of Bach Cello Suites, Philip Glass works and more. However, it was de Hartmann’s solo cello piece La Kobsa that elicited the widest smiles from civilians and wounded soldiers. From the first prayerful notes, there was a spark of recognition, a distraction and relief from the incessant air raid sirens, the relentless drone of power generators, and other reminders of a country at war. La Kobsa captures the generosity and resiliency of the Ukrainian people.

 

Click here to listen to and buy the album.