Cellist Maya Fridman: 'The best thing about making music is communicating with my audience.'

Cellist Maya Fridman was born in Moscow in 1989, where she emerged as a child prodigy. Even while still studying at Schnittke College, she won first prize at the International Festival of Slavic Music. In 2010 she came to the Netherlands, where six years later she graduated Cum Laude from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.

Fridman naturally juxtaposes contemporary compositions with great works from the last century and moves with her emotionally charged playing. For the next two years, she is musician in residence at Gaudeamus. On 26 April, she will present the world premiere of Canti d'inizio e fine at Art space KuuB In Utrecht.

This seven-part composition for solo cello and voice was created in close collaboration with the Ukrainian-Dutch composer Maxim Shalygin. Fridman: 'The title Canti d'inizio e fine refers to the cycle of birth, life and death, a theme that runs as a thread through our play. Later, Maxim also included images of the Holocaust. A heavy subject, especially as both my parents are Jewish. Each part of the cycle reflects on a different life situation or crisis, the music is very dramatic and psychological.'

Catharsis

She first heard Shalygin's work in 2016, at a networking meeting of music publisher Donemus. 'I was immediately attracted to his ideas and asked him on the spot to compose a solo piece for me. His music is very profound and touches me immensely. It makes me think and makes me experience my life differently. I find it hard to put into words exactly but I am transformed, purified by it. Sometimes it literally feels like a catharsis.'

For Canti d'inizio e fine they initially corresponded by e-mail but in recent months they have been meeting regularly. 'We work intensively together to find the right sound for each note. It's great to be able to communicate so directly with a composer.' Despite their close collaboration, Fridman does not want to call himself a co-composer. 'Maxim writes the notes, I interpret them, only I sometimes make suggestions for a different interpretation. Sometimes he adopts them, sometimes not, and sometimes we end up with something completely different.'

Trembling cello

When I speak to her a week before the premiere, they are still busy putting the finishing touches to the piece. 'Maxim uses very varied techniques, each of the seven movements has a different approach. The first movement is slow and lyrical and a bit like weeping, as if something fragile is coming to life.'

'In the second movement, I drop my stick on the strings. Here you shouldn't actually hear a cello, it should sound like a shaky voice. That was quite a challenge, because I had to learn to create that effect with a traditional way of playing.'

In the following movement, Shalygin uses Arabic-tinged ornamentation. Fridman: 'There are also very fast crescendi and decrescendi on one note, it reminds a bit of choral singing. I play the fourth movement completely without a bow, which consists only of pizzicati. The idea is that the cello sounds like a bass guitar.'

Sound researcher Shalygin deploys a so-called BACH stick in the next movement, with a curve that allows all four strings to be played simultaneously. 'I still have a lot of practice to do that,' Fridman laughs. 'But that challenge is exactly what attracts me to working with Maxim, I'm learning to push my limits.'

Todesfuge Paul Celan

Also exciting is the epilogue, in which Fridman not only has to play but also sing. The only part given a title, Todesfuge, after Paul Celan's poem of the same name. Fridman: 'Although I more often sing and play simultaneously, this is a lot more challenging. After all, Maxim makes higher demands on my voice than, say, Louis Andriessen in La voce.’

'Cello and voice are completely equal. Sometimes they blend together, at other times there is more counterpoint. Maxim also seeks out the extremes, going from extremely high to very low. 'I am not a trained singer and took singing lessons especially for this.'

At Todesfuge Celan describes the horrors and death in a concentration camp. Fridman: 'Very moving, every time I practise this part I almost have to cry.' However, she is not afraid she will be overcome by her emotions during the concert. 'I have been living with this piece for months. I get up with it and go to bed with it, it grows inside me.'

'Precisely because of my personal involvement, I can convey the message even more succinctly. Because for me, that is the best thing about making music: communicating with my audience.'

More info and tickets here.

Maya Fridman plays The Book for Cello Solo II by Peteris Vasks: