A Bridge Between Worlds
A Bridge Between Worlds
Alexey Alexandrov and Ekaterina Skliar are a unique mandolin-domra duo performing musical styles that span the globe
Both masters of the mandolin and Russian domra, Alexey Alexandrov and Ekaterina Skliar came together in 2015 to form a unique mandolin-domra duo that presents a repertoire spanning the globe; the Russian-born musicians create unique arrangements of baroque and classical masterpieces, as well as original works based on jazz and ethnic themes, creating a rich musical tapestry that weaves together classical and jazz styles with the freedom and spirit of Russian folk traditions.
Ekaterina & Alexey perform D. Scarlatti’s Sonata F major, k. 107, arr. for mandolin & domra
The domra is a relatively unknown instrument in the West, and hearing classical music being performed on it accompanied by a mandolin is even less common—how did you both come to play together as a duo?
Well the domra is a traditional Russian folk instrument, and in Russia there’s actually a whole curriculum that’s been developed for learning and playing this instrument in music universities and conservatories.
The style of this curriculum draws a lot of its methodology from the classical approach to violin, so in addition to playing the music of our folk traditions we also learn a lot of classical repertoire, starting from an early age. This continues when you go on to high school and university, so it’s a very developed approach that’s quite common throughout Russia.
Both Alex and I started learning the domra in this way when we were young, and because we found we really loved to play, we decided to choose this path for our professions. This is in fact how we first met, because we ended up studying at the same university together.
In the US western classical and folk music styles are rarely taught side by side in a school curriculum, but in Russia it sounds like you can learn and practice both styles at the same time?
Yes, when studying a folk instrument such as the domra at university in Russia you learn them both as part of a complete approach.
Ekaterina performing Sronila Kolechko, a Fantasy on a Russian Folk Song by Mikhail Zeiger
Are composition and improvisation part of this curriculum as well?
It’s an option, but unfortunately is not a very big part of the program, probably due to the fact that as I mentioned the curriculum is fundamentally rooted in a classical approach. However in some schools there’s an option to study improvisation and go more deeply into the folk music and culture of the instrument—I know there are some musicians who go on expeditions with ethnomusicologists and travel to small villages where they still have a kind of living folk tradition as was more common 100 or 200 years ago, even though these traditions are now unfortunately fading away in many parts of the world.
So although these two styles are very integrated in our curriculum, the learning method does still favor a more classical approach, even when performing music from the folk traditions.
And how did the mandolin come into the picture?
Well we both also play the mandolin, and even though this instrument comes from the European tradition it’s actually a distant relative of the domra… so if you play one it’s very natural to play the other. There are of course some differences in technique and tuning, but they’re so similar that playing both instruments is just a very natural thing to do.
And this also gives us access to more music, because not only does the mandolin have it’s own large repertoire to draw from, but it also has the same tuning as the violin, so you can actually play the violin repertoire on the mandolin in its original form, without the need for transcriptions.
Ekaterina plays her own mandolin transcription of Asturias by Isaac Albéniz
But going back to your question about the duo, it is in fact very unusual to see this combination (even in Russia), because the domra is usually heard in an ensemble setting, or perhaps paired with a button accordion in a folk style, or with the piano in a classical one. And the most common pairing for mandolin is usually with a guitar, which comes from the Italian tradition that’s been around for many centuries.
Then a few years back Alex and I decided we’d like to try and play something together with only these two instruments. At first it was very unusual for us as well –we’d never seen or heard anyone playing this combination– and we weren’t really sure how much music we’d actually be able to play together in this way.
However once we began to experiment with different works, we found that some pieces were actually quite easy for us to arrange—like the keyboard sonatas of Scarlatti for instance, because as the harpsichord is also a plucked string instrument, the sound and style of these works translates very naturally to our instruments. In fact Scarlatti actually wrote a few sonatas for mandolin and harpsichord as well, so it was very natural for us to start with baroque-era music like this.
Since then we’ve gone on to arrange other pieces in the classical repertoire, and are continually exploring different works and styles to see how much music we can play with just these two instruments. We’ve also made arrangements of music that would normally be played on domra paired with other instruments, and Alex has even brought in some jazz pieces as well.
Can you share more about the historical roots of both of these instruments?
Historically the domra was an instrument of traveling actors, minstrels, jesters and comedians. It existed in Russia in the 16th and 17th centuries and was played by these types of individuals, called Skomorokhi, and was accompanied by many other traditional folk instruments.
However there’s some difficulty around clarifying exactly what the domra looked or sounded like, because in1648 a Russian czar made a law that prohibited the performances of these minstrels –there’s a whole story surrounding this– and as a part of this law many instruments were banned and destroyed, including domras… so although we know it was a plucked instrument, and that it probably had an oval shaped body –there are some drawings in chronicles– there are still a lot of unanswered questions about the instrument itself.
When and how did the instrument re-emerge within the culture?
The knowledge of the domra was rediscovered and redesigned at the end of the19th century, and domras were eventually introduced into music universities in Russia and Ukraine in the 20th century, where people began to play both folk and classical music on them.
So the instrument we’re playing right now is based on this modern version… for example the steel strings we have on them now are not what you would normally find on folk instruments. So there were a lot of changes in it’s construction, and although the domra as we now know it certainly does resemble and have its roots in it’s original folk form, as I said there are definitely still a lot of questions about the difference between the modern domra and the original one, because there are none left to compare so we cannot know for sure.
The mandolin on the other hand is a more well known instrument, and is mostly associated in the US with bluegrass music. However it actually came from Italy and Europe, and has a whole long history of evolving through many different models and musical styles as well.
Many people today might not realize that during the classical era Mozart actually wrote works for mandolin, Beethoven composed four or five pieces, and Paganini actually played the mandolin too. So it’s been around for a very long time...
Nowadays it’s represented all over the world in difference genres—in Europe it’s still commonly associated more with classical music, in America it’s of course bluegrass, and then in Brazil and South America there’s this whole other amazing genre of music performed on what is called the bandolim (basically a mandolin that has 2 extra strings), on which they play choro folk music… so it’s very interesting to see the journey the mandolin has made from it’s European roots to how it’s now represented all over the world.
A Brazilian Bandolim
As far as classical repertoire beyond the baroque style, what other works are you drawn to include in your programming?
Well as we mentioned there’s a repertoire for both the domra and the mandolin that people have been playing for the last 50 years or so, but we also look for works not originally written for either instrument to arrange for solo or duo. We feel it’s much more interesting to bring in new works that create new sounds and experiences, both for us as musicians, and for our audiences as well.
Of course you find this same situation with many other classical instruments –for example the standard piano repertoire includes pieces that’ve been played continuously for many years– but because the domra has only been part of classical music for around 70 years or so we have even less repertoire to draw from, so by the time you’ve finished university you’ve already played all the known music for domra many times over!
So we try to look in different directions, and most of the pieces we play are of course arrangements and transcriptions, but Alex also writes original music for both of us, and his works often have an influence of jazz, because he enjoys playing in that style; in fact he’s actually the only musician we’re aware of that plays jazz on this instrument.
What inspires you to play in this style?
The element of improvisation and spontaneity—as long as you’re not simply playing patterns and repeating them, improvisation provides the opportunity to approach the moment of performance in a way where sometimes you just don’t know what will be next, and other people can feel that too, which creates an amazing sense of anticipation and excitement.
And this sense of exploration and curiosity is present when we approach a new work to arrange as well—for example I remember when we first considered arranging the tango piece Escualo by Astor Piazzolla, I looked at the piano part I was supposed to be playing on the mandolin and thought there would be no way I’d be able to play it, that it just wasn’t going to work because I’d have to leave out too many notes and wouldn’t be able to play all voices… but after taking some time to work through and adapt it, it’s now become one of our favorite pieces to play as a duo. And so we’re always amazed by how much repertoire we can actually play after we take the time to work through different pieces.
Estate by Bruno Martino, arr. for domra by Alexey
What’s it been like creating and performing all of this music for audiences here in the US, versus in Russia?
The biggest difference for us is when we play here in the States we feel that people are being very expressive—we see them responding to a certain chord or a melodic phrase in the moment… but in Russia the audience is often more reserved, so even if they’re enjoying the performance they may not show their feelings about it as openly as they do here.
So this was the atmosphere we’d been used to performing in for the past 20 years, and we were very surprised when we started to experience quite a different kind of reception here, where even with classical music people were open to following us and responding in a very spontaneous way.
Also its amazing that people don’t have any preconceived ideas about what the domra is here, because this means they don’t have any sense of limits about what this instrument is supposed to be. For example when performing in Russia there are certain things people expect you to do, and if you play outside of those things your performance is often not very well received. So when you try to expand the boundaries of your instrument outside of how it’s existed for the past 50 years or so people often criticize and judge you, saying ‘that’s not it, this is what you’re supposed to play..’ but because here the domra is so unusual, people don’t have any idea about the instrument, and there’s much more freedom for us to explore and express ourselves as artists.
And for the mandolin it works in the same way—of course people are familiar with bluegrass, but they don’t really know the instrument that well, so if you play something unusual or experimental and you do it really well, people will accept and embrace it, because again they don’t have many preconceived ideas about the instrument.
Dance for a While, original composition by Alexey
We really enjoy offering the opportunity for people to discover that no matter what the instrument may be, there’s always more to it than what they already know and think about it... and this is also one of reasons we love playing in small audiences, where the music is more accessible and we can speak and interact with people and answer questions they may have.
And then because our instruments are not common here we’re also limited in certain ways, in the sense that we don’t have as many opportunities as other classical instrumentalists to play with symphonies or study at universities—luckily we’ve already finished our studies in Russia, so here we have to carve out our own niche for our instruments and for our duo, and of course this comes with a lot of challenges, but has also been a very interesting and rewarding process.
It’s wonderful to hear that through performing in these contexts you’ve been able move beyond the limitations commonly associated with your instruments, as well as open people up to new musical horizons that transcend categories or preconceptions…
Yes and we feel it’s very important for us to share our music in this way, because when someone is exposed to something that is a little different from their usual world and the types of experiences they normally have, and they end up enjoying it, this can make it easier for them to connect with people of different cultures and see from different perspectives. So in this sense the experience of listening to music can also carry over into everyday life and make us more open in general, which is one reason why it can be so valuable.
Are there any classical works written for the domra that also draw inspiration from its folk heritage?
Yes there’s a beautiful work by a contemporary composer based in Israel named Joseph Tamarin that’s written in a Neo folklore-style, meaning it’s very similar to the music of Bartok or Stravinsky in that it evokes the impression of a particular folk tradition without necessarily quoting any songs or melodies directly, but nonetheless still captures its energy and spirit.
This same composer also has an amazing concerto for domra and symphony orchestra I actually played one year ago in Los Angeles, and he has written other great works for folk instruments, but that suite in particular is special. It was one of the first pieces we started playing together. It was already written for domra and balalaika, so all we needed to do was make a transcription for the mandolin for the balalaika part.
I first played this suite when I was in university, and it was one of the pieces I decided I’d like to feature from that period of my life, because it has this strong influence of folk music, yet at the same time it doesn’t sound quite like it; we both really enjoy playing this piece… it’s actually hard to resist not wanting to perform it all the time!
Joseph Tamarin - Suite for Domra & Balalaika
You’ve recently started performing livestream concerts online that you also produce yourselves; compared to many other live-streaming performances, the sound and videography of your performances are of a very high quality—what inspired you to take the time to create such well-made productions?
Something we’ve learned as musicians is that the way people experience our sound is so important, because when the audience isn’t present in the room, or when we’re playing in a space that requires amplification, we need to do everything we can to make the experience as high quality as possible.
This is because we’ve found that as a listener you can’t truly separate the quality of the sound from the quality of the performance. Of course maybe as a professional musician you can observe the performance and say yes the music was good but the sound was not, but as an audience member it’s much harder to make this distinction, and in general when a concert is over you either feel you liked the performance or you didn’t.
We’ve even been to a few concerts where we knew the musicians playing on stage were amazing, but the engineers created such a poor sound quality that it completely detracted from the whole experience; so even if you’re a professional musician it’s very difficult to separate the performer’s part from that of the technician.
And also the quality of an online production serves to make up for the lack of direct connection you normally feel at a live performance. Like when you’re watching a well produced movie or show there’s this connection that’s happening, and so when someone is watching a good quality performance online it can inspire them to explore more music and even attend more concerts, because if they enjoy them virtually they know they will enjoy them even more in person.
In addition to the audience, what has it been like playing livestreams from the perspective of performers?
The last performance we did was a unique experience, where using video chat to connect with the audience before and after the performance helped to create a bridge between us and those who were watching, making it actually almost feel like a real live in-person performance.
And also it’s amazing that people can watch your performance from any part of the world –if of course some of those parts are willing to wake up at 6am!– this is something very unique to streaming online, where people are not limited by space or time to connect and share in a live performance together. And being able to not only know they are watching, but to also see and hear them definitely adds something, because when you’re just playing in front of a camera its very different than having this visual and audio representation of the audience.. even though we were playing alone in our living room, it really felt like we were in a real concert hall.
In spite of the current challenges we’re facing in the world and the restrictions placed on performing live in public, what inspires you to continue pursuing your art, and what do you hope to offer the world through your music?
I think in general choosing to be a musician is a very interesting thing to do, because its quite different and in some ways much more challenging than a lot of other professions… so if you choose it it’s probably because it’s something you know you cannot not do; meaning you’re probably doing it because you cannot stop doing it.
This is how it is for us; we’ve been doing this for so many years —since we were 6 or 7 years old— and so we know about the instruments, we know about the music, and we want to provide a glimpse for people into this world, and connect with them through our music.
It’s such an amazing feeling to watch people hear something they’ve never heard before; it lights up something within them. And it doesn’t matter what your instrument looks like or where it comes from, it all comes down to what you want to express on that instrument, and how much care and appreciation you put into that process.
And nothing infuses us with energy quite like playing music. I don’t know why but it just works like that. We can work very hard and play for hours and hours until we’re almost exhausted, but then we can get up the next morning and start right up again, and nothing else works like that for us.
Also when you start playing in a live performance, you can feel a bridge, a link that begins to form between you and the audience; as soon as you start play it exists, and you can transfer your thoughts and your feelings through that bridge to the audience, and then they can respond, and send their feelings back to you as well.
That exchange of energy is so unique to the performing arts, and especially to music. It’s something very special that only exists in time, and once you feel it you are drawn back again and again.
— To learn more about Alexey and Ekaterina's music, visit their websites at www.skliar.org and www.alexeyalexandrov.com —
