Vocal practice from “Pikkardijska Tertsia”
Date: 12.03.2009
18th January, 2009, “Pikkardijska Tertsia” presented a new album “Etudes” which begins their 16th anniversary and appears in the list of masterpieces as a jubilee entry.
Summing up 15 years spent on stage the vocal formation released two substantial volumes of “Anthology”. The first volume contains classical compositions, whereas the second is totally dedicated to the adaptations of old folk songs. Getting older is often accompanied by revolutionary maximization. "Pikkardijska Tertsia" members showed it by experimenting with their manner of singing. Judging from the title of their new album the audience should be ready to hear real etudes which can amaze and surprise. The only concept that unites those "musical sketches" is maximum concentration of courageous vocal ideas.
In their new album "Pikkardijska Tertsia" approaches jazz consonance, adding quite distinct intonation and good rhythm to the songs. All that effect was achieved by unusual original arrangements and irrepressible improvisations by Andriy Kapral'. Moreover, the singers temporarily "betrayed" singing a capella by using percussion. So, the songs on the concerts will always sound with new vocal surprises and will substantially differ from those recorded on the CD. The most unexpected jazz experiment, as it turned out later, became a song "Oy letily dyki husy" ("Wild geese were flying") which looked unchangeable after its performance by Nina Matvienko or Ruslana.
"I am trying to be up to date with the evolution of singing a capella in the world but I can't single out separate genres in the creative work of "Pikkardijska Tertsia". They have created their own genre for and sometimes other genres join in," says Bohdan Stefura , an unchangeable sound producer of the vocal formation. ""Pikkardijska Tertsia"is unlike any other vocal formation. They have proved it in their new album which is the most mature both philosophically and professionally. The guys are looking for a new quality of the sound and they find it there."
Serious jazz in "Etudes" is mixed with a touch of cheerful irony. Having learned a lot from their favorite musicians, such as Jino Vanelli, George Michael or Bobby McFerrin, the vocalists playfully show innovations in "Sole mio" which was enthusiastically and seriously performed earlier by Luciano Pavarotti and Volodymyr Hryshko. Moreover, the guys add some new shades to their famous "vehicle" - "Old Tram" which there becomes a nostalgic and impressive version of a popular song. While working in a recording studio "Pikkardijska Tertsia" united the audience from all over Ukraine - from Dnipropetrovsk to Lviv - who was singing the refrain on the concerts dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the formation. And finally, as a reward, Ukrainian version of the composition about Lviv was included into the album.
"We'd better keep the thoughts which occurred to us while working on this album to ourselves", says Volodymyr Yakymets, an artistic director of "Pikkardijska Tertsia". "Everyone had his own impressions, me while writing, Slavko Nudyk while performing or Andriy Kapral' while improvising and it's very personal. Besides the title, we left our audience enough space for their own interpretations, a kind of food for thought and for modelling their own images."
By their original arrangements "Pikkardijska Tertsia" reshapes the idea of some popular songs such as "Grains" by TNMK, "The Eyes of the Witch" by "Viy", "I can't help it" by Elvis Presley. However, "Pikkardijska Tertsia" thought about the songs which should play a part of coffee when choosing perfumes. "Les Champs Elysees" by Joe Dassin and an old song "Tam de neba blakyt'" ("Where the Blue Skies are...") from their first magnetic tape album of 1994 neutralize strong emotions from previous compositions and lead to perception of others.