Enter The Fadolín – Behind the Tracks – Slava

Last week I released my eleventh album, “Enter The Fadolín” as an exclusive pre-order on Bandcamp, as a collection of sheet music and as a a limited edition handmade autographed CD-R. I’m grateful to all of my friends who have pre-ordered and supported the album thusfar — and, seeing as we have some time before the album becomes “commercially available on all streaming services” (as someone wrote to me in an email a few months ago), I wanted to go behind the tracks to tell you about their stories. Why don’t we start from the end of the album and work our way to the beginning? Read about the track and stream it, below.

“Slava”, the final track, is the only composition on the album that was privately commissioned, as a memorial for a fan’s late father. I wrote it in the summer of 2019 and premiered at our “Out of Leftovers” series at Symphony Space that September. The piece goes between elements that are at times nostalgic, funereal, harrowing, fighting for life but ultimately…

Here’s what the commissioners of the piece had to say about Slava:

Slava (Viacheslav) was born in September 4, 1943. He grew up in Odessa and graduated from the music conservatory in Riga where he studied violin. After an early injury sidelined his career as violinist, he became an officer in the Soviet Army where he conducted a brass band. For much of his military career he was stationed in the far north at a base in Alakurtti (Murmansk Oblast). He emigrated to Toronto in 1999 after Marina graduated from Moscow State University. In Canada he taught violin to children, including—quite briefly—to his grandson Sasha (who did not take to the instrument and much preferred playing WITH his Dedushka than learning to play violin from him). 

Enjoy the music!

thank you for reading and listening,

Ljova

Pre-order and listen to “Enter The Fadolín”, download the sheet music or order a handmade autographed CD-R, exclusively on Bandcamp.