First is Bright Sorrow, subtitled In Memory of Children, Victims of War, For the 40th anniversary of victory over fascism. Mostly consisting of quiet drifting strings, occasionally swelling up into full-bodied orchestration, it's a choral work for two boy sopranos and boys' choir. The texts are from Georgian poet Galaktios Tabidzes as well as Goethe, Shakespeare and Pushkin, using pointed and poignant lines about life, death and loss.
The other work, in four movements, is the 'liturgy' for viola and orchestra Mourned By The Wind, written 1984-88 in memory of Kancheli's associate and friend Givi Ordzhonikidze, a Georgian musicologist. The violist here is the work's dedicatee, Yuri Bashmet, who paints in great charcoal streaks on the dark and moving orchestral canvas. Anyone who likes Henryk Górecki et al will get a lot of enjoyment out of this great collection.
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Original LP covers
Among those ECM releases you'll find this Vom Winde beweint, played by none less than Kim Kashkashian, paired with Schnittke's Konzert für Viola und Orchester. It makes for a very nice, if difficult (dense, intellectual) record.
ReplyDeleteAs for the other ECM releases, I've mixed feelings towards them. ECM engineers have managed to accurately capture the immensely wide (and from my point of view, absolutely pointless) dynamic range that characterises Kancheli's western etappe, which results in absolutely unlistenable recordings, with or without headphones. For minutes you'll hear anything and all of a sudden you (and your neightbours, should you use no headphones) a burst of brass will blow your brain away. It's not nice.
But hey, take a look at that great cover for Trauerfarbenes Land (there are actually two of them: slipcase and cd) and read the liner notes. They're nice.
Kind regards
A considered view, and much appreciated. Cheers, AB
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