Giya Kancheli - Symphony No. 3, No. 6 (1984)

To follow on from Bright Sorrow/Mourned By The Wind, here's two more great recordings of Giya Kancheli's works, again performed by the State Symphony Orchestra of Georgia.  These two symphonies were originally paired on an hour-long single LP in 1984, with CD reissues in 1990.

Kancheli's 3rd Symphony (comp. 1973, rec. 1979), taking its cues from Georgian folk music, opens with an stark, wordless tenor voice before a stabbing brass theme brings in influences from Stravinsky.  The work marches on in the gloom of more brass and some eerie strings before a really lovely middle section calms things down slightly, and the voice returns, as it will once more to end things as they began.

The 6th Symphony (comp. 1978-80, rec. 1981) has a similar structure, but the main melody is led by the strings, and little punctuations of flute and harpsichord.  As with much of Kancheli's work, any calm period is highly likely to be blown away in spectacular style at any moment, and the 6th does this in spades in its near-apocalyptic second half.  Really enjoyable, invigorating stuff to listen to.

original LP cover, 1984

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Giya Kancheli - Bright Sorrow / Mourned By The Wind (1997 compi, rec. 1986-88)

Two great works of sublime melancholy from Giya Kancheli (b. 1935, Tblisi), who since the end of the Soviet Union has been resident in Western Europe, building up a healthy catalogue of ECM New Series releases that I've still to investigate.  The two LPs that make up this compilation come from his time in late-Soviet Georgia, and this CD forms part of BMG's Musica Non Grata series that also featured other censored-by-the-state composers such as Gubaidulina and Artyomov.

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