Gubaidulina - Chamber Works [CD]

when i read that the bayan is a russian button accordian, and i was expecting something perhaps like the compositions of piazolla. boy was i wrong.

sometimes it flitters in the background, accenting its quietness with large sweeping cello motions and sad, profound strings.

other times it leaps out at you in what seem like erratic but are highly structured forms.

the juxaposition of strings and bayan is what makes these compositions immensely listenable. this isn't "easy" music, but it is fascinating.

again my thanks to naxos for bringing late 20th century music at a price that encourages a listen. even if it's totally not what you expected.

This disc contains three works by Russian-Tatar composer Sofia Gubaidulina, an artist of deep religious sentiment as is apparent in these titles: "In croce", "Silenzio", and "Sieben Worte". The common instruments in these works are the cello and the bayan. The latter is a type of Russian accordian played here by Elsbeth Moser, who performed in the Western premier of "Sieben Worte" and to whom Gubaidulina dedicated "Silenzio." Cello is played by Maria Kliegel, who has performed under the approval of Rostropovich.

"In Croce" was originally written in 1979 as a piece for organ and cello, but it is represented here in a 1991 arrangement for cello and bayan by Elsbeth Moser which Gubaidulina has approved. It is an exploration of "vertical" music (the organ or bayan) intersected by the "horizontal" (cello), thus forming the cruciform symbolism so common in Gubaidulina's work. Personally, I prefer the performance of the cello and organ version by Ivashkin and Hicks released by Chandos, for the organ just seems to work better than the bayan. Still, Kliegel's cello work here is deeply moving and worth hearing, less restrained than Ivashkin's but perhaps more passionately religious.

"Silenzio" is a fragile, insubstantial piece for bayan, violin, and cello in which the vast majority of the work is played pianissimo. It consists of five "miniatures" which all maintain the same rhythmic proportion 7-2-5 in varying ways. It is an interesting experiment, but it results in the least interesting item on this disc, and it's technical brilliance comes at the expense of religious power.

"Sieben Worte (Seven Words)" for cello, bayan, and strings, is a crucial piece in this disc, and in Gubaidulina's oeuvre in general. I have said before that the composer's "Johannes-Passion" may be the greatest work of Christian piety of our time, but "Sieben Worte" follows not very long behind. It is an acknowledgement of the tradition of religious composition, and contains quotations from Heinrich Schuetz and clear influence from Haydn. Nonetheless, the bulk of the piece shows the originality of Gubaidulina through and through and has an elaborate technical basis on the cello which is too long to quote here, but which is included in the liner notes. The strings of the Camerata Transsylvanica (ironically based in Budapest after the emigration of its members) under Gyorgy Selmeczi are intense and unfaltering.

As is unfortunately usual with Naxos discs, the weak point is the liner notes. The English and German are, inexplicably, two different commentaries instead of a common text translated from one or the other. Keith Anderson's English commentary is quite interesting but poorly edited and unprofessional. Teresa Pieschacon Raphael's German commentary tells something about Gubaidulina's place in the Soviet music community which English readers too should have been able to enjoy. Though Naxos was kind enough to provide commentaries in two languages, the profile of the performers is only in English.

These three pieces, especially the last, make an excellent introduction to the work of this superlative composer, and at an economic price. This is one of the finest works in my collection, and I sincerely and passionately recommend it to just about anyone.

This collection is one with which a love/hate relationship is nearly inevitable. To really listen to this music requires energic concentration - you'll be emotionally exhausted. On the other hand, other than the first piece "In croce", you may put the music on and continue about your other work - treating it almost as ambience.

While Gubaidulina has obviously been influence by chromaticism, and her choice of instruments, bayan, reflects her background Turkic Russian, she writes with a firm independence. The cello, bayan and strings are used in a way that make you think this is exactly the correct instrumentation - even after reading that "In croce" originally used an organ.

Even in "Seven Words", she does not paint "tone poems" or attempt to convey the words through music ... rather she uses music to convey in its own media what words do in theirs. This is the genius that keeps me coming back to her works even while being uncertain that I like them. I may not personally be fond of dissonance but I am always entralled by Gubaidulina's ability to use the media of music.