Gidon Kremer writes
that the music on this disc has great
personal significance for him since
he lived in a Soviet country for the
first half of his life. The music demonstrates
an essential aspect of the Russian character,
a dark and cynical humour that can parody
established tradition while showing
it due respect.
The title, ‘The Russian
Seasons’ is significant for Kremer in
another sense too. It indicates his
preoccupation with something he calls
‘global’ or ‘absolute’ time, by which
he seems to mean a sense of time that
transcends both centuries and locations,
allowing interesting connections to
be made between the musics of composers
from different eras and different lands.
These notions of ‘Russian-ness’
and ‘absolute time’ allow both an acknowledgement
of traditions founded on the past achievements
of great artists (Diaghilev’s productions
were known as ‘Russian Seasons’ for
instance) and also a kind of ‘seasonal’
relationship between musicians of the
past and the present. The themes are
explored very differently yet equally
thoughtfully by both Desyatnikov and
Raskatov and each of them pays homage
to his chosen aspect of Russian tradition,
while exposing it to some level of parody,
often gentle but sometimes distinctly
fierce. The results are works that are
witty, attractive and musically very
worthwhile.
Desyatnikov takes authentic
recordings and text from the collection
called Traditional Music from the
Russian Lake District and sets them
as four ‘concertos’ each with
three ‘movements’ in a form similar
to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. His
scoring is similar too (string orchestra
and solo violin) but Desyatnikov also
adds a solo female voice for some numbers
since his ‘seasons’ are different to
Vivaldi’s. They explore human experiences
(love, separation, death and commemoration,
for example) while following the quarterly
rituals of the Orthodox Church.
In keeping with the idea of ‘seasonal’
relationships between musicians, Desyatnikov
has apparently said that one of his
other aims when composing The Russian
Seasons was to bring together many
different compositional styles. These
range from ‘almost uncivilised roughness
to European elegance’, the melding of
which he feels is embodied in the work
of Kremer and his orchestra. As a consequence,
and although the work is wholly new,
its twelve numbers all contain allusions
to other composers - those who like
musical challenges can amuse themselves
by spotting the influences from Steve
Reich, Dufay, Berg, Bach, Stravinsky
and Pärt which are sprinkled liberally
throughout. Desyatnikov has his own
style however, and this music is often
folksy but it is also wry, tender, tuneful
and harmonically interesting at every
turn. There’s Russian irony here too:
listen to the second piece, Lullaby,
before reading the translated text,
as an example.
Raskatov’s The Seasons
Digest is a different kind
of work though concerned with the same
preoccupations as Desyatnikov’s. It
is a re-working of Tchaikovsky’s piano
cycle The Seasons op37a for a
string orchestra, violin solo, percussion
and prepared piano in a ‘digest’ form
which distills the Tchaikovsky tradition
nicely, but debunks it soundly too.
To do this, opulent string melody is
interrupted by the prepared piano and
reinterpreted by percussion. Musicians
are instructed to ‘roam freely beyond
the boundaries of their own parts’ so
that string players play percussion
instruments sometimes. There are crops
of not quite right ‘modern’ harmonies.
Everyone whispers the ‘Requiem Aeternam’
in the movement for March and sings
during the ‘peasant minimalism’ of July.
Some aspects of this cannot be appreciated
from a CD of course, but the excellent
explanatory sleeve-note by Tatjana Frumkis
fills in some of the irony and explains
the intention behind what is heard.
The old music is always familiar, but
never exactly so: it questions how far
New Russia has moved from Old Russia
and how far such movement is good.
If the music on this
disc was of philosophical interest only
the disc could not be recommended. However
this is one of the most engaging recordings
that I have heard for some time. Kremerata
Baltica, the various soloists and of
course Gidon Kremer himself throw themselves
into these intriguing works with great
style and if you want to hear something
unusual that can bear repeated playings,
this disc could be for you.
Bill Kenny
Julia Korpacheva, soprano * Andrey Pushkarev,
percussion +, Reinut Tepp, piano +, 