Victoria BORISOVA-OLLAS (b 1969)
Angelus (2008) [22:07]
The Kingdom of Silence [14:25]
Before the Mountains Were Born (2005) [17:58]
Creation of the Hymn for string orchestra (2013) [15:13]
Open Ground (2006) [10:53]
Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra/Andrey Borekyo/ Martyn Brabbins/Sakari Oramo
rec. August 2016, November 2017, August 2019, Stockholm Concert Hall, Sweden. DSD
BIS BIS-2288 SACD [82:08]
Unlike my colleague, Hubert Culot, who reviewed this disc a little while ago, I don’t think I’ve previously encountered the music of Victoria Borisova-Ollas. Having listened to this very fine disc containing several of her orchestral scores, I’m wondering why that should be so; it’s certainly my loss.
Born in Russia, Ms Borisova-Ollas has lived in Sweden since 1993; presumably that accounts for the championship of her music by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. Her initial training took place in her native Russia; she later studied at the Malmö Academy of Music and at London’s Royal College of Music. Her breakthrough work was Wings of the Wind, which was placed second in the 1998 British Masterprize International Competition. EMI issued a recording of that work by the LSO and Daniel Harding; it was coupled with a number of other pieces from the competition but I’m fairly sure that disc is no longer available.
Four of the five works on this present disc are scored for what sounds like substantial orchestral forces and let it be said up-front that Victoria Borisova-Ollas handles the modern symphony orchestra with flair and imagination. Arguably, this is best illustrated by the first work on the programme. Angelus was commissioned to celebrate the 850th anniversary of the foundation of the city of Munich. The composer explains in her booklet notes that the inspiration came to her on her first visit to the city, shortly after she had received the commission. She spent a Sunday walking round the city and was profoundly impressed by the sounds of many bells ringing in Munich throughout the day; as a consequence, bell sounds permeate her score. The work is scored for a very large orchestra, including an organ and an abundance of percussion, tuned and untuned. It opens most impressively with soft, mysterious slow music which, the composer tells us, evokes ancient times, not least through “a hint of Celtic chant”. The first bell sounds that I can detect occur at 4:21 and are followed shortly thereafter by another sound that we shall hear on more than one occasion: chirruping woodwinds, conveying the sound of birds. The pace picks up at 7:22 when the music becomes energetic as well as increasingly colourful; there’s now pronounced rhythmic drive in evidence. Goodness, this composer really knows how to write for an orchestra! Around 12:51 we hear bells playing a melody, by the German composer Friedrich Silcher (1789-1860). From this point on, slow music predominates and the piece builds to a most imposing climax (around 17:00) at which point the percussion section is going full pelt. This climax put me somewhat in mind of the grandeur of Boris Godunov. Once this climax is spent, we hear the quiet sounds of bells and gongs paving the way to a majestic revisitation of the mystic material with which Angelus began. The piece achieves a hushed conclusion with the bells softly tolling. Angelus is a mightily impressive composition and I’m full of admiration for the imaginative and resourceful orchestral scoring. Andrey Borekyo, a noted champion of this composer’s music, conducts a commanding performance.
In the composer’s words, The Kingdom of Silence is one of the names for “the mysterious country where we will all go to after our lifetime”. The title derives from Psalm 94. It opens very softly and seductively and, as the composer puts it, “gradually we sink into a dream”. There are various “scenes” within this dream, including a passage (from 6:32) featuring an extended cor anglais theme against a quiet orchestral background. There’s also a powerful episode (from 9:07) in which brass and percussion are to the fore, and a section which is quite spooky (10:59) featuring some unusual effects from high woodwind instruments. Eventually, the subdued opening music returns (13:01), taking the piece through to its end. This is an intriguing piece, though currently I don’t feel I properly grasp its meaning: the fault is mine, not the composer’s; her music is once again resourcefully scored and imaginative. The Kingdom of Silence, conducted here by Martyn Brabbins, consistently held my attention.
Brabbins is also at the helm for Before the Mountains Were Born. This piece also takes its cue from the psalms, in this case Psalm 90, which begins ‘Lord, thou hast been our refuge from one generation to the next’ (the composer quotes a different translation in her notes). This piece is unusual in that it contains an important cadenza section involving the four woodwind principals (flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon). Ms Borisova-Ollas describes her piece as “an insistent prayer, where the thoughts of a human being appealing to the higher power follow each other in a rather quick tempo”. As befits this conception – and the words of the psalm – there’s considerable energy in the music. The composer deploys all manner of combinations of orchestral colours, not least percussion instruments, including cowbells. At 13:01 the woodwind cadenza begins. The four instrumentalists work as a team, though they have individual opportunities too. The writing is extremely challenging but the four principals of the RSPO acquit themselves with distinction. At 15:11 the string section softly steals back into our consciousness but the woodwind soloists continue to be prominent, their music now rather more lyrical. At 17:24, almost from nowhere, the low brass of the orchestra whip the rest of the orchestra up into a short, forceful coda. This is another highly imaginative work and, like everything else on the disc, it’s performed with stunning assurance by the RSPO.
Sakari Oramo, the RSPO’s chief conductor and artistic advisor since 2008, is on the podium for Open Ground. The inspiration for this piece is the novel by Salman Rushdie entitled The Ground Beneath Her Feet. More specifically, it relates to a passage in the book describing an earthquake in Mexico. The composer poses the question, how stable is the ground (literal and, especially, metaphorically) on which each of us stands? As you might expect, this short piece is often loud, violent and percussive in nature. Once again Ms Borisova-Ollas writes effectively and inventively for what sounds like a large percussion battery. There’s plenty of impressive writing for the brass section too. This is a powerful and exciting piece. It reaches its peak at 8:11 when we hear an imposing horn-led processional which, on repetition, is decorated by the trumpets. When that climax has expended its energy, Open Ground winds down to a delicate, shimmering conclusion.
The only piece on this disc which is not for full orchestra is Creation of the Hymn for which Andrey Borekyo once again takes charge. This piece was originally composed for string quartet but in 2013 it was reworked – in a slightly shortened form – for string orchestra. We learn from the booklet that the group which first performed the newly revised work comprised just 15 players; judging by what I hear, I suspect a rather larger ensemble is involved in this performance. There are important solo parts for the orchestra’s leader and principal cellist (Joakim Svenheden and Johannes Rostamo in this performance). The work takes the form of a Theme and five Variations; helpfully, each of these sections is separately tracked. The Theme itself is marked Solenne, risoluto e con tutta forza. The present performance lives right up to that billing – though the music fades away almost to nothing before the variations start. The music benefits from rich harmonies and string textures. The first variation is marked Allegretto, giocoso, though I have to say that the music sounds significantly more urgent in both pace and mood than this marking might suggest. The second variation is Tranquillo and here the two solo instruments have a key role, playing pizzicato at first (and at the end of the section) and then in bowed phrases, all the while against a soft carpet of accompaniment. The following variation Allegro, energico, is fast and furious. This is followed by Largo, espressivo which is completely dominated by ruminative music for the solo cellist, who is unaccompanied most of the time. It’s the violinist who takes centre stage in the concluding variation (Calmo). At first the violinist’s music is hesitant but as the section progresses the soloist rhapsodises before leading the ensemble to two sustained big chords which end the piece. Creation of the Hymn is an impressive composition and it’s very well imagined for string orchestra.
This is a highly impressive disc. All the pieces command the listener’s attention from start to finish. They are clearly the product of a very imaginative mind and, moreover, the work of a composer who handles the resources of a modern symphony orchestra creatively and with great assurance. The playing of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra is superb in every respect and the three conductors involved in these performances inspire the orchestra to play with great commitment
The recordings were made over a period of three years and a number of engineering teams were involved. The recording of Angelus comes from a public performance; by inference, therefore, the other performances were presumably under studio conditions. The results are consistent: all the recordings are magnificent, both in the amount of detail they convey and also in letting us appreciate the sweep of these pieces. My listening was done using the stereo layer of this hybrid SACD, largely using Beyerdynamic headphones, and I was delighted with the results. The composer herself has written the very useful booklet essay.
On the evidence of this compilation of works, Victoria Borisova-Ollas is a very individual and significant voice. I’m very glad that I’ve made the acquaintance of her music through this terrific disc and I look forward to hearing more of her output.
John Quinn
Previous review: Hubert Culot
