Viktor SUSLIN
Capriccio über die Abreise for 2 violins; 3 Choruses on Poems of
Daniil Kharms for women's choir and girl narrator.
Sofia GUBAIDULINA
Meditation on 'Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit' for harpsichord
and string quintet; Silenzio for accordion, violin and cello; Ein Engel.
. . for alto and double bass; Dancer on a Tightrope for violin and
piano.
'Astraea' improvisation
group: Free
improvisation.
BIS-CD-810 [78'24]
AmazonUS
This superb CD, recorded live in 1995 at Gidon Kremer's Lockenhaus Festival
in Austria (KREMERata MUSICA IV) has previously been recommended by
Seen&Heard
for its important representation of Sofia Gubaidulina, whose music
included here was recently heard in London through a long, revelatory day
of her compositions. It is good to have on disc the great Gidon Kremer himself
walking the dancer's tightrope.
The festival, held in the first half of July, is very much a 'family &
friends' type of affair, and this CD has prompted me to put its opening on
4 July into my diary. The Meditation on 'Vor deinen Thron tret ich
hiermit' has the famous Elisabeth Chojnacka (harpsichord) involved, and
also two of the Beckova Sisters who defected to England in the '80s. Ein
Engel. . . for alto and double bass introduces Alexander Suslin, son
of the other featured composer, Viktor Suslin, a decade younger than Gubaidulina
and not previously known to me, a gap which I was pleased to fill.
Firm friends since the '70s, when their improvisation group provoked great
criticism in the Soviet Union, Sofia Gubaidulina & Viktor Suslin
(b.1942) have settled close to each other near Hamburg. There are some charming
children's choruses by Suslin, a little too difficult (as yet) for children's
choirs to master, and a touching Farewell to his homeland on departing from
the Soviet Union in 1979, chronicling in juxtaposition his decision and
reflections in a successful piece of true programme music for two violins
(Kremer & Hanna Weinmeister). Lastly, there is an improvisation by
Gubaidulina ('an excellent percussionist') with Suslin father & son.
A classy, loving production, with fullest documentation by Albert Seitlinger
& the composers themselves.
Peter Grahame Woolf
