Dobrinka TABAKOVA (b.1980)
String Paths
Insight for string trio [9:35]
Concerto for Cello and Strings [20:53]
Frozen River Flows for violin, accordion and double bass [6:12]
Suite in Old Style [18:35]
Such different paths [16:57]
Kristina Blaumane (cello); Maxim Rysanov (viola, conductor); Janine Jansen
(violin); Roman Mints (violin); Julia-Maria Kretz (violin); Amihai Grosz (viola);
Torleif Thedéen (cello); Boris Andrianov (cello); Raimondas Sviackevicius
(accordion); Vaiva Eidukaityte-Storastiene (harpsichord); Stacey Watton (double
bass);
Donatas Bagurskas (double bass); Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra (concertmaster,
Dzeraldas Bidva)
rec. National Philharmonic Hall, Vilnius, Lithuania, March/April 2011; Jesus-Christus-Kirche,
Dahlem, Berlin, Germany, June 2011
ECM NEW SERIES 2239 [72:22]
This album showcases music written between 2002 and 2008 by Bulgarian-born
London resident composer Dobrinka Tabakova. It reflects the paths that have
led to this music, much of it written with the performers here in mind. Several
of them were fellow students of hers at the Guildhall School of Music and
Drama in London. As such there is a satisfying feeling of unity where all
the various paths converge in collective artistic expression.
Insight for string trio launches the disc. I was immediately
struck by the richness of her writing which is emphasised by the way she has
managed to integrate the three instruments in such a way as to create a sense
of fusion: the three speak with a single voice. Despite elements of Bulgarian-sounding
rhythms which open the piece there is much about this work that has overtones
of 20th century British string writing with its pastoral feeling
of rural calm.
In her Cello Concerto, after an opening movement that is described accurately
as Turbulent, tense, we are treated to the most richly gorgeous sounds
in the second movement entitled Longing bringing John Tavener to mind,
particularly in the orchestral sections. This is hardly surprising since he
is motivated as a member of the Orthodox Church to incorporate the sounds
and rhythms of chants that have a home in Russia and Bulgaria. The cello seems
to soar heavenwards yearningly seeking some kind of spiritual fulfilment.
This it certainly delivers to the listener in the form of a calm and cleansing
feeling of peace. The final movement entitled Radiant is precisely
that implying that the desire expressed in the middle movement has been realised.
The music is suffused in light.
Tabakova’s Frozen River Flows is scored for the unusual
combination of violin, accordion and double bass. It was inspired, as she
explains in the booklet notes, by watching the flowing of a river beneath
a carpet of ice. Originally composed for an equally unusual combination of
oboe and percussion, the accordion acting as a drone. It seems well suited
to conjure up the icy feel while the violin emphasises the fragility of the
ice and the double bass lends a solidity to which the other elements of winter,
which are transient, will return once the ice eventually melts.
With her Suite in Old Style Tabakova joins an illustrious band
of composers who have been drawn to re-examining the music of the past through
20th and 21st century eyes, including Górecki,
Schnittke and Penderecki as well as Respighi. The work was written for her
one-time fellow Guildhall student. Violist Maxim Rysanov who is constantly
seeking to commission works to help extend the viola’s repertoire. That’s
something to applaud; why should the violin have the lion’s share of
string works? This is a feeling that is even more powerfully felt when listening
to this which is so wonderfully rich in sonority. She has brilliantly captured
the essence of the past shining it through a 21st century prism.
The addition of a harpsichord has reminded us that it too should be used more
often since it is an instrument that could have as much musical relevance
today as it did in the past. She also had the neat idea of using the musical
notation of the name of Rameau, another inspiration in writing this work,
in part of the final section, rather than using any direct quotations.
The last work on this disc is Such different paths for string septet
which violinist Janine Jansen, who plays here, approached Tabakova to write.
Introducing each instrument in turn she has them all blend together in a meeting
at the end of their respective paths that once again reflects the overall
idea of the album. It is another richly rewarding and sumptuously scored musical
feast.
There was a time about ten or so years ago when all kinds of doom and gloom
was expressed about the future of recordings, orchestras, concerts and even
for music itself. With a whole new generation of composers, performers, record
labels and downloads the future of music is as secure today as real ale is
after the parlous state it was in before the ‘real ale revolution’
took place. When we have composers such as Dobrinka Tabakova at the very threshold
of her career and artists such as those playing on this record we need have
no fear for the future of music. It will last as long as people like her write
and people like us listen. This disc is full of music to delight and wonder
at. It is played superlatively and with ECM’s usual attention to maintaining
its benchmark standards in sound.
Steve Arloff
This disc is full of music to delight and wonder at.
See also review by Rob
Barnett
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