- Audio CD (Jun 25 2002)
- SPARS Code: DDD
- Number of Discs: 1
- Format: Import
- Label: Universal Music Group
- ASIN: B00005Y33E
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Product Details |
Track Listings
| 1. Sonata for violoncello and piano |
| 2. String Quartet No. 1 |
| 3. Postludium No. 1 |
| 4. Postludium No. 2 |
| 5. Postludium No. 3 |
| 6. Hymne 2001 |
Product Description
From Amazon.com
ECM's booklet quotes Valentin Silvestrov as saying: "What I deal with might be termed poetry in music." It's a statement borne out by this important disc of his chamber music. The basic impulse is lyrical, but these works are full of startling dynamic shifts and dramatic nuances. His is a subtle art; the String Quartet No. 1, for example, opens with a hushed, choralelike passage that slowly separates into the individual instruments quietly parting with the group and then rejoining it for ghostly unison figures. Later, we hear coloratura figures in the violin and still later, slashing, dramatic episodes that subside and revive again until the music fades into one of the punctuating silences.
Similar effects are heard in the other works, fully absorbing the listener in Silvestrov's sound world. In the Cello Sonata, the piano is a full partner, its pedal effects coloring the music like a third participant, an effect well captured by the excellent sonics. Typical of the innate drama of his music is the Three Postludes, whose performers are instructed to leave the stage as their Postlude dies out. The first is for soprano and piano trio; the second for violin alone; the last, for cello and piano. Silvestrov himself ends the program at the piano with his haunting Hymn 2001. Performances by the outstanding players of the Rosamunde Quartet and assisting artists are as good as can be. --Dan Davis
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Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very Sublime, Oct 18 2005
By Boris Joselovich - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Str Qrt/Cello Son/Hymne 2001/P (Audio CD)
This is the best CD to start one's acquaintance with V.Silvestrov's world of music.It contains pieces written between 1974-2001.The music is wonderful: quiet,very nostalgic,with subtle references to the romantic past,but very individual style.For those who like the music of Arvo Part,John Tavener and H.Gorecky ,it is an essential purchase.
4 of 7 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
With the exception of one piece, these chamber works pale in comparison to Silvestrov's orchestral writing, Dec 8 2008
By Christopher Culver - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Str Qrt/Cello Son/Hymne 2001/P (Audio CD)
This ECM disc, dating from only 2002 and strangely already out of print in the US, documents a collaboration between the Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov and several German musicians. Silvestrov's music is simultaneously sui generis and completely derivative, for with the fragmentation of music in the 20th century into all possible styles and techniques, he feels the only way to move forward is to write "postludes" to the Classical and Romantic traditions. A Silvestrov composition is typically marked by lush harmonies, though without progressing towards any clear resolutions and making much use of odd Webern-like intervals. Silvestrov is perhaps best known for his orchestral works, and the Sonata for Cello and Piano (1983) best compresses the grandeur of this into chamber form. The ending is among one of the most unusual scenes in all of Silvestrov's late oeuvre, as the cello plays harmonics over almost drum-line piano.Unfortunately, the remaining pieces don't have this richness of texture and fail to impress. The String Quartet No. 1 (1974) comes across as an immature work, only hinting at the sound Silvestrov was to perfect only in the 1980s. The "3 Postludes" (1981-82) are scored for different forces, but their concerns remain similar. The first, titled "DSCH" in memory of Shostakovich, is for cello, violin, soprano (who sings only vocalizations) and piano. The second is for solo violin, and the third for cello and piano. While the first of these pieces is fairly engaging, the remaining two seem pretty inconsequential. The same holds for the closing piece of the disc, "Hymn 2001" for piano. Played by Silvestrov himself, it ends a disc full of uncertainties by leaving us a large glimmer of hope.
As examples of more satisfying Silvestrov works, I'd recommend instead his orchestral music, especially the "Postludium" for piano and orchestra (available on another ECM disc) and the "Requiem for Larissa" (on yet another ECM disc).
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