Styx Viola Cto

I bought the disc as a fan of Gubaidulina, but Kancheli's "Styx" was a pleasant surprise. It is an ethereal choral work of quiet lulls and brief exultations. Its themes appears to be death, what it takes away and what it leaves behind, and time. The names of Kancheli's deceased friends Alfred Schnittke and Avet Terterian figure prominently towards the end. The viola in this piece is meant to symbolise the river Styx itself; the viola carries along all that is past to a tranquil end. The Choir of the Mariinsky Theatre gives an excellent performance in "Styx", respecting the nebulous nature of the text and understanding that it must stay out of the viola's way. Gergiev's sensitity is commendable.

The recording is not, however, ideal. There is some background noise from time to time; apparently this is a live concert recording. The disc is also nearly unaudible in some places, and turning the volume high enough to perceive the quiet parts will have unfortunate consequences during the louder portions. Dynamic range is good, but it's been taken too far here.

Gubaidulina's "Viola Concerto" was satisfying, though perhaps a minor work. For the most part there is not the scratchy austerity of some of her other string works, such as "Strio Trio" or "Offertorium". Rather the piece is an soft elaboration on the "DSCH" motif of her inspiration Shostakovich interspersed with some lush layers of sound somewhat reminiscent of Bartok. All in all, the piece seeks to explore the viola as the more unusual and otherworldly of the strings.

And what of Yuri Bashmet himself? His playing was very moving, and helps explain why so may critics use phrases like "finest violist of our time". There is nowhere on this disc where he seems less than perfectly sure of how to tackle the piece.

The liner notes are excellent, as they have been for most of DG's 20/21 series. It has descriptions of the two pieces, an interview with Bashmet, profiles of Bashmet and Gergeiv, and finally the text of "Styx".

This disc would probably make a poor introduction to Gubaidulina. Try her fine "Offertorium" disc on DG if you've never heard her work before, or maybe her JOHANNES-PASSION of 2000, which was also performed by the Orchestra and Choir of the Mariinsky Theatre conducted by Gergiev. I don't know enough of Kancheli's work to make a comparison. However, this disc is worth picking up and will not disappoint.

The Viola work by Gubaidulina is perhaps intelectually and conceptually stimulating, but in fact plain boring. *Soul-less* is the word that describes it best.

The basic structure of the Gubaidulina Viola Concerto is very much alike. Again the orchestra creates a background for the monologue of the viola. There are some differences and I find Gubaidulina's orchestration much richer and imaginative than Kancheli's. The string motif that occurs very often in the piece is just magnificent. Like the Styx Gubaidulina's concerto is also composed with the sound of Bashmet's viola in mind and she truly uses the entire range of possibilities of the viola and manages to show the unique character of the instrument.

I have disliked some of the meditative music that has come out from Eastern Europe during the past ten years, but I think both Kancheli and Gubaidulina manage to avoid the dangers that lie in composing this kind of music. The result can be boring music where the meditative nature is just faked and calculated. Both of these pieces are ingenious. Kancheli and Gubaidulina manage to compose a lot of music by using very few notes. A true sign of genius.

Gergiev and Bashmet seem to understand each other perfectly. These works are very Russian and I find it very unlikely that they could be performed better then on this disc.