Kancheli: Lament / Kremer

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Out of a void of enveloping silence emerge--during the first several minutes of Lament--ultrafaint wisps from the solo violin, the bow barely seeming to make contact with the instrument. Such is the indelibly potent beginning to Giya Kancheli's poem of lamentation for his friend the Italian avant-garde composer Luigi Nono. These spare fragments, the merest shards of music, gain slight coloration from isolated tones within the orchestra and then from a soprano voice as the immensity of grief seeks a way of articulation before eventually coalescing into simple but detached phrases of infinite sadness, only to fragment yet again. Kancheli here adds to the long tradition of musical mourning with an utterly original vision that--to borrow Yeats's phrase--manages to penetrate into "the deep heart's core." Himself a long-time exile, Kancheli slowly and patiently sets an oracularly resonant text by the poet Hans Sahl. (Together with Paul Celan, Sahl inspired the Georgian composer's marvelous work Exil). Indeed, the delicate textures of his music--its vehement outbursts of full-lunged brass all the more shocking in their contrast--perfectly mirror this poetry of memory and loss. As in his recordings of the like-minded Arvo Pärt, violinist Gidon Kremer is again on a perfect wavelength with Kancheli's mystical--and resolutely unsentimental--simplicity. He summons amazing varieties of pianissimo, a mesmerizing descant on soprano Maacha Deubner's otherworldly purity of phrasing. Though only 42 minutes, the disc doesn't feel unduly "short," given Lament's emotional resonance. It's hard to imagine anything that could follow its final moments, the violin rocking between two notes in a kind of transcendental lullaby. ECM's production is, as usual, rich and full. The booklet has an intriguing essay on the composer and a suite of black-and-white photos. --Thomas May

Tracks:

Giya Kancheli: Lament

Amazon.com

Out of a void of enveloping silence emerge--during the first several minutes of Lament--ultrafaint wisps from the solo violin, the bow barely seeming to make contact with the instrument. Such is the indelibly potent beginning to Giya Kancheli's poem of lamentation for his friend the Italian avant-garde composer Luigi Nono. These spare fragments, the merest shards of music, gain slight coloration from isolated tones within the orchestra and then from a soprano voice as the immensity of grief seeks a way of articulation before eventually coalescing into simple but detached phrases of infinite sadness, only to fragment yet again. Kancheli here adds to the long tradition of musical mourning with an utterly original vision that--to borrow Yeats's phrase--manages to penetrate into "the deep heart's core." Himself a long-time exile, Kancheli slowly and patiently sets an oracularly resonant text by the poet Hans Sahl. (Together with Paul Celan, Sahl inspired the Georgian composer's marvelous work Exil). Indeed, the delicate textures of his music--its vehement outbursts of full-lunged brass all the more shocking in their contrast--perfectly mirror this poetry of memory and loss. As in his recordings of the like-minded Arvo Pärt, violinist Gidon Kremer is again on a perfect wavelength with Kancheli's mystical--and resolutely unsentimental--simplicity. He summons amazing varieties of pianissimo, a mesmerizing descant on soprano Maacha Deubner's otherworldly purity of phrasing. Though only 42 minutes, the disc doesn't feel unduly "short," given Lament's emotional resonance. It's hard to imagine anything that could follow its final moments, the violin rocking between two notes in a kind of transcendental lullaby. ECM's production is, as usual, rich and full. The booklet has an intriguing essay on the composer and a suite of black-and-white photos. --Thomas May

Customer Reviews:

Kancheli is a history-maker........2003-09-17

This is a PERFECT work, like no other.

Timing correction........2003-05-14

Though the disc lists a playing time of 42 minutes, it is actually longer. You just can't hear it.

I hate this CD.......2003-04-05

For me, the volume changes make it unlistenable. It feels to me like a very easy idea, to have a violin play such long tones & then suddenly have tons of loud noise burst from the orchestra & then have the quiet long tones again. I have to turn up the volume so high to hear that violin, & then the sudden very loud noise is way too loud. I guess this is music to listen to if you don't want to be able to focus on anything else maybe.

Great Recording!!!!.......2002-03-29

The two who criticized the composition to be distasteful because of the loud flourishes which occur in the music, are some of the most stupidest things I have ever heard. This piece is very deep and I would hold Kancheli to be one of the best composers EVER. I am reminded of Arvo Part and Sofia Gubaidalina, all create new sounds with orchestration and effects on instruments, yet retain a lot purity to the music as well. The music is very solemn and beautiful, and deftly executed by Kremer.

ugh.......2001-05-02

well, the playing here is first rate... as are some parts of the composition... but, i have to agree with a previous reviewer that a lot of this could be done away with - the loud brass is just a waste - who needs it? yes, a bit like mahler, i.e. a bit like the worst, most over-rated composer ever - some good bits put between a bunch of crap - like peanut butter and jelly?

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