Composed by Sofiya Gubaydulina
with Henrik Brendstrup , Athelas Ensemble
Conducted by Flemming Windekilde
2. Preludes (10) for cello
Composed by Sofiya Gubaydulina
with Henrik Brendstrup
Conducted by Flemming Windekilde
3. In croce for cello & organ
Composed by Sofiya Gubaydulina
with Henrik Brendstrup , Jens E. Christensen
Conducted by Flemming Windekilde
Sofia Gubaidulina: Cello Works,Henrik Brendstrup,Sofiya Gubaydulina,Flemming Windekilde,Athelas Ensemble,Jens E. Christensen,Kontrapunkt,Cello Concerto,Cello Solo,Cello with Keyboard,Chamber,Classical,Concerto,Orchestral & Symphonic
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Gubaidulina: Orchestral Works & Chamber Music
Sofia Gubaidulina , Dolgova , Mkrtobyan , and Nikolaevsky Manufacturer: Col Legno ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Similar Items:
ASIN: B00004WK5Y Release Date: 2000-08-29 |
Customer Reviews:
Yuri Nikolaevsky, on a personal note..........2005-07-23
I would also recommend his recording of Schnittke's third violin concerto with Oleg Kagan.
A collection of lesser-known pieces which are worth hearing.......2004-11-16
The "String Trio" for violin, viola, and vioncello (1988) is tremendously exciting. The first movement begins with scratchy austerity and eventually breaks into every interplay of the strings that one can imagine. The second movement has a clockwork rhythm reminiscent of Ligeti's second string quartet, while the third, final movement summarises what came before and breaks it down into a meditative lull. This piece fits with the most religious parts of Gubaidulina's oeuvre, such as her "Seven Words" for violin and bayan, or "Hommage a T.S. Eliot." This performance by Yevgeniya Alikhanova, Tatyana Kokhanovskaya, and Olga Organovich is, I feel, the best available. There is also a recording of the piece by the Danish Trio on CPO which is less satisfying but still worth tracking down.
"Hour of the Soul", dating from 1974, is a setting of the second part of the poem of that name by Marina Tsvetaeva, whose poetry Gubaidulina further used in the a capella "Hommage a Marina Tsvetaeva". However, the first twenty minutes of this half hour-long piece are purely instrumental, and there is a use of percussion in some places reminiscent of the sixth and seventh parts of her "Johannes-Passion". The performance by the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra seems committed, and the singing of Lina Mkrtchyan is spine-tingling. I do not understand why this piece did not come to gain more attention after Gubaidulina's introduction to the West.
"Night in Memphis", a cantata written in 1968, is one of the few earlier Gubaidulina works available. A friend had asked her to set some Egyptian texts to music. As this predates Gubaidulina's commitment to Russian Orthodoxy and her drive to express her faith in music, the piece might fairly justly be called juvenalia. It is not a bad piece, but simply one that does not call the listener back to listen again very often.
It is a pity that the recordings of the latter two pieces are less than ideal. "Hour of the Soul" has all the downsides of a live recording, with murmuring and coughing, while "Night in Memphis" is often nearly inaudible. "String Trio" is, happily, an exception and it is perhaps the finest recording of the piece available. The liner notes are sparse, and I would have preferred a libretto for the latter two pieces.
This disc would probably be a dreadful introduction to Gubaidulina's work. If you have never heard anything by this greatest of contemporary composers, I'd recommend the OFFERTORIUM disc on Deutsche Grammaphon, the recent inexpensive disc on Naxos, or perhaps her "Johannes-Passion", which is her masterpiece and the greatest work of Christian piety of our time. If you're already a fan of Gubaidulina's ouevre and looking for more material, this is a good choice.
great pieces, poor sound quality.......2003-06-30
All of this detracts somewhat from the music, but not bad enough to justify not buying this album. "Hour of the Soul" is another piece which is difficult to locate. It is a winding beast, with mezzo-soprano. The text is from a poem by Tsaetaeva.
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Sofia Gubaidulina: Concordanza; Meditation; Seven Works
Manufacturer: Berlin Classics ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B0000035MP Release Date: 1994-11-29 |
Tracks:
- Concordanza - Deutsche Chm Phil/Thomas Klug
- Meditation On The Bach Chorale 'Vor Deinen Thron Tret Ich Hiermit' - Deutsche Chm Phil/Thomas Klug
- Seven Words: I. Father, Forgive Them, For They Know Not What They Do.
- Seven Words: II. Woman, Behold Thy Son. - Behold Thy Mother.
- Seven Words: III. Verily, I Say Unto Thee. Today Shalt Thou Be With Me In Paradise.
- Seven Words: IV. My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?
- Seven Words: V. I Thirst.
- Seven Words: VI. It Is Finished.
- Seven Words: VII. Father, Into Thy Hands I Commend My Spirit.
Customer Reviews:
A less essential Gubaidulina disc.......2006-07-15
"Concordanza" (1971) is one of Gubaidulina's first overt avant-garde efforts. It uses such novel techniques as atonality, though in the typically Russian fashion as something worth avoiding, and whispers from the performers. The title refers to an attempt to make harmony--legato, tonality, the smooth flow of sound--out of discord, namely staccato from the winds, pizzicato, the murmuring of the players, and (a jab at Soviet aesthetic values?) march rhythms. The writing is clearly skilled, but the piece is for me, somewhat juvenile. Gubaidulina really came of age in the late 1970s.
The power of Gubaidulina's mature period is evident in the following two pieces. "Meditation on the Bach Chorale 'Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit'" for harpsichord and string quartet (1993) is a tribute to the composer who, along with Webern, Gubaidulina venerates above all. The music consists of four sections which each work toward presenting a piece of Bach's chorale, with the full chorale finally heard in its entirety at the end. The piece, like much of later Gubaidulina, makes use of special rhythmic forms based on the Fibonacci sequence and its variants, and even if the listener can't consciously do the math, the profundity and elegance of the structure is immediately likeable. This piece hasn't been performed very much, and besides this recording I only know of one from the Lockenhaus festival on BIS, but I like it very much.
"Seven Words" (1980), the "...of Christ on the Cross" left out of the title to avoid problems from Soviet music bureacrats, is one of Gubaidulina's most grippingly spiritual works, and has gained a wide audience leading to frequent performance and recording. Scored for bayan, cello, and strings, each of its seven movements consists of variations and mutations on the same several motives. There is a "crucifiction" motive where a pitch sounds on the violin with the simultaneous sounding of a glissando between a semitone above and below that pitch, clear cruciform symbolism. The music Schuetz used to set Christ's words "I Thirst" appears as another motive throughout the work. This is the third performance where Elsbeth Moser, the dedicatee, performs on bayan. The other two are on ECM and on Naxos. I must admit I find the pacing here rather idiosyncratic. The performance on the Naxos disc with the Maria Kliegel on cello and the Camerata Transsylvanica led by Gyorgy Selmeczi is much more elegant.
Since "Concordanza" is immature, the "Meditation" is a somewhat minor work, and "Seven Words" has been better performed elsewhere, this disc isn't for the casual fan of Gubaidulina's work. However, eventually making one's acquaintance with the "Meditation" is well worth it.
Not music you'd listen to in the car........1999-07-21
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Gubaidulina: Works for bassoon
Manufacturer: Chandos ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Similar Items:
ASIN: B00000IM6Z Release Date: 1999-04-13 |
Tracks:
- Duo Sonata - For Two Bassoons
- Quasi hoquetus - For Viola, Bassoon And Piano
- Concerto For Bassoon And Low Strings: Movement I (note = 84)
- Concerto For Bassoon And Low Strings: Movement II (note = 60)
- Concerto For Bassoon And Low Strings: Movement III
- Concerto For Bassoon And Low Strings: Movement IV (note = 76)
- Concerto For Bassoon And Low Strings: Movement V
Customer Reviews:
Two bold seventies pieces and a chamber work of beautiful fragility.......2006-08-06
The "Concerto for bassoon and low strings" was written in 1975. I didn't expect much out of the piece, thinking that it would prove an immature effort like some Gubaidulina works from this period, but I was quickly impressed. The concerto possesses the intensely focused dramatic potential of all of Gubaidulina's best work. Split into five sections, the first, third, and fifth movents represent sonata forms, while the second and fourth movements are interludes. In spite of the limited instrumentation, Gubaidulina creates a fairly large palette of sounds through alternating between arco and pizzicato on the strings, and exploiting the range of the bassooon to the max. The drama of the work consists in the opposition of the bassoon and the string orchestra, and perhaps this is division is why the piece reminds me so much of "Pro et contra" for large orchestra written 14 years later.
In the "Duo Sonata" for two bassoons (1977), the first theme consists of scales and temolos, while the second theme evokes Russian Orthodox chant reminding one of a similar sound in the composer's "Offertorium" or "Alleluia". About halfway through, the bassoonists each begin using unusual technique to produce chords, which eerily makes it sound as if there were more instrumentalists present than actually are.
"Quasi hoquetus" for violin, bassoon, and piano (1984) is one of a number of works from the 1980s, such as "Percetion" and the symphony "Stimmen... Verstummen...", that introduce the Fibonacci sequence and other numerical mysticism as a major part of the form. It's essentially a rondo in seven sections (another magic number), where each of the parts interlocks due to specially placed rests or notes, the medieval technique of "hocketing", hence the title. The crystalline nature of the piece reminds one of Webern, one of Gubaiduina's heroes, but the zahlenmystik and spiritually charged use of silence could only come from the Russian Orthodox Gubaidulina.
The limited timbres of this collection make me hesitant to place it among the top Gubaidulina discs, and as an introduction to the composer the symphony "Stimmen... Verstummen..." (on Chandos), the JOHANNES-PASSION (Hanssler), and the violin concerto "Offertorium" (BIS or DG) would serve better. Nonetheless, this is strong material, and worth hearing for those seeking out the work of this superb composer.
the bassoon in the spotlight!.......2005-06-05
The central composition, "Quasi hoquetus" (1984 -- 14"41), for bassoon, viola and piano, is the most immediately striking and impressive of the three, and perhaps the best. Gubaidulina's works always have a spiritual symbolic dimension, and in this one it seems clear that the piano is used to invoke God, or Heaven. The chords which begin the work, and then recur, remind me of the use of the shimmering G chord in the symphony, "Stimmen ... verstummen" (see my review). I dare not go further in speculating on the referents -- the bassoon and viola are frequently paired and set against the piano, what could that mean? "Quasi hoquetus" ends with the three voices joining in a dramatic upward chord progression.
The nearly 30-minute "Concerto" is a work that has grown on me tremendously with repeated listening. It was composed at a time when Gubaidulina was immersed in radical avant-garde circles in Moscow, working in an experimental electronic music studio in 1969-1970, and then joining the ASTREA improvisation group from 1975-1981. One of the radical elements in the Concerto is pitch-- Popov produces a wide array of astonishing sounds, all in the service of the work's structure and texture. The first, third and fifth movements are sections of an overarching sonata form, while the second and fourth movements are intermezzi. The low strings of the Russian State Symphony Orchestra ably bring to life the vision of the composer.
The WORKS FOR BASSOON are further testimony to the unique vision of Sofia Gubaidulina. Fear not the unusual instrumentation -- if you wanted ordinary music, you know where you could easily find it. See my SOFIA GUBAIDULINA'S SACRED SOUNDWORLD list for more music from one of the best composers of our time.
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Wergo Collection 2: Music of Our Time
Manufacturer: Wergo ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B000005WAS Release Date: 1997-11-11 |
Tracks:
- Nine Horses
- Study For Player Piano No. 3e
- Presence
- Etude Fur Orgel Nr. 2 Coulee
- Luba Orgonasova: Missa Da Requiem
- Klavierstucke
- The O'Hara Songs
- Jazz Study
- Le Petit Negre
- Morgenstern-Liederbuch
- Suite Dansante En Jazz
- Palillos Y Panderetas
- Jeux D'eau
- Serenade Pour Un Insecte
- Farbtonstucke
- Zehn Praludien Fur Violoncello Solo
- Klavierstucke
- Cantabile Per Archi
- Intervalles
- Das Unaufhorliche: Aber die Fortschritte
- Streichquartett Nr. 6 In Es: II.Lebhaft und sehr energisch
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Sofia Gubaidulina: Cello Works
Manufacturer: Kontrapunkt ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B000003V9S Release Date: 1994-05-24 |
Tracks:
- Detto II
- 10 Prlds for vc solo: Staccato-Legato
- 10 Prlds for vc solo: Legato-Staccato
- 10 Prlds for vc solo: Con sordino-Senza sordino
- 10 Prlds for vc solo: Ricochet
- 10 Prlds for vc solo: Sul ponticello ordinario sul tasto
- 10 Prlds for vc solo: Flagioletti
- 10 Prlds for vc solo: Al taco-Da punta d'arco
- 10 Prlds for vc solo: Arco-Pizzicato
- 10 Prlds for vc solo: Pizzicato-Arco
- 10 Prlds for vc solo: Senza arco
- In Croce - Henrik Brendstrup/Jens E. Christensen
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Wergo Collection 2: Music of Our Time
Manufacturer: Wergo ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B00000B7B6 Release Date: 1997-01-01 |
Tracks:
- Nine Horses
- Study For Player Piano No. 3e
- Presence
- Etude Fur Orgel Nr. 2 Coulee
- Luba Orgonasova: Missa Da Requiem
- Klavierstucke
- The O'Hara Songs
- Jazz Study
- Le Petit Negre
- Morgenstern-Liederbuch
- Suite Dansante En Jazz
- Palillos Y Panderetas
- Jeux D'eau
- Serenade Pour Un Insecte
- Farbtonstucke
- Zehn Praludien Fur Violoncello Solo
- Klavierstucke
- Cantabile Per Archi
- Intervalles
- Das Unaufhorliche: Aber die Fortschritte
- Streichquartett Nr. 6 In Es: II.Lebhaft und sehr energisch
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Sofia Gubaidulina: Cello Works
Manufacturer: Kontrapunkt ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Similar Items:
ASIN: B000025REO Release Date: 1994-01-01 |
Album Description
Revelation: 36Their mind altering third Rev effort continuing the quest to boldly go where no band has gone before. Punk Jazz from Salt Lake City sure to send the meek into group therapy.
Album Description
CD from Revelation Records.Customer Reviews:
So Good, an Old Boyfriend Stole It.......2000-08-19
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In Croce: Chamber Music from Russia - Works for Cello by Alfred Schnittke (Sonata for Cello & Piano) / Sofia Gubaidulina (In Croce, for Cello & Organ) / Viktor Suslin (Sonata for Cello & Percussion) / Arvo Pärt (Spiegel im Spiegel, for Cello & Piano) - David Geringas, Cello
Manufacturer: Koch Schwann (Germ.) ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD ASIN: B000001SP2 Release Date: 1994-04-29 |
Tracks:
- Son for Vc & Pno: I. Largo/II. Presto/III. Largo
- In Croce, for Vc & Org
- Son for Vc & Perc
- Spiegel im Spiegel, for Vc & Pno
Track Listings:
- Solo Baroque Lute
- Solo Piano Works 2
- Sonatas, Opus 120
- Suites for Cello
- Swedish Flagship Music
- Symphony 1 / Helios Overture
- Symphony 2 / Overture to Cupid & The Poet
- Symphony No. 15
- Tchaikovsky: Suite No.2/Capriccio Italienne,Op.45
- Telemann/Langlais: Works For Oboe And Organ
Track Listings
TALLIS: Spem in Alium, Lamentations & More - Pro Cantione
The Motown Years 1972-1976 [Import]
Play French Impressionist Music from the Turn of the Twentieth Century
WCBS FM: Motown, Soul and Rock N Roll - Soul
Vivaldi: Collection Volume IV & V, Violin Concertos
Urbanthology, Vol. 1: DJ Aphrodite Presents Urban Takeover & Aphrodite [CD-single] [Import]