KANCHELI Mourned by the Wind. Symphonies Nos 4-6
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Giya Alexandrovich Kancheli
Genre:
Orchestral
Label: Melodiya
Magazine Review Date: 06/2015
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 154
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: MELCD100 2286
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Symphony No. 4, 'In Commemoration of Michelangelo' |
Giya Alexandrovich Kancheli, Composer
Georgia State Symphony Orchestra Giya Alexandrovich Kancheli, Composer Jansug Kakhidze, Conductor |
Symphony No. 5 |
Giya Alexandrovich Kancheli, Composer
Georgia State Symphony Orchestra Giya Alexandrovich Kancheli, Composer Jansug Kakhidze, Conductor |
Symphony No. 6 |
Giya Alexandrovich Kancheli, Composer
Archil Kharadze, Viola Georgia State Symphony Orchestra Giya Alexandrovich Kancheli, Composer Giya Chaduneli, Viola Jansug Kakhidze, Conductor |
Mourned by the Wind |
Giya Alexandrovich Kancheli, Composer
Georgia State Symphony Orchestra Giya Alexandrovich Kancheli, Composer Jansug Kakhidze, Conductor |
Author: Pwyll ap Siôn
The core of the cycle, Nos 4 6, is included here on an impressive two-disc set and provides an excellent introduction to Kancheli’s mastery of the genre. The Fourth (1975) sets the tone with a single-movement design that sharply contrasts dynamic juxtapositions and extreme stylistic shifts. It is dedicated to the memory of Michelangelo, the opening peal of bells and ritualistic tone making it perhaps the most pictorial and image-based of the three, with even the simple, tonal melody heard on harp and celesta after the opening section sounding like a quote from one of the composer’s film scores.
The Fifth (1977) is far more personal in scope, dedicated this time to the memory of the composer’s parents. The opening child-like theme on harpsichord weaves its memorable autobiographical trace across the work’s surface, before being cut off abruptly at the end. Loud, dissonant interjections are somehow more keenly experienced here, as are expressive, tender moments. The composer’s trademark use of sudden changes is less apparent in the folk-like Sixth (1980), until the work’s climactic final section, which must rank as one of the most memorable and dramatically scintillating moments in the entire literature of the 20th-century symphony. With Jansug Kakhidze again directing affairs from the podium, there’s not much to separate the State Symphony Orchestra of Georgia’s performance here with past recordings by the Georgian National Orchestra or Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra (Sony, 5/95).
The remaining work on this set, Mourned by the Wind (1988), mirrors the traditional design of a concerto but in other respects eschews its more conventional features. Kancheli called it a ‘liturgy’ for viola and orchestra, with the solo part (brilliantly realised on this recording by Yuri Bashmet) often supported by the orchestra rather than pitted against it. A more introverted element of Kancheli’s musical voice is presented here, although the second movement does spark briefly into life.
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