Kancheli Simi; Magnum Ignotum
An uneasy peace all too easily disrupted in a creative formula that Kancheli’s many admirers will find familiar. But while Simi’s magic is, in some respects, predictable, Magnum Ignotum is both unusual and musically stimulating
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Giya Alexandrovich Kancheli, Mstislav Rostropovich
Label: ECM New Series
Magazine Review Date: 12/2000
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 51
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 462 713-2
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Simi |
Giya Alexandrovich Kancheli, Composer
Giya Alexandrovich Kancheli, Composer Jansug Kakhidze, Conductor Mstislav Rostropovich, Composer Royal Flanders Philharmonic Orchestra |
Magnum Ignotum |
Giya Alexandrovich Kancheli, Composer
Giya Alexandrovich Kancheli, Composer Jansug Kakhidze, Conductor Royal Flanders Philharmonic Orchestra |
Author: Rob Cowan
If you’re familiar with Kancheli’s recent work and presume you know what you’re in for here, then I would advise playing Magnum Ignotum (1994) first. It might surprise you. The scoring is for wind ensemble, double bass and tape. But rather than play on ferocious climaxes and the stunned silences that trail them (a characteristic of the more recent orchestral works), Kancheli opts for subtle colouring and harmonic twists. Bassoon and bass clarinet usher in the quiet incantation of a preacher whereas later episodes incorporate prerecorded polyphonic improvisation and a vocal ensemble singing ‘Holy God’ (‘Uphalo Ghmerto’). Magnum Ignotum (‘The Great Anonymous’) is a delicately veiled, deeply introverted piece that’s as much reliant on musical space as on precise harmonic crafting.
Simi, on the other hand, resembles various other works by Kancheli that have already appeared on the ECM label. The overall mood is one of interrupted sublimity, where inward musings are violently disrupted, then softened, very occasionally, by passages of almost saccharine sweetness. Rostropovitch was the work’s prompting inspiration and I am happy to say that he plays it marvellously well. The halting solo gestures that open the piece soon give way to a chiming low C (on piano) and the onset of a whole series of violent contrasts. One in particular – you can join it around 6'00'' – calls a halt to a huge crescendo only to reveal a half-lit chord with a delicate thread of cello tone glowing bright at its centre. Then, at 10'22'', there’s an unexpected softening when the soloist muses above gentle piano cascades. Later episodes are marginally more animated and the piece ends quietly on an eerie harmonic B natural for solo cello.
Rostropovich himself speaks of Kancheli’s ‘natural element’ as being ‘the deepest mystical sorrow’. He apparently took the composer’s own speech as a starting point for gauging how to play his music, a strategy that has resulted in a total identification with Kancheli’s idiom. Hearing the piece straight through for the first time, listeners might be tempted into thinking that Simi is but another manifestation of a formula that Kancheli has already tried and tested in various similar-sounding works from roughly the same period. I must confess that the idea did occur to me. The general aura of desolate space, spiritual power and humility in the face of that power is one that Kancheli has conjured in at least half-a-dozen other works, always cast along similar lines. The most refreshing aspect of Magnum Ignotum is that it sounds different – is less reliant on dynamic peaks and troughs. It’s unfamiliar territory, which Simi isn’t, and I’d like to go there more often. Fine sound and exemplary playing.'
Simi, on the other hand, resembles various other works by Kancheli that have already appeared on the ECM label. The overall mood is one of interrupted sublimity, where inward musings are violently disrupted, then softened, very occasionally, by passages of almost saccharine sweetness. Rostropovitch was the work’s prompting inspiration and I am happy to say that he plays it marvellously well. The halting solo gestures that open the piece soon give way to a chiming low C (on piano) and the onset of a whole series of violent contrasts. One in particular – you can join it around 6'00'' – calls a halt to a huge crescendo only to reveal a half-lit chord with a delicate thread of cello tone glowing bright at its centre. Then, at 10'22'', there’s an unexpected softening when the soloist muses above gentle piano cascades. Later episodes are marginally more animated and the piece ends quietly on an eerie harmonic B natural for solo cello.
Rostropovich himself speaks of Kancheli’s ‘natural element’ as being ‘the deepest mystical sorrow’. He apparently took the composer’s own speech as a starting point for gauging how to play his music, a strategy that has resulted in a total identification with Kancheli’s idiom. Hearing the piece straight through for the first time, listeners might be tempted into thinking that Simi is but another manifestation of a formula that Kancheli has already tried and tested in various similar-sounding works from roughly the same period. I must confess that the idea did occur to me. The general aura of desolate space, spiritual power and humility in the face of that power is one that Kancheli has conjured in at least half-a-dozen other works, always cast along similar lines. The most refreshing aspect of Magnum Ignotum is that it sounds different – is less reliant on dynamic peaks and troughs. It’s unfamiliar territory, which Simi isn’t, and I’d like to go there more often. Fine sound and exemplary playing.'
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