Silvestrov Dedication; Post Scriptum; Violin Sonata
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Valentin Silvestrov
Label: Teldec (Warner Classics)
Magazine Review Date: 12/1996
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 57
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 4509 99206-2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Dedication |
Valentin Silvestrov, Composer
Gidon Kremer, Violin Munich Philharmonic Orchestra Roman Kofman, Conductor Valentin Silvestrov, Composer |
| Post Scriptum |
Valentin Silvestrov, Composer
Gidon Kremer, Violin Vadim Sacharov, Piano Valentin Silvestrov, Composer |
Author:
The vogue for concerto-symphony hybrids of one sort or another has been strong in the former Soviet Union from the 1960s on; its precursor was Prokofiev’s Sinfonia concertante, more properly translated as Symphony-Concerto, for cello and orchestra. Valentin Silvestrov continues this line into the 1990s, not by introducing symphonic complexity into a concerto or concerto-like virtuosity into a symphony, but by tranquillizing and intermingling both elements. Dedication apparently underuses the phenomenal virtuosity of its dedicatee, Gidon Kremer, but it certainly has a strongly personal expressive flavour.
Like Silvestrov’s masterpiece, the Fifth Symphony, which I reviewed in October (Sony Classical), Dedication explores a strange but beautiful world of timeless drifting. There are unseen evils, so the composer has to proceed with caution, but there are exotic delights too, so he proceeds with wonder; which means that the prevailing tempo has to be slow, both in the vaguely threatening sections and the vaguely consoling ones which alternate with them. Scurrying arpeggiations for the violin, glowering chords and resonance-catching high sustained lines alternate with nostalgic clarinet broken chords and triadic harmonies.
Silvestrov takes a risk by making his opening section the only vaguely fast one. The last of the three movements is the longest and is daringly fashioned as a deliberate non-development of the violin’s various themes, leaving the question of ultimate restfulness or instability unsettled, and the conclusion comes with rumbles, tinklings and gongings uncannily balanced between awareness and oblivion. On a couple of weeks’ acquaintance I cannot feel that he brings off the overall design as surefootedly as he does in his Fifth Symphony, and there are times when the ideas sound uncomfortably close to George Crumb without the special effects (does anyone remember the vogue for Crumb in the 1970s? – quite a few of the Russian avant-garde knew and responded to his evocative meditations). At its best, however, Dedication still manages to create the uncanny effect of having been dictated by a ghostly figure from the past. Something may have been lost in the act of transmission, but the other-worldliness and ethereal calm are strongly sensed.
Post scriptum is intended as an ‘echo’ to Dedication, and it calls up other ghosts, notably Mozart. The style references are more overtly Viennese Classical here, but the sensibility remains personal and contemporary. For me this music evokes the mystery of a city riverside at night and a consciousness at once lonely, enthralled and strangely restful.
In this purgatorial world of quasi-communication Kremer plays with hypnotic intensity, Vadim Sacharov is at one with him in Post scriptum, and in Dedication Roman Kofman confirms his special affinity with Silvestrov – he was the conductor on the famous Melodiya LP of the Fifth Symphony I mentioned in October. If that work has cast its spell on you (and it would always be my recommendation for first contact with Silvestrov) this superbly recorded Teldec disc should make a rewarding follow-up.'
Like Silvestrov’s masterpiece, the Fifth Symphony, which I reviewed in October (Sony Classical), Dedication explores a strange but beautiful world of timeless drifting. There are unseen evils, so the composer has to proceed with caution, but there are exotic delights too, so he proceeds with wonder; which means that the prevailing tempo has to be slow, both in the vaguely threatening sections and the vaguely consoling ones which alternate with them. Scurrying arpeggiations for the violin, glowering chords and resonance-catching high sustained lines alternate with nostalgic clarinet broken chords and triadic harmonies.
Silvestrov takes a risk by making his opening section the only vaguely fast one. The last of the three movements is the longest and is daringly fashioned as a deliberate non-development of the violin’s various themes, leaving the question of ultimate restfulness or instability unsettled, and the conclusion comes with rumbles, tinklings and gongings uncannily balanced between awareness and oblivion. On a couple of weeks’ acquaintance I cannot feel that he brings off the overall design as surefootedly as he does in his Fifth Symphony, and there are times when the ideas sound uncomfortably close to George Crumb without the special effects (does anyone remember the vogue for Crumb in the 1970s? – quite a few of the Russian avant-garde knew and responded to his evocative meditations). At its best, however, Dedication still manages to create the uncanny effect of having been dictated by a ghostly figure from the past. Something may have been lost in the act of transmission, but the other-worldliness and ethereal calm are strongly sensed.
Post scriptum is intended as an ‘echo’ to Dedication, and it calls up other ghosts, notably Mozart. The style references are more overtly Viennese Classical here, but the sensibility remains personal and contemporary. For me this music evokes the mystery of a city riverside at night and a consciousness at once lonely, enthralled and strangely restful.
In this purgatorial world of quasi-communication Kremer plays with hypnotic intensity, Vadim Sacharov is at one with him in Post scriptum, and in Dedication Roman Kofman confirms his special affinity with Silvestrov – he was the conductor on the famous Melodiya LP of the Fifth Symphony I mentioned in October. If that work has cast its spell on you (and it would always be my recommendation for first contact with Silvestrov) this superbly recorded Teldec disc should make a rewarding follow-up.'
Silvestrov Dedication; Post Scriptum; Violin Sonata
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