Track Listing

1. ...� la Duduki, for orchestra
2. Trauerfarbenes Land for orchestra

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #373751 in Music
• Released on: 1999-02-09
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
The contrasts between Giya Kancheli's orchestral works, ... à la Duduki and Trauerfarbenes Land, which make up this collection, couldn't be more stark than they are. The performing ensemble might well be identical, both in size and core sonorities, but the energy of Duduki's fanfare-like opening, fractured though it is, resonates beautifully even as Trauerfarbenes begins in a similarly expressive pulse with totally other contours.

The music doesn't leap with the brass ensemble's singularity right off the bat; and the percussion is positively menacing, laden with shock and power. Dennis Russell Davies has done wonders to draw out the most evocative possibilities of each work: the former with its hills and troughs--bright blasts interspersed with moments of atmospheric calm--and the latter with its juts and peaks of string-mixed energy, unwoven in the interceding, chromatic quietudes. The music has all the spiritual power of Kancheli's Abii Ne Viderem/Two Prayers and a great deal more frontal power. --Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews

Stunning!
For those who have grown weary of the accepted wisdoms of classical music through the ages and the one-dimensional, dynamically compressed nature of most contemporary music, Giya Kancheli's compositions are a breath of fresh air. The music swings from barely-there echoes from the netherworld to visceral blasts of unrestrained passion. At his greatest, Kancheli makes the entire output of Einsteurzende Neubauten sound pointless.

Compelling, But Not Easy
This is not easy music. But that does not mean that it is forbidding music, or music that will make you cover your ears. Actually, it is music that is quite compelling. But it is not easy music.

The opening piece, ...a la Duduki, sets a brass quintet against the orchestra, the music seeming to come in powerful waves, yet there are passages of great tenderness, and as usual in the music of Kancheli, extreme dynamic contrasts. (This is definitely not a CD for playing through mini-monitors).

The title piece (in English, "The Land that Wears Mourning") is quite similar in style, but with a little more of an edge to it, with even more emotional and musical power. Strong outbursts are followed by the quietest of moments, the music sometimes taking on the character of a nightmareCbut the music is not frightening itself, it only sounds as though it is depicting a frightening emotional state, an emotional state that causes much reflection.

Both compositions are powerful music, powerfully performed and recorded, making this a demonstration recording in all senses of the word. Strongly recommended--at least to those with strong hearts and strong (audio) systems.