Track Listing

1. In croce
2. Ten Preludes: Staccato-Legato
3. Ten Preludes: Legato-Staccato
4. Ten Preludes: Con sordino-Senza sordino
5. Ten Preludes: Ricochet
6. Ten Preludes: Sul ponticello-Ordinario-Sul tasto
7. Ten Preludes: Flagioletti
8. Ten Preludes: Al taco-Da punta d'arco
9. Ten Preludes: Arco-Pizzicato
10. Ten Preludes: Pizzicato-Arco
11. Ten Preludes: Senza arco

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #474455 in Music
• Released on: 2001-11-20
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Customer Reviews

A collection of three rather minor works for cello
This Chandos disc contains three works by Russian-Tartar composer Sofia Gubaidulina, including a world-premier recording, and a variant arrangement of a more well-known piece. The works here seem to me to be on the periphery of Gubaidulina's oeuvre, only the first is overtly religious, while most of Gubaidulina's output is filled with the deepest Christian spirituality. However, the content is often pleasing, and the performers here, gathered around the impressive cellist Alexander Ivashkin, are quite talented.

"In Croce" (1979) is well-known in a 1991 arrangement for bayan and cello, but here we have the original version for organ and cello. The piece is an exploration of "vertical" music (the organ or bayan) intersected by the "horizontal" (cello), thus forming the cruciform symbolism so common in Gubaidulina's work. I much rather prefer the cello and organ version, for the organ just seems to work better than the bayan and the organ has a light and airy sound reminiscent of Gubaidulina "Hell und Dunkel" organ solo. Still, the bayan version on the Naxos recording is worth getting, since the cello part performed by Maria Kliegel there is less restrained than Ivashkin's but more passionately religious.

The collection "Ten Preludes" for solo piano (1974) began as a pedagogical exercise, and in fact were originally titled "Ten Etudes". The work has been performed many times since its premier in 1977, but here is especially admirable since Ivashkin, though usually not the best when it comes to feeling or spirituality, is an expert at technique. Each of the Preludes explores a single technique of bowing or plucking, but there is great artistry in the music. It is interesting to see Gubaidulina's first exploration of the techniques that would later play a great role in her "Canticle to the Sun" work for cello, choir, and orchestra.

"Quaternion" (1996) is a work for four cellos, two of which are tuned a quarter-tone higher than the others. When I first read a description of the piece, I assumed it would sound similar to Ligeti's "Ramifications", but it doesn't at all. "Quaternion" is a mostly meditative piece, and dissonance is found not only in the variant tunings, but also in a great deal of pizzicato and beating on the instrument. All in all, I find it is too long and slow. There's nothing wrong with dragging along for a while if it all works out in the end, as Gubaidulina's "Viola Concerto" does, but this work simply isn't successful.

This work would probably be a terrible introduction to Gubaidulina's music. If you've never heard her music before, try the Chandos disc with "Symphony: Stimmen Verstummen" or her masterpiece JOHANNES-PASSION. If you want to see what great cello writing Gubaidulina is capable of, get the recording of "The Canticle to the Sun" on EMI with Rostropovich. This Chandos disc can wait until you have already fallen in love with this fascinating composer.

An intensely played recital of Gubaidulina's cello music
Chandos have made quite a habit of recording Sofia Gubaidulina's music of late, with several useful discs available. Given that they have contracted out Alexander Ivashkin, arguably the finest Russian cellist of the post-Rostropovitch generation, it was an obvious decision to get him to record a collection of Gubaidulina's works, and he is certainly the right man to do so.

In croce, a 1979 work for cello and organ, has already appeared on disc before. Many will have encountered this work at first on a Naxos recording where Maria Kliegel is the cello soloist on the composer's 1991 transcription for cello and bayan; however I think that the original version is superior. The work is fairly simply structured--the cello line starts low and ends high, the organ part starts high and ends low. When the two parts cross, the work moves from meditative writing to intense, vigorous music, before returning to the meditative mood towards the end. The closing bars are particularly effective in the version with organ, as the organ's motor is turned off and the organ part disintegrates into muffled groans and moans. Ivashkin's performance is astonishingly intense here, and Malcolm Hicks gives good support on the organ.

The Ten Preludes for cello solo of 1974 have also been recorded before--in this case many times. They explore a variety of different techniques (indeed, the original title for them was Etudes) and moods, even though the longest is less than three minutes long. While they are, for the most part, not as striking as In croce, they certainly hold the attention for the whole 19 minutes. Again, Ivashkin's performance is the best I've heard.

The main event of this disc for Gubaidulina fans, though, will be the appearance of Quaternion, a 1996 quartet for four cellos, two of which are tuned a quarter-tone above the others. This is a mostly slow, meditative work, with much contrast between multiple-stopping, pizzicato, partial harmonics and sounds made by slapping the bodies of the instruments. One might argue that the work moves very slowly--though this is normal in recent Gubaidulina--or that the timbre of the work is somewhat monotonous given the instrumentation, but fans of the composer will still want to hear the work.

This is a worthwhile disc. If only In croce sees the composer at the very top of her form, there are certainly no makeweights amongst the three works on this disc. Recommended to fans of the composer, or those who want to hear Eastern European 'spiritual' music that's more hard-edged than Part, Gorecki and others.