Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. "...and Then I Was in Time Again" (Concerto for Viola and ...) - Kim Kashkashian, , Christoph Poppen
2. "...and Then I Was in Time Again" (Concerto for Viola and ...) - Kim Kashkashian, , Christoph Poppen
3. Concerto for Violin and Orchestra - Christoph Poppen

Disc 2:

1. Lachrymae (For Soprano Saxophone and Viola) - Jan Garbarek, Kim Kashkashian
2. Confessing With Faith (Seven Prayers from St. Nerses Shnorhali's ...) - Hilliard Ensemble, Kim Kashkashian
3. Confessing With Faith (Seven Prayers from St. Nerses Shnorhali's ...) - Hilliard Ensemble, Kim Kashkashian
4. Confessing With Faith (Seven Prayers from St. Nerses Shnorhali's ...) - Hilliard Ensemble, Kim Kashkashian

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #189338 in Music
• Released on: 2004-03-30
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Dimensions: .41 pounds

Amazon.com
Tigran Mansurian's music is rooted in Armenian folk and church music filtered through contemporary Europeans, especially Bartók. In many respects he resembles other post-Soviet composers like Schnittke and Svirdov, sharing their combination of elusiveness and accessibility. Kim Kashkashian has long championed his works, and the outstanding violist is superb here. She's the center of gravity in the Viola Concerto, titled "...and then I was in time again," a quote from Faulkner and resembling his stream-of-consciousness style. The complex interplay of soloist and 18 strings fascinates, the two going their own ways and coming together again in unpredictable fashion but always to expressive effect. It's in two movements, the first more dramatic, the second poignant. In Lachrymae, Kashkashian is joined by Garbarek's soprano sax, the pair weaving their lines together, often blurring the distinction between their instruments. In the final piece, Confessing with Faith, the solo viola sings its expressive commentary to seven medieval prayers intensely sung with tonal purity by The Hilliard Ensemble. Leonidas Kavakos is the excellent soloist in the Violin Concerto, an earlier work in one long movement whose blend of drama and prayerful sadness are riveting--and rivetingly played. An important set of powerful, melodic music brilliantly performed, with ECM's usual first-rate sonic and production values. --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews

Unhesitatingly recommended
Perhaps I am not the only one whose introduction to Kashkashian's lovely viola was Jan Garbarek's "In Praise of Dreams." So, as I was seeking to feed a spiritual hunger among Amazon's classical offerings, as I dug around Part and Schnittke, Penderecki and Gorecki, suddenly among all the "more like this" appeared the name Kim Kashkashian: "Monodia." I clicked, and found that it includes a piece played with Garbarek on soprano sax, "Lachrymae." As the Amazon.com review says, their playing "often blurring the distinction between their instruments," reminds one of the Dreams exchanges.

If you followed Garbarek through his wonderful outings with the Hilliard Ensemble, "Officium" and "Mnemosyne", you'll be excited to note that the Hilliards perform here as well, with Kashkashian's mellow viola rather than Garbarek's sax. That alone made me hit the 1-click.

I do not know enough about composition to understand the title -- I cannot tell a monodic from a polyphonic, or any other, composition. [To further confuse me, in the liner notes the interviewer asks Kim K. about monody, and she points out that the composition under discussion, the Concerto for viola and orchestra, is not monodic...(?)] But the joy of hearing this music, the depth of feeling that the players display, make these issues seem academic to me. The feeling is there, name it if you must but most of all, experience it!

The rich experience of this spiritual music is a joy in itself, but ECM frosted the cake by packaging the 2 CD set with a full bi-lingual (ENG-DE) booklet, with plenty of photos. I have to admit I don't usually pay much attention to liner notes, but I found this booklet a wonderful touch.

This is not an inexpensive addition to your collection, but I found it worth every red cent.