A very special album for Giya Kancheli’s 75th birthday. When starting out on his career as a creator of symphonic and chamber music, the Georgian composer also wrote much incidental music for the theatre and the cinema. Though still little-known in the West, the film music was widely heard across the former Soviet Union and the themes here (there are 20 on the album) enjoyed great popularity.
ECM decided to invite Dino Saluzzi to revisit Kancheli’s music for stage and screen, in his personal and highly creative way. Simultaneously Gidon Kremer, an old friend and champion of Kancheli’s music, also expressed an interest in doing something special for Giya’s birthday. With both Kremer and Saluzzi on board, the project took on new dimensions. Finding links between the worlds – Kancheli’s, Kremer’s, and Saluzzi’s – is a task adroitly handled by Pushkarev. The vibraphonist, who works often with Kremerata Baltica, prepared arrangements realized with Kremer in Riga, and also worked in Oslo with Saluzzi, intuitively supporting Dino’s very relaxed approach to the material.
Nine of the featured themes derive from Kancheli’s collaborations with internationally acclaimed theatre director Robert Sturua. There are also themes from films by Georgi Danelia, Eldar Shengelaia, Sergei Bodrov, Lana Gogoberidze and others.
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Giya Kancheli: Themes from the Songbook
Dino Saluzzi, Gidon Kremer, Andrei Pushkarev
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03:43 - 2Theme from Bear's Kiss
03:26 - 3Main theme from The Crucibles
03:19 - 4Theme from As You Like It
05:54 - 5Theme from Don Quixote Var. I
02:31 - 6Theme from Hamlet Var. I
01:22 - 7Theme from King Lear
01:56 - 8Theme from Don Quixote Var. II
01:54 - 9Main theme from Kin-Dza-Dza
02:37 - 10Main theme from The Role For A Beginner
02:27 - 11Theme from Twelfth Night
01:56 - 12Main theme from Cinema
01:36 - 13Theme from Hamlet Var. II
01:35 - 14Waltz from Richard III
02:13 - 15Theme from Mimino
02:49 - 16Theme from Don Quixote Var. III
01:45 - 17Main theme from When Almonds Blossomed
05:53 - 18Waltz from The Eccentrics
03:07 - 19Theme from Hamlet Var. III
04:15 - 20Herio Bichebo from Earth, This Is Your Son
05:19
In 2009 Kancheli published “Simple Music for Piano” a songbook reprising melodies written over a long period, some dating back to the 1960s and 70s. From the composer’s foreword. “While dedicating myself to symphonic and chamber music, I simultaneously wrote music for the stage and screen. No wonder, then, that certain themes originally intended for plays and films made their way into my larger works or that the large forms themselves sometimes contained episodes reminiscent of incidental music. I myself can’t always remember where a particular theme first appeared, not least because the vast majority of more than a hundred of the films and plays for which I wrote music have now passed into history. So I have decided to revive some lost fragments in this collection of miniatures. Time will tell if they can survive outside their original context. Meanwhile, I’ll allow myself to give a little advice to anyone interested in these humble sketches. The simplicity of presentation does not preclude but rather encourages freedom of interpretation, particularly for those with a gift for improvising. Strict adherence to tempo markings, dynamic indications and performance instructions is by no means obligatory. You can play as many of these pieces as you like, in the sequence of your choice...”
At ECM the call for “freedom of interpretation and improvisation” sounded like a personal message to Dino Saluzzi, the Argentine bandoneon poet and composer whose expressive freedom is legendary. With Giya’s 75th birthday looming, Manfred Eicher suggested recording some Saluzzi interpretations of Kancheli by way of a personal tribute. Meanwhile Gidon Kremer, a lomg time Kancheli supporter had also been contemplating a Kancheli tribute, based around the film music...
With both Kremer and Saluzzi involved, the project took on new dimensions. Vibraphonist, Andrey Pushkarev, who works often with Kremerata Baltica prepared arrangements of Kancheli which were realized with Kremer in Riga, and he also worked in Oslo with Saluzzi, intuitively supporting Dino’s very relaxed approach to the material.
A further surprise at the end of the album is a vocal track by Jansug Khakidze. Last heard on ECM on Garbarek’s “Rites”, the late singer/conductor was a close friend of Kancheli. Here he is a heard with the theme song from the original soundtrack of the Georgian film “Earth, This Is Your Son”.
Nine of the featured themes derive from Kancheli’s collaborations with internationally acclaimed theatre director Robert Sturua. There are also themes from films by Georgi Danelia, Eldar Shengelaia, Sergei Bodrov, Lana Gogoberidze and others.
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