Following on from Victor Kissine’s luminous orchestration of Schubert’s String Quartet in G Major (ECM 1883) and his own “Zerkalo” with Kremer and friends (ECM 2202), here is the first ECM album devoted entirely to the compositions of the composer from St. Petersburg. The flavour of the sea pervades the three recent compositions heard here, variously inspired by the poetry of Mandelstam and Brodsky: the concerto for piano and string orchestra “Between Two Waves”, the Duo (After Osip Mandelstam) for viola and violoncello, and “Barcarola” for violin, string orchestra and percussion. All three pieces are dedicated to the collaborating players – Gidon Kremer and the musicians of Kremerata Baltica. Of the “Barcarole”, Kissine has said that it reflects the experience with Kremer and company on the earlier Schubert orchestration. Subsequently Kissine “wanted to write a piece that was orchestral but intimate – a kind of ‘concerto in watercolour’. The explicitly chamber character of the ‘Barcarole’ guided me toward the form of a concerto in one movement, which also unfolds in waves.” The album, recorded at last year’s Lockenhaus Festival, is issued in time for Kissine’s 60th birthday on March 15, 2013.
Victor Kissine: Between Two Waves
Gidon Kremer, Kremerata Baltica
Auf Victor Kissines leuchtende Orchesterbearbeitung von Schuberts Streichquartett in G-Dur (ECM 1883) und seine „Zerkalo“ mit Gidon Kremer und Freunden auf dem Album „Piano Trios“ (ECM 2202) folgt hier das erste ECM-Album, das gänzlich Werken des Komponisten aus St. Petersburg gewidmet ist. Das Aroma des Meeres durchdringt die drei jüngeren Kompositionen, die hier zu hören sind, unterschiedlich stark inspiriert von der Lyrik von Mandelstam und Brodsky: das Konzert für Klavier und Streichorchester „Between Two Waves“, das „Duo (After Osip Mandelstam)“ für Viola und Violoncello, und „Barcarola“ für Violine, Streichorchester und Perkussion. Alle drei Konzerte sind den hier beteiligten Musikern gewidmet - Gidon Kremer und den Mitgliedern der Kremerata Baltica. Über seine „Barcarola“ hat Kissine gesagt, sie reflektiere seine Erfahrungen mit Kremer und dem Ensemble bei der eingangs erwähnten Schubert-Orchestrierung. Von da an wollte Kissine „ein Stück schreiben, das orchestral, aber auch intim ist, eine Art ‚Konzert in Wasserfarben’. Der explizit kammermusikalische Charakter der ‚Barcarola’ führte mich zur Form eines Konzerts in einem Satz, das sich zudem in Wellen entfaltet.“ Das Album, aufgenommen beim Lockenhaus-Festival, erscheint rechtzeitig zu Victor Kissines 60. Geburtstag am 15. März 2013.
- 1Between Two Waves - Concerto for piano and string orchestra (2006/2008)
21:36 - 2Duo (after Osip Mandelstam) for viola and violoncello (1998/2011)
24:23 - 3Barcarola for violin solo, string orchestra and percussion (2007)
22:47
Der St. Petersburger Komponist versteht es, mit kargen Mitteln eine magische Atmosphäre herbeizuzaubern. In ‚Between Two Waves’ deuten sich die fragilen Konturen eines Klavierkonzerts an, in der Barcarola mit der Kremerata Baltica und dem Solisten Gidon Kremer schälen sich unvermittelt einige dramatische Momente aus dem klanglichen ‚Fast-Nichts’ heraus, ein Duo für Viola und Violoncello stellt eine Reflexion über Zeilen von Ossip Mandelstam dar. Kissines ‚couleur locale’ ist nicht illustrativer Art, sondern Ausdruck einer Suche nach dem ungreifbar Geistigen an einem auratischen Ort.
Max Nyffeler, Neue Musikzeitung
All of these pieces, each in a different way, evoke a mood of fretful productivity, or maybe laid-back anxiety; each creates an abstract and at times almost pointillistic soundscape that alternately twinkles, glistens, mutters, and dances. I wouldn’t necessarily play this album at a party, but I would use it to demonstrate to skeptical friends that art music can be uncompromisingly modern without being chaotic, self-indulgent, assaultive, or merely mathematical. The playing is exceptionally fine; one of the featured soloists is violinist Gidon Kremer, who founded the punningly-named Kremerata Baltica.
Rick Anderson, Musicmediamonthly
Between Two Waves is both a title for the opening work and a key to the link between all three pieces in this programme. The composer’s own notes describe the city in which he was born, St Petersburg, as having ‘a seaweed savour’ and being a place which ‘inspires elegies’. The opening of the piano concerto is certainly atmospheric in an elegiac way, with a pervasive shimmering of water expressed through tremolando strings, trills and beams of light shining through from the notes of the piano. This is no conventional piano concerto, and the solo instrument is often a point of repose between the restless strings, an inversion of virtuoso preconceptions for the genre. This sparse musical language begins to take on a more disturbing character about halfway through; the notes beginning to lurk in ever deeper extremes or being disguised through subtle bowing effects. The opening notes of the piano return however, a kind of safe haven from which to embark on a new adventure, or is it the same adventure through different conditions? These are labyrinthine waters, constantly changing in slow motion, but constantly reminding us that our forward momentum is negligible, and the final notes lead us into a parallel universe where it could all happen all over again … [...]
These works were recorded at the Lockenhaus Festival 2011, and in the words of the composer they belong together to form ‘a kind of cycle’. Collectors of other Lockenhaus titles from the ECM label will hopefully be aware of a certain kind of atmosphere in these performances, and this is indeed the case here as well. This is a hard quality to define, but for me most recordings from this source have a constantly brewing creativity and a vibe of newness and the uniqueness of ‘the moment’. There is virtually no audience noise to be detected with these live performances: there is no applause to break the spell, and the sound quality is excellent.
This is music which lives just below the surface of easy recognition and simple themes, but it is not music which confuses with unnecessary intellectual posturing or over-complexity. The imagery and ambience is that of honest creativity by a mind and an ear keenly tuned to the moods of his subject, and as such this is a release which can haunt and inspire.
Dominy Clements, Music Web International
Issued in time for the 60th birthday of the composer from St Petersburg, “Between Two Waves” is the first ECM disc devoted entirely to Victor Kissine’s music. It follows on, chronologically and conceptually, from two earlier New Series recordings (ECM 1883 and ECM 2202), both of which featured Gidon Kremer and his associates.
It was while working with Kremer and friends on the realization of his luminous orchestration of Schubert’s Quartet in G Major in 2003 that Kissine began to consider the creative possibilities of a new piece that would be “orchestral but intimate - a kind of ‘concerto in watercolour’.” This was the conceptual idea that set in motion the composition “Barcarola”, for violin solo, string orchestra and percussion.
All three pieces on the present disc of premiere recordings are dedicated to their respective interpreters, and all draw inspiration from the poetry of Osip Mandelstam and Joseph Brodsky. The three compositions were recorded at the Lockenhuas Festival 2011 and form “a kind of cycle” in the words of the composer. A unifying factor is “a flavour of the sea”. The topography of St Petersburg, city of canals (“the Venice of the North”) may also be reflected in the project, Kissine says: “Right bank, left bank and the two open arms of the bridge in between. The “Duo After Osip Mandelstam” [for viola and violoncello] begins and ends with a see breeze, while the waves in “Between Two Waves” [concerto for piano and string orchestra] unfurl right up to ‘Barcarola’.” The pieces are also linked by references to Bach, explicit in the Duo and implied in “Between Two Waves” and “Barcarola”.
The music’s signature, however is unmistakably Kissine’s. “Many experiences and emotions – friendship, admiration and affinity – lie beneath the surface of this reticent musical language,” Belgian critc Frans C. Lemaire has noted. “[It] prefers soft murmurings to loud pronouncements, and closely restricts the development of the melodic material. [Kissine’s] music does not celebrate vain and noisy human activity, but seeks to recapture a kind of lost harmony which – far removed from the world – is borne up by the mysterious voices of silence.“
It was while working with Kremer and friends on the realization of his luminous orchestration of Schubert’s Quartet in G Major in 2003 that Kissine began to consider the creative possibilities of a new piece that would be “orchestral but intimate - a kind of ‘concerto in watercolour’.” This was the conceptual idea that set in motion the composition “Barcarola”, for violin solo, string orchestra and percussion.
All three pieces on the present disc of premiere recordings are dedicated to their respective interpreters, and all draw inspiration from the poetry of Osip Mandelstam and Joseph Brodsky. The three compositions were recorded at the Lockenhuas Festival 2011 and form “a kind of cycle” in the words of the composer. A unifying factor is “a flavour of the sea”. The topography of St Petersburg, city of canals (“the Venice of the North”) may also be reflected in the project, Kissine says: “Right bank, left bank and the two open arms of the bridge in between. The “Duo After Osip Mandelstam” [for viola and violoncello] begins and ends with a see breeze, while the waves in “Between Two Waves” [concerto for piano and string orchestra] unfurl right up to ‘Barcarola’.” The pieces are also linked by references to Bach, explicit in the Duo and implied in “Between Two Waves” and “Barcarola”.
The music’s signature, however is unmistakably Kissine’s. “Many experiences and emotions – friendship, admiration and affinity – lie beneath the surface of this reticent musical language,” Belgian critc Frans C. Lemaire has noted. “[It] prefers soft murmurings to loud pronouncements, and closely restricts the development of the melodic material. [Kissine’s] music does not celebrate vain and noisy human activity, but seeks to recapture a kind of lost harmony which – far removed from the world – is borne up by the mysterious voices of silence.“
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