Customer Reviews

Valentin Silvestrov: Leggiero, pesante

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This is the best CD to start one's acquaintance with V.Silvestrov's world of music.It contains pieces written between 1974-2001.The music is wonderful: quiet,very nostalgic,with subtle references to the romantic past,but very individual style.For those who like the music of Arvo Part,John Tavener and H.Gorecky ,it is an essential purchase.

This ECM disc, dating from only 2002 and strangely already out of print in the US, documents a collaboration between the Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov and several German musicians. Silvestrov's music is simultaneously sui generis and completely derivative, for with the fragmentation of music in the 20th century into all possible styles and techniques, he feels the only way to move forward is to write "postludes" to the Classical and Romantic traditions. A Silvestrov composition is typically marked by lush harmonies, though without progressing towards any clear resolutions and making much use of odd Webern-like intervals. Silvestrov is perhaps best known for his orchestral works, and the Sonata for Cello and Piano (1983) best compresses the grandeur of this into chamber form. The ending is among one of the most unusual scenes in all of Silvestrov's late oeuvre, as the cello plays harmonics over almost drum-line piano.

Unfortunately, the remaining pieces don't have this richness of texture and fail to impress. The String Quartet No. 1 (1974) comes across as an immature work, only hinting at the sound Silvestrov was to perfect only in the 1980s. The "3 Postludes" (1981-82) are scored for different forces, but their concerns remain similar. The first, titled "DSCH" in memory of Shostakovich, is for cello, violin, soprano (who sings only vocalizations) and piano. The second is for solo violin, and the third for cello and piano. While the first of these pieces is fairly engaging, the remaining two seem pretty inconsequential. The same holds for the closing piece of the disc, "Hymn 2001" for piano. Played by Silvestrov himself, it ends a disc full of uncertainties by leaving us a large glimmer of hope.

As examples of more satisfying Silvestrov works, I'd recommend instead his orchestral music, especially the "Postludium" for piano and orchestra (available on another ECM disc) and the "Requiem for Larissa" (on yet another ECM disc).