The Kiev-based composer Silvestrov, celebrating his 70th birthday this year, has been receiving a number of international celebrations as well as recent recordings of his works. I recently reviewed his Sixth Symphony. He is open to new compositional approaches, but generally retains a tonal perspective which is strengthened by great lyricism and a strong melodic feeling. Both Arvo Paart and Schnittke described Silvestrov as one of today’s greatest composers.
A special and unexpected treat of this – his sixth ECM album – is the opening suite of eight of his bagatelles performed by the composer himself. Such was not intended when the sessions with the chamber orchestra began, but each day while the mics were being set up Silvestrov sat down at the piano and quietly began to play. His short little pieces – not really improvisations, though often sounding that way – are described as x-rays of his melodic imagination. They are seeds which might be planted in a larger work later on. Many of them sound like a modern version of Schumann’s miniatures for piano. They are deceptively simple, with much space around the notes, but carrying a mysterious depth within their transparent structures. I found myself playing those first eight tracks over and over, hypnotized with Silvestrov’s highly individual take on the piano miniature.
The three selections for string orchestra and the two for piano and string orchestra continue the composer’s explorations of his visions and dreams. Like the piano pieces, they play around with rubato and silences, setting up a different sort of time relationship much as Mahler and Bruckner symphonies do in a different manner. Der Bote translates as The Messenger, and Silvestrov’s intent is to portray a special being who is a connection between this world and the beyond. A luminous dreamlike smearing of the original theme, a pseudo-18th-century keyboard piece, is heard in the development section of the work. All these works save one are receiving their world premiere recordings with this CD. Highly recommended to those collectors open to exciting new music but having atonality limitations!
— John Sunier
