Search - Giya Kancheli, John Tavener, Máris Sirmais :: Kancheli: Styx; Tavener: The Myrrh-Bearer

I've Been Waiting for This!

Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 12/03/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Having seen the score for Kancheli's 'Styx', I've been waiting to hear a performance. Kancheli is a Georgian exile whose music is just beginning to reach Western audiences. At his best, he's an appealingly melodic modernist with a sardonic bite. At his 'least best', he can sound a bit like movie music (but GOOD movie music!). Sometimes he reminds me of Osvaldo Golijov in his weaving together of folk themes and sounds with neo-medieval impulses closer to the explosiveness of Arvo Part. There isn't really a distinctive Kancheli sound, but originality isn't only 'being different'. Sometimes it's 'being good in a familiar way that makes the familiar fresh.' That's my case for Kancheli.



Tavener is crystalline, angular, utterly unfamiliar, far quieter than Kancheli yet somehow more emotional. He's one of the best yet least known contemporary English composers. Mostly I've heard his works sung by choirs such as America's "Chanticleer". These two suites - Styx and The Myrrh-Bearer - are as different as can be in affect, yet make a compelling pair. Music to hear carefully and thoughtfully, not at all suitable for background, even to reading.



Maxim Rysanov has just the right silvery tone to blend with high human voices. It's said that the forefront instrument of any musical culture is the instrument that sounds most like the human voice preferred by that culture. In Styx, voice and viola blend so closely that one can be fooled about what one is hearing. Then, however, Rysanov digs deep into the wood of his viola to produce the somber, angular timbres he needs for the Tavener. He does a spectacular job with both. If you have any emotional/acoustical readiness for MODERN music, this CD will please you in every way."

Perfect!

Amadeus 888 | London | 01/31/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Review for Styx:



For me this performance of Styx is the best one I've listened to, so far. Perfect.



Highly recommended."