Osvaldo Golijov was born on December 5, 1960, in La Plata, Argentina, and now lives in Newton, Massachusetts. The score is dedicated "To the miracle of faith in Latin America, that lives through María Guinand and the ... more »Schola Cantorum de Caracas." Osvaldo Golijov grew up in an Eastern European Jewish household in La Plata, a provincial capital of half a million people about fifty kilometers from Buenos Aires in officially Catholic Argentina. While on a fellowship to the Tanglewood Festival, Golijov became acquainted personally with the Kronos Quartet, who performed there in 1990 and 1992. This relationship became a central one to Golijovs ever-increasing profile as a composer. Golijov wrote Kvakarat, which the quartet later recorded, for Kronos and cantor Misha Alexandrovich, and in 1997 Kronos and clarinetist David Krakauer recorded Golijovs Klezmer-accented The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind. When approaching the composer with the commission, Rilling encouraged Golijov draw upon his own experienceas a Jew living in an officially Catholic country; as an artist with an interest in a broadly eclectic range of style and media; as a Spanish-speaking composer of Eastern European parents, now living in the United States, and so onin discovering a personal perspective on the twice-told (or rather four-times-told) story. The text of La Pasión Según San Marcos is composed of portions of The Gospel According to Mark, the Old Testaments Psalms and Lamentations, and Spanish poetry. Golijov matches the pared-down, vox populi directness of St. Marks account in the directness of his musical idiom, particularly in his appropriation of popular Latin American folk and dance music. He uses these forms as models for individual numbers with the larger work, which itself shares much in common with the structures of the Passions of Bach. From the Steve Reichian pulsations of the opening bars, to the sultry rhythms accompanying Jesus betrayal to the other-worldly setting of the Kaddish (the Jewish prayer for the dead) with which the work concludes, Golijovs score is vibrant with energy, exoticism and PASSION! ?This is the ONLY composer authorized recording with the original ensemble!?« less
Osvaldo Golijov was born on December 5, 1960, in La Plata, Argentina, and now lives in Newton, Massachusetts. The score is dedicated "To the miracle of faith in Latin America, that lives through María Guinand and the Schola Cantorum de Caracas." Osvaldo Golijov grew up in an Eastern European Jewish household in La Plata, a provincial capital of half a million people about fifty kilometers from Buenos Aires in officially Catholic Argentina. While on a fellowship to the Tanglewood Festival, Golijov became acquainted personally with the Kronos Quartet, who performed there in 1990 and 1992. This relationship became a central one to Golijov’s ever-increasing profile as a composer. Golijov wrote K’vakarat, which the quartet later recorded, for Kronos and cantor Misha Alexandrovich, and in 1997 Kronos and clarinetist David Krakauer recorded Golijov’s Klezmer-accented The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind. When approaching the composer with the commission, Rilling encouraged Golijov draw upon his own experience—as a Jew living in an officially Catholic country; as an artist with an interest in a broadly eclectic range of style and media; as a Spanish-speaking composer of Eastern European parents, now living in the United States, and so on—in discovering a personal perspective on the twice-told (or rather four-times-told) story. The text of La Pasión Según San Marcos is composed of portions of The Gospel According to Mark, the Old Testament’s Psalms and Lamentations, and Spanish poetry. Golijov matches the pared-down, vox populi directness of St. Mark’s account in the directness of his musical idiom, particularly in his appropriation of popular Latin American folk and dance music. He uses these forms as models for individual numbers with the larger work, which itself shares much in common with the structures of the Passions of Bach. From the Steve Reichian pulsations of the opening bars, to the sultry rhythms accompanying Jesus’ betrayal to the other-worldly setting of the Kaddish (the Jewish prayer for the dead) with which the work concludes, Golijov’s score is vibrant with energy, exoticism and PASSION! ?This is the ONLY composer authorized recording with the original ensemble!?
CD Reviews
Excellent performance of a major new work
Vincent Lau | 11/28/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"To those who are accustomed to the Passion being retold in the European classical music idiom, Osvaldo Golijov's "La Pasion Segun San Marcos" (St Mark Passion), composed as part of the Passion 2000 Project, would sound extremely exotic and even folkloristic. Indeed, the music may make one recall scenes of celebration in the streets and squares of Latin America than the sombre and spiritual biblical episodes which we are taught at school. Yet, once the listener is prepared to cast aside musical and cultural prejudices, this colourful and musically wide-ranging work is actually most riveting and, in its own unique way, serve the Passion story very well.Golijov's 85 minute work is a collage of the music of South America, Cuba, Europe and Jewish tradition. Percussion plays a paramount role in the music, which exhibits a wide array of rhythms (including, for example, flamenco and rumba). There are also delightful uses of the Brazilian drums and bow as well as the accordion alongside music instruments of the European classical tradition like the violin, cello, double-bass and trumpet. While the music is often efferverscent and folklorish (though certainly not simplistic), it can also become introspective, mournful, achingly lyrical (as in the haunting aria "Agonia") or delicately impressionistic (as in "In Gethsemane"). There's also some mesmerising rippling effect a la Steve Reich, which sounds even more interesting (and harmonious) when used against a Latin American soundscape. As some of the reviews of the first performance put it, it is a magnificent triumph of Latin American music.The various roles in the Passion are not definitively assigned and they may speak (in Spanish, save and except the Kaddish finale) through the chorus or the soloists. They are wonderfully and idiomatically performed here by Reynaldo Gonazalez Fernandez, Samia Ibrahim and, above all, the versatile and vocally charimatic Luciana Souza. The Venezualian choir, Schola Cantorum de Caracas, and the Cantoria Alberto Grau sing with commitment and energy. The Orguesta La Pasion, directed by Maria Guinand and anchored by the brilliant percussionist Mikael Ringquist, unified the different stylistic roots of the music into a coherent and delightful whole.The recording, made live during the world premiere of the work in Stuttgart ...(but with the applause edited out), is well-balanced and the booklet which accompanies the 2 CD set contains the full libretto in 4 languages, a short article about the Passion 2000 Project as well as an extended interview with Golijov plus some notes by the composer. This work, a major addition to the repertoire, has here received an excellent performance and presentation. Do give it a try! It may open up new musical horizons for you."
An Amazing composition and fusion
Sean Francisco Smith | Brooklyn, NY United States | 11/13/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"It's interesting to see the reviews here as they vary between the extreme poles of love or hate. My vote is with the former, I loved it. I bought this CD immediately after seeing the live concert, and I find it faithful to the spirit of that performance. My only complaint is that the volume on the recording seems to be low.Golijov pulled off an incredible feat, there are a lot of failed attempts to combine the western classical idiom with other cultures, but here is a great case where it worked amazingly well. It is not Enrio Morricone as some have said here- it is much better and more complex in its use of local motifs. Neither is it Bach, because the composer is creating a Pasion for Latin America and attempting to represent modern Latin America's approach to Christian spirituality.The composer is Argentinian and I think that's a key reason why his incorporation of Latin music works perfectly. The Cuban rumba, Venezuelan chorus and caporeraian chants worked well and matched the parts of the story they narrated. the operatic soprano for the Eucharist was an amazing touch, highlighted by its absence until this point.Finally, I can speak for the audiences reaction when we watched this piece, at the end of performance, the Chorus, a group from Caracas Venezuela waved happily to the audience, which was giving them a standing ovation at the time. They then spontaneously began singing a standard sapnish hymn "no mas amor", and the several members that new the song sang back. I have never scene such a personal and emotional connection between performer and audience for any modern classical performance."
Pason Segun San Marcos
Eric J. Matluck | 11/19/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The music world is so fortunate to have a giant composer of the magnitute of Osvaldo Golijov in its midst. His Pasion Segun San Marcos is unique, provocative and exotic in that it combines his own multicultural Jewish and Latin roots and extends even further to African and Carribian elements. The first time I heard this piece, I was so rivited and stirred both emotionally and musically by this musical giant who knows how to listen with his ears, and also feel very deeply with the heart and soul. Be ready to tap your feet, move your head and envelope your heart with this work. Bravo Mr. Golijov!"
Riotously inventive
Eric J. Matluck | Hackettstown, NJ United States | 01/28/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Okay, I just had to do it. I read so much (mostly positive) about this work from reviewers whose opinions I usually respect that I figured I would give the discs a spin in my CD player. The first thing to be said is that (thankfully) it was not what I expected. What I expected was a mish-mosh of musical styles whose roots should never have yielded anything as substantial as "styles," blended for maximum impact and sounding like the score for a grade B movie. Instead what I heard was a sincere (and I must stress that word) utterance that tells a lofty story in a remarkably unaffected way. In spite of everything I'd read about this work, I heard no striving for effect: neither a lofty intellectualism nor a direct appeal to the gut. In short, if I may sound so boorish, it isn't Schoenberg but it isn't Yanni, either. It may not be the masterpiece I believe Gubaidulina's similarly commissioned St. John Passion to be, but it is chock full of strange and wonderful things. Although it is stylistically diverse, the heterogenous elements cohere. The different movements are like the various booths at a carnival, yet it's all to the composer's credit that we know throughout the work that we're still in the same fairgrounds.The performance is terrific, with special praise going to the male vocal soloist (sorry, but I can't tell who he is from the program book). The sound is fine, if a bit less "forward" than the music would seem to call for, but better this sense of realism than in-your-face vulgarity.I'll end by saying that each time I listen to this piece I find more to admire both emotionally and intellectually. And considering that I started with a fairly high level of appreciation, that's saying a lot."
A Significant Contemporary Composer and a Challenge
Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 08/02/2005
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Osvaldo Golijov is rapidly becoming one of the exciting new composers of classical music and while he has not joined the upper echelon of John Adams, Steve Reich, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Magnus Lindberg, Thomas Adès, Phillip Glass et al, he continues to grow in importance. His recent reworking of his opera 'Ainadamar' currently satisfying critics and audiences alike at the Santa Fe Opera demonstrates how he is a composer whose creativity seems boundless. His chamber works are exceptionally interesting and he owns one major benefit for public adoration: his music is not only well crafted, it is accessible!
'La Pasion Segun San Marcos' is the result of the challenge of new works for the millennium and while Golijov produced a unique setting of the Passion the work is not wholly successful as a composition. Without question Golijov understands how to weave seemingly disparate types of music and verse (African American, South American, Cuban, European, and Jewish) and form a means of communication that goes beyond the expected telling of the crucifixion. His orchestration is vivid, highly percussive, and pliant to the inclusion of voice both in chorus and solo.
The problem with the work as whole (and the Pasion is 86 minutes in length) is a sameness to the different 'movements'. Other composers in this so-called 'minimalist' vein allow repetition of like notes and words to gradually mutate and form a greater 'big idea' (John Adams' Harmonium is an example). Perhaps it is in keeping with the composer's obvious love of the pulsating rhythms that traditionally merge into the night in the countries of South America that he disdains altering an initial thought. But here, while the work is never less than interesting, it borders on excess. There are some plangent moments that break this rhythmic monotony, but they are few (not unlike Tan Dun's similar 'Water Passion').
The recording is taken from a live performance and while that adds to the thrust of the work's impetus, the sound is somewhat distant and, in being so, loses clarity. Maria Guinand conducts the forces with great attention to detail and the solo voices are committed and maintain the energy of the work. Time will tell whether this Pasion will join the orchestral/choral repertoire. Perhaps if Golijov re-works the piece.... Grady Harp, August 05"
Track Listings (21) - Disc #1