Leggiero, Pesante

The moody, monochrome seascape on the cover, and the foreign title (without any direct relation to the music) signal to the prospective CD buyer that Serious Art awaits them therein. The essay in the 30-page booket by Tatjana Frumkis, given in German & English, is, moreover, a highbrow affair, quoting Pushkin, Hölderlin & Mandelstam. Sure enough, Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov's music isn't exactly a barrel of laughs, though some of it is undoubtedly very beautiful.

The first piece on the disc is a 'Sonata for Violoncello and Piano' dating from 1983. For its twenty-two minute duration it alternates between fragmentary melodies and more harshly astringent passages, petering out to near-silence toward the end. Anja Lechner and Silke Avenhaus are the cellist and pianist. Next up, Silvestrov's 'String Quartet no. 1', composed in 1974. It begins with slow and quiet harmonies, but, while it continues in a mostly low & slow manner, conventional harmony takes a back seat for much of the rest of it. As with the sonata, there's a fade to near-silence at the end. The Rosamunde Quartet (with Lechner again on cello) are the performers.

Many of Silvestrov's works are Epitaphs or Postludes: music to be played after endings. They tend toward the disembodied and ghostly, which can seem good (delicately haunting) or bad (bloodless & weak) depending on ones outlook or mood. Of the three Postludes on the disc, the third, reuniting Lechner & Avenhaus, for me best exemplifies the positives of the composer's approach. The closing solo piano piece 'Hymn 2001', played by Silvestrov himself, is likewise very lovely. As usual with ECM, it's a well-presented item, with black-and-white photos of the composer and musicians complementing the somewhat pretentious text in the booklet.

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