Pura Cosa Mentale

Alexandre Rabinovitch-Barakovsky is a pianist, composer and conductor originally from Russia and now resident in Switzerland. His compositions are characterised by a kind of minimalism that's neither quite like the styles of Glass & Reich nor the so-called "Holy Minimalists" among his Soviet-born contemporaries. To me his music seems distantly reminiscent of some of Michael Nyman's work. It makes use of repeated fragments of melody drawn from the classical and popular traditions, and often calls for amplified instrumentation. I first encountered his work on a CD called Pourquoi Je Suis Si Sentimental, as mentioned in passing here.

Pura Cosa Mentale is a 2-CD album on the Belgian label Megadisc including five of his works. The first disc is dominated by a lengthy piece called 'Six États Intermediaires' which, a note adds, is "based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead". Its an orchestral opus, with, as its title implies, six movements. Notwithstanding its serious subject-matter it's an agreeably bright-&-breezy sounding work, with strong rhythms, making prominent use of brass, mallet instruments and celesta. This is followed by 'Musique Populaire', for two amplified pianos, where Rabinovitch-Barakovsky himself plays one part, and renowned virtuosa Martha Argerich the other.

Disc two begins with 'La Triade' a concertante work for amplified violin and orchestra. I'm less fond of this piece, preferring 'Trois Invocations' (for string quartet and amplified celesta) which follows, another rhythically busy composition with, thanks to the celesta, a strongly silvery sheen about it. The closing piece 'La Belle Musique No. 4' is for no fewer than four amplified pianos: it's not bad, but for me a tad over-long at 18 minutes' duration. Some of the titles sugges a proclivity for the esoteric & mystical on the composer's part, something that Brenno Boccadoro's somewhat abstruse booklet notes confirm.

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