Sofia Gubaidulina My Desire Is Always To Rebel To Swim Against The Stream Vera Lukomsky
Sofia Gubaidulina My Desire Is Always To Rebel To Swim Against The Stream Vera Lukomsky
"
Author(s): Vera Lukomsky and Sofia Gubaidulina
Source: Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Winter, 1998), pp. 5-41
Published by: Perspectives of New Music
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SOFIA GUBAIDULINA:
INTERVIEWCONDUCTED AND
TRANSLATEDFROMTHE RUSSIAN
BYVERA LUKOMSKY*
Sofia Gubaidulina is recognized as one of the most original and powerful composers of our time, one of the leading representatives of the
Soviet avant-garde of the 1970s and 1980s. Together with fellow composers such as Schnittke, Denisov, Silvestrov, and Part, Gubaidulina
opposed the totalitarianismof Soviet ideology. Her predilection for mysticism and metaphysics, her religious spirituality and musical fantasy that
often project images of the Apocalypse and the Last Judgment, her preoccupation with musical symbols of crucifixion, resurrection, and transfiguration, did not, of course, meet the requirements of Socialist Realism.
In the Brezhnev and post-Brezhnev Soviet Union, Gubaidulina's works
were condemned to be unrecognized, unperformed, and unpublished.
Even now, in post-Soviet society, where Gubaidulina's music is highly
appreciated, her numerous CDs recorded in the West remain unavailable
in the Russian market.2
Gubaidulina was born in 1931 in the small Tatar Autonomous
Republic3 which was a part of the Russian Federation in the Soviet
Union, on the East bank of the Volga. Gubaidulina is the daughter of a
Russian mother and a Tatar father who, as the son of a Muslim mullah,
experienced life-long persecution. After studies in piano and composition
at the Kazan Conservatory of Music, Gubaidulina transferred to the
Moscow Conservatory. Her problems with Soviet ideology arose when
she applied for graduate school: the Conservatory's composition professors found that she had chosen the wrong way-that is, not the prescribed road of Socialist Realism. Fortunately, Gubaidulina received some
encouragement from Shostakovich. After graduating from the Moscow
Conservatory in 1959, she became a freelance composer, supporting herself mainly by composing music for the movies.4 This gave her the opportunity to experiment with unusual instrumental combinations and
unconventional methods of sound production that are among the most
fascinating aspects of Gubaidulina's music.
An extremely important source of creative inspiration was the improvisation group Astraea, which Gubaidulina founded with composers
Vyacheslav Artyomov and Victor Suslin in 1975. Improvising together,
they experimented with rare Russian, Caucasian, and Central Asian folk
and ritual instruments, including those used by Siberian shamans
(Gubaidulina's interest in shamanism is reflected in some of her works of
the 1970s and 1980s).
Gubaidulina first gained recognition in the West after Gidon Kremer's
premiere of her Offertorium in the early 1980s. Since then, she has
achieved world renown. She has received many prestigious awards,
including membership in the German Akademie der Kiinste. After the
collapse of the Soviet Union, Gubaidulina left Russia; since then she has
Photographby AlexanderLukomsky
SOFIA GUBAIDULINA
Kurt Masur); and a concerto for koto, bass koto, zheng, and orchestra,
In the Shadowof the Tree,commissioned by Japan's NHK orchestra (conducted by Charles Dutoit). The last two compositions were performed in
New York on the same day (29 April 1999).
During my professional life as a musicologist in St. Petersburg, where I
lived until 1990, I had no chance to hear or study Gubaidulina's major
works, since they were kept away from performance and publishing. My
fascination with and admiration for her music are due to my life in the
West. I was fortunate to meet and conduct two interviews with her in the
spring of 1995, when Sofia Gubaidulina was invited to San Jose State
University as guest composer for a festival of her music.5 The present
interview was conducted a year and a half later, in London.
Sofia Asgatovna, I am writing an article about you for inclusion in the
forthcoming bookThe Twentieth Century Musical Avant-Garde.6 I know
that you hate the notion of the avant-garde, and do not seeyourselfamong
the avant-gardists. Could you, please, explain your position?
In my opinion, when somebody uses the word "avant-garde" as the
criterion of what is good and what is bad in art, at a certain point it
becomes dangerous for art. Of course, from time to time-for example at
the beginning of the twentieth century-it became absolutely necessary
to renew the musical means, the musical language. This is because the
musical material had become hardened, "petrified." Harmonic successions were "petrified"to such a degree that they were as meaningful and
expressive as words. At that point, music needed something new that
would explode it. But otherwise, composers should think about depth,
not about innovations.
When we think of ourselves as "avant-gardists,"it means that we are
looking for something to amaze the public, to entertain it, as if the public
sits and watches, thinking: "What are you going to surprise us with?"
Such a position is not beneficial for art. The task of art is very deep: not
to lose the subconscious, and at the same time, not to let the subconscious become uncontrolled. This task is not new; it is "assigned" to art
of all times, and now it is extremely vital and urgent, too. These days to
care about being avant-gardeis a tradition that means do not think about
the necessities of art.
I have hated the word "avant-garde" for a very long time. When we
were young in Moscow, the authorities called us "avant-gardeartists" to
curse us. And at that time I did not have a reason to rebel. But now it
sounds not like a curse, but like encouragement: "Oh, the avant-garde
composer! How wonderful!" I do not like such praise. My desire is
always to rebel, to swim against the stream! To swim against the stream
for me means to introduce seriousness in art.
It seemsto me that sometimesthe avant-garde swims against the stream,
particularly at moments of the 'petrification" when, as you noted, music
needsto be "exploded."
I think that the "avant-garde,"if it is chosen as a criterion of "what is
good," is actually harmful for art. We (composers and musicologists as
well) need to protest against it! We must worry about the incarnation of
our idea, about meaning and formation. The contemporary artist is faced
with an extremely important task: finding a correlation between intuition
and intellectual work. It is really an urgent and difficult task. However, it
absolutely does not matter whether it looks new or old. News is good for
newspapers, for journals. But art strives for depth, not for the news!
Don't you think that the criterion of "newness,"that is, innovation, is
appropriateforstudying music and teaching music history?For example,for
explaining what this or that composerintroduced to music?
I don't know. Maybe. But for art itself the accent on innovation is very
harmful, because for the artist it leads to loss of concentration. Too much
attention on an external effect is bad. And if it is bad for art, it is bad for
the students, too!
When a musicologist writes about a composer, the main issue should
be what is essential in his or her music. Let's imagine that somebody
writes about Bach, and tries to emphasize what Bach introduced as new
to music. Bach gave us enormous depth but, from the point of view of
innovations, very little. There is nothing new in Bach's harmony or
polyphony, nothing that you could not find also in Buxtehude's works.
Bach did not care about being "new"! His music was absolutely new, but
not in this sense.7 Astonishingly, in regard to "innovations," these days
the opinion of critics does not coincide with the opinion of the public. It
is diametricallyopposed. It should not be this way, it is a sickness.
Maybethe opinion of the critics is the opinion of the elite?
Not at all! You think highly of critics and underestimate the public!
Within the public there is a wonderful elite! I am against those artists
who state that "the public will eat anything; the public are fools." Maybe
a difference of opinion arises because critics embrace the convention that
music needs more and more of the new. They forget that at a certain
point innovation might become harmful. But the public does not expect
something new; it comes to the concert to get impressions. The public
strives for active spiritual work. And it applauds composers and performers for presenting something that allows people to experience a state of
concentration, to bring themselves into a state of wholeness, to cure
themselves from the state of dispersal and disconnection that they suffer
10
II
12
our century. Many contemporary composers are involved in these experiments. I came to this idea following my friend, the composer Victor
Suslin,'3 who began thinking about quarter-tone music after reading
Boleslav Yavorsky,'4a very gifted Russian music theorist, who was a true
generator of new ideas. In particular, Suslin was attracted by Yavorsky's
suggestion to resolve a tritone neither to a third nor to a sixth, but to a
perfect fifth by means of contrary voice-leading in which each part moves
a quarter tone.
I was very inspired to learn that a prominent Danish composer Per
Norgard'5 undertakes experiments in this direction, too. He attended my
talk in one symposium, where I discussed my ideas with quarter-tone
music, and said that he was doing something similar.Later he sent me his
musical composition dealing with this issue. It turns out that quartertone music became so relevant to our time, that many composers are
working in this direction independently from each other. Maybe this is a
moment when we can find something fruitful gradually, if everyone will
introduce his or her discoveries. It could be something very important.
But it is not new!
If severalpeoplesimultaneouslyexplorethe same sphere,doesn't this mean
that this is a new tendencyof art? A similar situation occurredin the beginning of the twentieth centurywhen, searchingfor new musical spaces,several
composersalmost simultaneouslydiscoveredatonalism and dodecaphony.
Yes. I think it means that there is something music desperately needs.
Composers make efforts in a certain direction not because they wish to
show people that they are better or "newer" than the others, but because
music itself demands it, and our efforts naturally start to turn in this
direction. Such an "objective necessity" really attractsme, and in this case
I would not consider the experiments as a wish to "show (yourself) off."
I hate it when I feel something selfish in musical innovation, when it is
clear that a composer just wants to draw attention to him- or herself. But
the efforts caused by the "demand" of music might stay unnoticed.
Maybe nobody will notice them; nobody will call them an "innovation."
These efforts are really necessary for music.
I am looking at a beautiful music scoredesigned like a fish, with nonconventional notation. What is it?
It is a song from my new cycle, Galgenlieder (Songs of the Gallows),
for soprano, percussion, and double bass. Despite Morgenstern's16 sinister title, the poems are kindhearted and elegant, full of refined absurdism. They are about animals. For example, a charming poem "Das
aesthetische Wiesel" (The Aesthetic Weasel), where the first stanza has
three rhymes:17
13
Ein Wiesel
saf auf einen Kiesel
inmitten Bachgeriesel.
Wifit ihr
weshalb?
Das Mondkalb
verriet es mir
im Stillen:
Das raffinierte Tier
tat's um des Reimes willen.18
Christian Morgenstern. Galgenlieder.A selection. Translated,
with an introduction, by Max Knight. Copyright ?1963 Max
E. Knight. Used by permission of University of California Press.
A Weasel
sat on a stone
in the middle of a rippling stream.
Do you know why
it sat there?
The mole
whispered to me
secretly:
The refined beast
did it
for
the rhyme!
just
(translated by Vera Lukomsky)
The score, arranged in the shape of a fish, is a musical setting for the
poem "Fisches Nachtgesang" (Fish's Night Song).19 As the Russian poet
Samuil Marshak wrote in a popular poem for children, "a fish opens its
mouth, but nobody hears what it sings." Morgenstern's "Fisches Nachtgesang" is a "dumb" poem consisting only of hyphens and arch-like symbols-like those marking meter in poetic theory; the contour of the
poem is laid out like a fish (see Example 1). Morgenstern ironically called
his creation "the most profound German poem." I too decided to compose a soundless song. So, instead of a clef, I wrote at the beginning of
each music line a natural sign that means "cancel the sound," "refuse any
14
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EXAMPLE
1: GUBAIDULINA,
NIGHT
SONG),
"FISCHES
FROM
NACHTGESANG"
(FISH'S
GALGENLIEDER.
real sonority." The score for the singer is designed to be read vertically,
that is, from the head to the tail of the fish (Example 1). These vertical
lines on the fish's body (that represent the five horizontal lines of the
musical staff) broadened and narrowed. During the first half of the song,
the singer graduallyopens her mouth wider and wider; during the second
half, she gradually closes her mouth. At the very end of her "part" there
15
is a fermata, which is the end of the fish's tail. Meanwhile, the double
bass player moves the bow above the strings, always soundless. Each
hyphen corresponds to one full motion of the bow. The percussionist
makes gestures with a stick, imitating the arch-like symbols in Morgenstern's poem, but of course without producing any sound.
Thus, this is gestural music. I like very much the fermata at the end. As
you know, my specialty is rests: the longest "rest" I have written so far is
a conductor's solo in the symphony Stimmen ... Verstummen....20 This
composition of Galgenliedertook all of last year. I enjoyed the poems and
invented different musical gadgets.
I always wanted to ask you about Filipp Herschkowits,21a figure very
important for manygifted Soviet composerswho came to their maturity in
the 1950s and later. A disciple of Webernand Berg, Herschkowitsleft Austria in 1939, escaping the Nazi occupation. For thegreater part of his life,
until 1987, he lived in the Soviet Union, in Moscow.The only source of his
income was private students, since he was not permitted to teach in the Conservatory, and his music has never beenperformed. Nevertheless,he became
a source of inspiration and a consultant of such composersas Volkonsky,
Schnittke, Denisov, Firsova, Smirnov. Victor Suslin called him "an apostle
sent by Webernto Moscowto teach the barbarians."22
Filipp Moiseevich was an extremely important figure for all of us when
we were young. He was much older, and we considered him an authority.
As a former pupil of Webern, he brought the tradition of the Second
Viennese School to Russia. Besides that, he was a very profound analyst
of the First Viennese School, particularly the music of Mozart and
Beethoven. He became very important for us and for the next generation
of composers. In addition, he possessed a great sense of humor and a
very sharp, original mind. Our life in Moscow would have been boring
without him.... He did not want to teach the dodecaphonic technique
of composition and usually refused. But his thoughts about Beethoven,
and his analysis of all the Beethoven periods, were brilliant. Discussing
musical compositions, he carried the highest criteria of what is good and
bad. He introduced a strictness into our lives. I value him very highly.
Did he analyze the worksof Schoenbergand Webern?
He certainly did. But I particularlyremember his exceptional interest
in and love of the classics ....
Did you take private lessonswith Herschkowits?
No, never. It was a friendship. He came to see me from time to time.
Sometimes I visited him.
I would like to ask you about your contact with Shostakovich.I saw it
mentioned somewherethat after yourgraduation exam at the MoscowConservatory,Shostakovichwanted you "tocontinue on your 'mistaken'path."
16
Yes, he said exactly these words, and it was a strong encouragement for
me. At that time in our Department of Composition at the Moscow
Conservatory, I and some other student composers were the object of a
severe critique. And although we were accepted to the graduate school,
the Conservatory officials declared that, despite our giftedness and capacity for hard work, we had chosen the wrong way, or what they called "a
false way" (the "right way," of course, meant Socialist Realism). For our
graduation exam, Shostakovich was the Chair of the State Examination
Committee. When the Committee discussed our works, Shostakovich
protected me very vigorously from other professors who thought my
direction unacceptable. They objected that my composition was well
made, but not suitable. Shostakovich defended me. Later, after the exam,
he told me personally: "Everybody thinks that you are moving in the
wrong direction. But I wish you to continue on your 'mistaken' path."
So he supported me in my striving for freedom, my striving to be myself.
It means that he defended the right of an artist to be him- or herself and
go along his or her own path, even if it seemed "false."
Shostakovich's words were very important to me. His support was significant. I met with the composer only two or three times. These were
usually just occasional meetings when I, as a student, accompanied my
professor Nikolai Ivanovich Peiko. But after my exam, Peiko brought me
to Shostakovich's apartment, and I played my Symphony for him. The
Symphony was, of course, bad-just a student work. I composed it as
best as I could at that time. He supported this composition, and said to
me, as a farewell, those words about a "mistaken"path.
Shostakovich'sreputation in the West (at least, in the U.S.) is still blemished.Liberal intellectuals cannotforgive Shostakovich
for becominga member and an officerof the Communist Party, cannot forgive him for some of
his "loyal"compositions.
In my opinion, we do not have a right to judge the generation of our
fathers as well as the generation of Shostakovich. He was a grand talent,
and I am very thankful to him that he realized his talent. He lived his life
as he could. Americans should not condemn some of the steps he took.
His life was not ideal. He was not holy, but he was an artist. In the Soviet
state an artist was defenseless. Shostakovich needed to protect the main
thing-his right to exist as a composer. He protected it as best he could.
Some of his compositions are not masterpieces-for example, The Song of
the Forests,which he composed in order to rehabilitate himself in 1949.
But The Song of the Forestsprotected him, maybe saved his life, and Shostakovich got the opportunity to create his brilliant works. I am always
very grateful even if a composer left only one great composition. And in
the case of Shostakovich I think we cannot demand political consistency.
17
18
-51
37
-14
88
37-(-51) -14-37 23-(-14) 9-23
23
32-9
32
23+9
41
73
9+32 41+32
114
187
41+73 73+114
This diagram reveals Bach's amazing work with proportions, with the
additive-automorphological series.28 I discovered that in this chorale
Bach works with a series built out of "his own" numbers. I called it
"Bach's series."29I have never found any mention of this principle in the
literature on Bach: the scholars revealed only Bach's favorite numbers
and suggested their symbolic meaning. So all my findings are my own
observation. Everything is built out of this series. From my point of view,
this is an extraordinarilybeautiful picture, a mirror symmetry with the
number 9 in the center. As you see, Bach used not only "his" numbers.
Take the number 51, for example. In the chorale, it occurs as the result
of adding the two subsequent numbers, 14 and 37. The number 9, also
"alien," is taken as the center of the symmetry. I found it in the chorale,
too. The most interesting things became clear when I computed the
19
114
73
PROPORTIONS
THRON
I was absolutely stunned! Bach's series became the subject and the
content of my contemplation. So, nothing here is related to meditation
in the traditional sense, as, for example, in Valentin Silvestrov's Meditation,30 which really is a submersion into something mystical, where the
matches are lighted up at a certain moment! I was thinking about numbers and devoted my composition to this idea! I used Bach's structural
principle: the sections of my music are followed by the chorale.
Did you usefor your Meditation the same chorale that was employedby
Bach?
Yes, it is the same sacred tune. I build a musical form according to
Bach's principle: episodes of music embodying my personal reflection
alternate with the chorale. Only instead of Bach's four-section form there
20
is a five-section form (I like the number five and prefer it to four). I dedicated my composition to Bach, in particularto this chorale.
I would like to ask you about Seven Words, which also will beperformed
in tomorrow'sconcert. Did you employthe Fibonacci series or other derived
series?
No. At that time I was not yet working with these series and proportions. As a specific feature of Seven Words(1982), I would point to the
symbols of the cross. There are many crosses of different kinds: for
example, numerous extensions and narrowings of the musical space in
the cello part. They sound like extremely emotional and expressive
shouts. I employed such shouts three times in the orchestra part too, the
last time at the very end. The design of the score (sudden extension and
narrowing of the texture) suggests the shape of the cross (Example 4).
The crucial thing for me was the idea of the crucifixion. I like very
much the idea of instrumental symbolism, when the instrument itself, its
nature and individuality, hints at or implies a certain meaning. The
instrument's quality and the meaning of music join each other. The word
"symbol" means "synthesis, or fusion of meanings." I wanted to find the
idea of the cross in the instruments themselves. The first thing that came
to mind, obviously, was the "crucifixion" of a string. This idea is
employed throughout the entire composition, from the very beginning.
The first movement is the crucifixion of the A string: it is crucified by
means of glissandos. The sound of the open A string is "cut off" by the
glissando from B, to G#, which the cellist performs on the neighboring
D string (Example 5).
In other movements all the other cello strings undergo "crucifixion":
the D string, then the G string, and, finally, the low C string in the sixth
movement, which is the dramatic climax-the death of Jesus Christ.
Before the cadenza, where the short dramatic motives in the orchestra
form a sheer melodic line and the bayan31"cuts off' the space with terrifying shouts, the cello crucifies the low C string, cutting it off with
mighty chords (Example 6).
In the final, seventh movement, I introduce a new cross in the correlation between the cello's string and the bridge. The cellist "crucifies" the
string by means of the bow, which gradually moves closer and closer to
the bridge. The sound becomes more and more unpleasant, expressive,
and eerie. And then-an eerie shout on the bridge! Then a shout as if it
were jumping away. The bow moves toward the bridge-and steps over
this border! That is, the cello itself becomes the cross, a place of crucifixion. And the bow escapes the bounds of the instrument, as if moving into
another dimension, to an "other world." In the "other world" presented
in this movement, the cello plays a very gentle melodic motion within a
21
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EXAMPLE 4: GUBAIDULINA,
ICH BEFEHLE
MEINEN
GEIST IN DEINE
I COMMEND
MY SPIRIT)
22
very limited space, within a perfect fifth, which the cellist performs on the
very small space between the bridge and the end of the string (Gubaidulina sings a melody shown in Example 7). Meanwhile, when the cellist's
right hand presents "beyond the limits of life," the left hand plays harplike harmonics (Example 8).
r..x
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EXAMPLE 5: GUBAIDULINA,
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THEM; FOR
23
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24
EXAMPLE 7: GUBAIDULINA,
ICH BEFEHLE MEINEN
GEIST IN DEINE
"VATER,
(FATHER,
I COMMEND
MY SPIRIT)
13
I_
Vc. solo
pio
.?
_-)
EXAMPLE
8: GUBAIDULINA,
ICH BEFEHLE
MEINEN
GEIST IN DEINE
I COMMEND
HANDE"
MY SPIRIT),
(FATHER,
BEGINNING
Yes, there is the quotation from Schitz's oratorio The Seven Last
Words, which is a musical setting of the words "Mich dtirstet" ("I thirst,"
Example 10).
The quotation appears several times-the
first time at the end of the
first movement. For a long time the cellist "crucifies" the strings, and
after that, the quotation appears in the cello and bayan parts (Example
11), before the entrance of the string orchestra.
Discussing this and other quotations in my music, some musicologists
talk about polystylism. I absolutely disagree with such a notion. My use
of quotations differs from Schnittke's in principle: I do not play with
Vc. solo
25
Bajan
1=~
LR-
PP --=
-A
_=
RP1
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== -.P
simile
%I
simile
Vc. solo
Bajan
PP
t-
simile
*)NichttemperiertesGlissando.dabeiBlasebalgziehenundTastelangsamloslassen.
Portamento:
pull the bellowsandreleasekey.
Reprintedby permissionof G. Schirmer,Inc.,
on behalfof Musikverlage
HansSikorski(Germany).
All RightsReserved.
EXAMPLE 9: GUBAIDULINA,
"MICH
DURSTET"
SEVEN WORDS, V,
(I THIRST),
BEGINNING
is
V.S.
o?--
(-K
A.
T.n
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Cont.
,y
dur
MiIch,
8
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4
stet.
26
Vc.
/sol
V"eeno
-I nno mosso
I-fc
-i X ?
Bajan
'
t-
.-
1$
*)MitbeidenHinden.- Withbothhands.
Inc.,
Reprintedbypermissionof G. Schirmer,
on behalfof Musikverlage
HansSikorski(Germany).
AllRightsReserved.
EXAMPLE
11: GUBAIDULINA,
DENN
(FATHER,
VERGIB IHNEN,
FORGIVE
27
The main event of the concerto, the Transfiguration,is in the coda: Frederick's theme appears in its complete shape, but in retrograde motion,
and nobody can recognize it (Examples 12 and 13).
You know, I was shocked when I read a review of Now Always Snow,in
which the author talks about my "polystylism." In my case, it is never a
stylistic issue. Musicologists do not know how to describe my style and
just attach inaccurate labels to my music! I think this is theoretical piracy
[laughing]! And I protest against the label "eclectic," which musicologists pin on Bach. Of course, he used plenty of borrowed material (from
Buxtehude, Vivaldi, Corelli, and many others), but Bach did not care
about style at all. He thinks about God, he talks with God in his music!
: ^ SI
2 Flautl
solo
I solof
2 Fagottl
RI
~IMord.
sol~ocon
r lr
3 Conl _
3 Trombe
Ilf
rfr
EXAMPLE
#-V
V-no
3010
solo
12: GUBAIDULINA,
4^r
Si
fI
__=
OFFERTORIUM
(BEGINNING)
.
_____r
s1 1
P -..= --
,'ir _r-
,r
EXAMPLE
13: GUBAIDULINA,
OFFERTORIUM
(CODA)
28
29
\ \
Yellow(7:1)
Violet (1:7)
Light
blue
(3:5\\
Red (5:3)
//////
Orange(6:2)
//////
Blue (2:6)
30
EXAMPLE
15:
SCHEME
ALLELUJA,
OF COLOR PROPORTIONS
IN
FIRST MOVEMENT
The second movement has another color narrative. There are three
colors: light blue (the time proportion of its crescendo and diminuendo
is 5:3), yellow (7:1), and orange (6:2). Each color makes a crescendo and
a diminuendo (Example 16).
The third and fourth movements have other colors and proportions.
Only in the sixth movement I employed a very powerful change of colors-as a color coordinate to the Epiclesa, which illustrates the end of the
world (Apocalypse). In the seventh movement, again, there is only one
color (violet, light violet) which makes a crescendo and a diminuendo.
31
yellow (7:1)
orange(6:2)
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SELECTED
33
DISCOGRAPHY
VOCAL/CHORAL
34
Meditation on the Bach Chorale "Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit"
(1993), for harpsichord and string quintet. Elizabeth Chojnacka
(harpsichord), Hanna Weinmeister (violin), Elvira Bekova (violin),
Marius Stravinsky (viola), Alfia Bekova (cello), Alois Posch (double
bass). BIS CD-810.
Dancer on a Tightrope(1993) for violin and piano. Gidon Kremer (violin), Vadim Sakharov (piano). BIS CD-810.
String Quartet No. 4 (1993). Kronos Quartet. Electra 79346-2.
Silenzio (1991), five pieces for bayan, vioin, and cello. Friedrich Lips
(bayan), Gidon Kremer (violin), Vladimir Tonkha (cello). BIS CD-810
Seven Words (1982), partita for cello, bayan, and strings. Vladimir
Tonkha (cello), Friedrich Lips (bayan), "Collegium Musicum" Chamber Orchestra, Timur Mynbaev, conductor. Melodiya SUCD 1000109
Rejoyce!(1981), for violin and cello. Gidon Kremer (violin); Yo-Yo Ma
(cello). CBS Records Inc., MK 44924.
Garden of Joy and Sorrows(1980), for flute, viola, and harp. Aureole
Ensemble: Laura Gilbert (flute), Mary Hammann (viola), Barbara
Allen (harp). KOCH 3-7055-2111.
String Quartets No.l (1971); No.2 (1987); No.3 (1987). Trio (1988),
for violin, viola, and cello. The Danish Quartet. CPO 999 064.
In Croce (1979), for cello and organ. Maya Beiser (cello), Dorothy
Papadakos (organ). Koch International 3-7258-2 H1.
Quartet (1977), for four flutes. Wolfgang Ritter, Bernd Osten, HansUdo Heinzmann, Susanne Barner. KOCH International GmbH 31170-2 H1.
35
Detto I (1972), for cello and chamber ensemble. Ilkka Palli (cello), Lahti
Chamber Ensemble, Osmo Vanska, conductor. BIS CD-636.
Concordanza (1971), for chamber ensemble. Lahti Chamber Ensemble,
Osmo Vanska, conductor. BIS CD-636.
Chaconne (1962); Invention (1974); Toccata-Troncata(1971); Sonata
(1965); Musical Toys(1969). Complete works for solo piano. Diane
Barker.StradivariusSTR 33393.
36
NOTES
37
38
39
21. Filipp Moiseevich Herschkowits [in Russian spelling, "Gershkovich"] (1906-89) was a Romanian-born composer and extraordinary
theoretician. From 1927 to 1938 he lived in Austria, where he studied with Berg (from 1928) and Webern (from 1934). Escaping German occupation of Vienna, Herschkowits returned to Romania, and
from there immigrated to the USSR, where he spent almost half a
century, from 1939 to 1987. Living in Moscow, Herschkowits continued to develop the tradition and theory of serial composition, but
in complete intellectual isolation. Only a couple of his articles were
published by the University of Tartu. In 1987, after a long struggle
with the Soviet authorities, Herschkowits was allowed to leave the
Soviet Union and return to Austria. For the last two years of his life,
he lived in Vienna and worked at the Alban Berg Society, preparing
Berg's works for publication.
22. "Herschkowits Encountered," interview with Victor Suslin, Tempo
no. 173 (June 1990): 39-40.
23. Gubaidulina talks about a period of Stalin's repressions, which
reached their climax in 1937.
24. Gubaidulina is obviously referring to the Soviet ideological and cultural policy, under which any traces of religious philosophy and mentality in literature and art were considered "reactionary" and
unacceptable.
25. Bach, already blind, dictated this choral to his son-in-law, Altnikol, in
the beginning of July 1750, two or three weeks before his death. See
Wilibald Gurlitt, Johann Sebastian Bach: The Master and His Works
(New York:Da Capo Press, 1986), 132-33.
26. Scholars of Bach's numerology suggest that in Bach's time, games
with the numerical representation of words were in general practice.
For this purpose, each letter was provided with a number, according
to the ordinal number of this letter in Latin alphabet (that is, A = 1,
B = 2, and so forth). Using this system, Bach represented his signature by the numbers 14 (which means "Bach"), 41 ("J. S. Bach"),
and 144 ("Johann Sebastian"). These numbers are the result of summation of numerical value of letters constituting his name(s); for
example, number 14 is a sum of 2 + 1 + 3 + 8. Bach scholars seem to
be in agreement about the symbolic meaning of these numbers enciphered by Bach in his works. For further references, see Ruth Tatlow,
Bach and the Riddle of the Number Alphabet (Cambridge and New
York: Cambridge University Press, 1991); and David Humphreys,
40
41