Gubaidulina, Sofia - St. John Passion and St. John Easter
239 kr
- Ej i lager
World Premiere Recording
Gubaidulina's mammoth St. John was written in two parts, the Passion to a commission from the International Bach Academy in Stuttgart to celebrate the 250th anniversary of J. S. Bach in September 2000, with the second part, St. John Easter, following two years later at the request of North German Radio. In the Passion we are plunged immediately into her intensely Russian, deeply Orthodox sound-world, with wonderfully sonorous sounds emanating from the chorus. Rilling steers his musicians through the awesome canvas with mesmerising authority, from climaxes of cataclysmic power to moments of sheer beauty, allowing the audience to fully appreciate the ingenuity and at times great delicacy of Gubaidulina's scoring.
After the darkly brooding power of St. John Passion, St. John Easter comes as something of a relief, being deliberately lighter in its language and celebratory in tone. The sounds once again are unmistakably Russian, the joyous Easter Hymn of the opening sung with great verve by the chorus and returning to close the work in a magnificent paean of praise. It is difficult to imagine this music receiving more intensely felt or characterful performances than these. This is a solemn, convincing and mysterious journey.