Hommages
Dobrinka Tabakova (b.1980)
Organum Light (2014)
Osvaldo Golijov (b.1960)
Last Round (1996)
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Apollon musagète (1928, arr. Julian Azkoul)
Olli Mustonen (b.1967)
Nonetto II (2000)
Apotheosis for four cellos (2022)
United Strings of Europe/Julian Azkoul
rec. 2024, Church of St Silas the Martyr, Kentish Town, London
BIS BIS2739 SACD [68]

United Strings of Europe is a versatile ensemble conducted by Julian Azkoul. They have already recorded four discs for BIS, presenting hugely varied programmes. This release is no exception. A quick glance at the composers and works will be enough to guarantee musical diversity, for each work has its own character. Every pieces here, except two, is scored for a different string grouping.

Dobrinka Tabakova’s short but arresting Organum Light is scored for string quintet: two violins, two violas and cello. In her concise notes about the piece, she writes: “it is inspired by Einstein’s theory of quantum light […] the timbres and harmonies are also reminiscent of the idea of organum singing”. I would add that this may be the most lasting impression the music leaves, and it is none the worse for that. One may sometimes be reminded of, say, Arvo Pärt, but I find this lovely piece quite engaging.

In Last Round, Argentinian Osvaldo Golijov pays deeply felt, sincere homage to the Argentinian tango and to Astor Piazzolla, who made the tango a deeply rooted art form inseparable from Buenos Aires and Argentina. Ironically enough, Carlos Gardel, considered the King of Tango, was actually Charles Romuald Gardès, a Frenchman born in Toulouse.

Golijov’s piece is a diptych. The first movement, Movido, urgente – Macho, Cool and Dangerous, is rather energetic, almost brutally so. The second movement Muertes del Angel (the deaths of angels)is a clear allusion to Piazzolla’s own La Muerte del Angel from 1962 – note the plural! The composer described it as a fantasy over the refrain of Carlos Gardel’s song Mi Buenos Aires querido. It is lyrical, almost appeased. This is another nice work well worth more than the occasional hearing.

Golijov scored his work for the same ensemble as Olli Mustonen’s Nonetto II – double string quartet plus double bass. This fairly substantial work falls into four movements. The short Inquieto first movement leads straight into the ensuing Allegro impetuoso, in which one may notice hints of Beethoven (some galloping rhythms) and Sibelius (some reminiscences of the pastoral mood of the Sixth Symphony). The music unfolds into a rather nervous climax, looking back at the Beethoven rhythms and the uneasy material from the first movement. The second movement ends on a tranquil note. The Adagio third movement is the emotional heart of the work, an oasis of meditation, “maintaining a radiant, almost unreal aura, as if reaching for the heavens above” (quoting from Antti Häyrynen’s notes). The Vivacissimo fourth movement is some sort of folk festival, full of vitality and pounding rhythms. The Inquieto material from the first movement briefly resurfaces before the ecstatic close.

Mustonen’s Nonetto II is, to my mind, one of the most substantial pieces heard here. His short Apotheosis subtitled ‘in memoriam Pablo Casals’ is yet another well made, neatly tailored piece of music. He wrote it for the Kronberg Academy in Germany, to be premièred at the opening of its new concert hall. It is a lovely occasional work.

The biggest work in this hugely varied programme is Stravinsky’s Apollon musagète. It was his first collaboration with the American dancer and choreographer George Balanchine. Composer and choreographer devised the work as a ballet blanc: classical choreography and monochromatic attire (Coco Chanel designed the costumes for the original production). The scenario, too, was stripped of any particularly meaningful narrative. Musically, the emphasis was on some sort of black and white, thus the choice of a string orchestra.

Now, I must be quite frank: I am no great fan of Stravinsky’s so-called Neo-classical works, though I still like some of them. Julian Azkoul arranged Stravinsky’s score for a smaller string ensemble: two violins, viola, two cellos and double bass. I have to say that this arrangement works remarkably well. The music sounds considerably lighter and less ponderous than played by a larger string body. I came to enjoy it more than I had thought I would.

This release offers an agreeably varied and superbly played programme of mostly unfamiliar works that all repay repeated hearings. The whole is in the highest standards we expect from BIS. Strongly recommended.

Hubert Culot

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