Love and Loss: Elena Firsova and Dmitri Smirnov
Dmitri Smirnov (1948-2020)
Abel (1991)
To Be or Not To Be (2018-9)
Elena Firsova (born 1950)
Piano Quartet No. 2 The Four Seasons (2019)
Quartet for the Time of Grief (2023)
Rudersdal Chamber Players
Rec. April-May 2025 at Nærum Adventiskirke, Nærum, Denmark
OUR Recordings 8.226932 [54]

Dmitri Smirnov and Elena Firsova were that rare phenomenon, a couple who were both composers and moreover of equal stature. I have to say ‘were,’ since, sadly, Smirnov died of Covid in 2020 and this disc commemorates that and their marriage, which was clearly a devoted one.

They were Russians who met and fell in love while students at the Moscow Conservatoire. Their compositional mentor was Edison Denisov and the three of them, with others including Sofia Gubaidulina, who became a close friend, formed a group of Seven who mounted adventurous music which annoyed the Soviet authorities.  They were denounced in 1979, which led Smirnov and Firsova to emigrate, choosing Britain because of Smirnov’s enormous admiration for the writer and artist William Blake. They made their home in St Alban’s and had two children.

There are four works here, two by each composer. One of each is a piano quartet, for the normal combination of violin, viola and cello with piano, and the other for what I shall term the Quatuor combination, after Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la Fin du Temps, which replaces the viola with a clarinet. There are echoes of Messiaen at various points in these works, but in general their idiom – and Smirnov and Firsova employ a similar idiom – is expressionist, closer to Berg, or some aspects of Schoenberg in his atonal period. It does not sound in the least Russian, except that their teacher Denisov used a somewhat similar idiom.

Abel was one of Smirnov’s first works after coming to Britain. The subject is Abel from the story of the garden of Eden, just after he has been killed by Cain. The immediate inspiration was the painting of this by Blake in which Abel lies dead, Adam is appalled, Eve is grieving and Cain is running away. This work is for the Quatuor ensemble and the clarinet dominates a menacing and sinister work.

Next we have one of Smirnov’s last works, the Piano Quartet To Be or Not to Be, the subject suggested by Hamlet’s soliloquy. This is slow moving and sombre, with the viola taking the lead. Despite the time gap of nearly thirty years this is a rather similar work to Abel.

Firsova’s Piano Quartet No. 2 The Four Seasons describes the English seasons. She says they evoke a mild Winter, a beautiful Spring, a short Summer and a rather sad Autumn, which, as I write, is just what we have had. This is an evocative and attractive work, the most cheerful of the four works here, and I greatly enjoyed it.

Finally, we have Firsova’s Quartet for the Time of Grief, written in memorial of her husband. This is for the Quatuor ensemble. It is a short work and it features the throbbing rhythm Messiaen uses in the last of his Quatuor movements and is also used in Smirnov’s To Be or Not to Be.

The Rudesrdal Chamber Players are all experienced players with flourishing careers. They formed this ensemble in 2019 and commissioned The Four Seasons and To Be or Not To Be. They interpret these and the other works authoritatively and convincingly. The recording is good and the booklet helpful. This is more than a touching tribute to a lost musician and is a worthwhile and well planned collection. I hope we shall have more recordings of both composers.

Stephen Barber

Other review: Ken Talbot (August 2025)

Buying this recording via the link below generates revenue for MWI, which helps the site remain free