Valentin Silvestrov (b. 1937)
Symphony for Violin and Orchestra ‘Widmung’ (‘Dedication’) (1990-1)
Postludium for Piano and Orchestra (1984)
Janusz Wawrowski (violin), Jurgis Karnavičius (piano)
Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra/Christopher Lyndon-Gee
rec. 2022, Lithuanian National Philharmonic Hall, Vilnius, Lithuania
Naxos 8.574413 [63]
Silvestrov is the grand old man of Ukrainian music, though, following the Russian invasion of his country, he now lives in exile in Berlin. He grew up under the Soviet system, under which composers were expected to write cheerful, uncomplicated music which was supposed to appeal to ordinary people but had to appeal to the officials. He struggled under this while doing his best to explore recent and contemporary music from the West. He gradually found his own style. A common feature of this is that his works tend to sound as if there had been some cataclysm just before the music starts, and to which it is a response. He himself said: ‘I do not write new music. My music is a response to and an echo of what already exists,’ and hence the occasional echo of earlier and very different music in his works.
His best-known work is his fifth symphony, a haunting work which has been recorded several times. His earlier works have been erratically available, but his later ones have been reasonably well recorded, for a time mainly by ECM, and now Naxos have taken him up. Lyndon-Gee and his orchestra here have already given us Silvestrov’s seventh symphony (review) and here we have his next offering, two earlier works which helped define the composer’s mature idiom and which helped make his name.
The Symphony for Violin and Orchestra ‘Widmung’ is better known by the English of its title, ‘Dedication.’ Although there is a solo part for the violin, this is not a concerto and displays of virtuoso technique play no part in it. It is in three movements of which the third, much the longest, is divided into two parts, but it all plays without a break. The opening movement is brooding and ominous, with just snatches of melody. In the second movement, a Schubertian melody gradually emerges. In the finale this returns in a wonderful and rather Mahlerian elaboration with a dense accompaniment in multiply divided strings. The whole is a powerful and atmospheric work.
Postludium for Piano and Orchestra is no more a concerto than is Dedication. It is one of the first of Silvestrov’s mature works, which he described as ‘a collection of echoes, a form opening not to the end but the beginning.’ It begins with a crash, following which the bulk of the work is a scattered collection of thoughts and memories, including musical memories of all kinds. Malcolm Macdonald said that Silvestrov ‘seems to compose, not the lament but the lingering memory of it, the mood of sadness that it leaves behind.’
The performances here are superbly idiomatic and convincing, even though the soloists and orchestra were previously unknown to me. Both works have been recorded before, by Gidon Kremer for ‘Dedication’ on a Teldec disc of 1996 and Alexander Lubimov on an ECM one of 2003. These are still available as downloads. Those who have them can rest content. But newcomers, and those wanting a physical disc, should be well satisfied with this convenient coupling. In the booklet notes, which are by Lyndon-Gee and on which I have drawn, he tells us that he has also recorded Silvestrov’s eighth symphony. This is not yet available but should be worth looking out for. Meanwhile, here we have two masterworks at a modest price.
Stephen Barber
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