Elusive Affinity | Ecm New Series

In this imaginatively shaped and sensitively played album – her third for ECM - Russian pianist Anna Gourari explores musical connections and influences extending across the arts. Three suites of contemporary music are heard here. Alfred Schnittke’s Five Aphorisms (1990) draw impulses from the poetry of his friend Joseph Brodsky. Rodion Shchedrin’s Diary - Seven Pieces (2002) dedicated to Gourari and inspired by her playing, reflects the life of a pianist and composer. Wolfgang Rihm’s sequence of tombeaux, Zwiesprache (1999) pays tribute to musicologists Alfred Schlee and Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht, conductor Paul Sacher, and art sociologist Hermann Wiesler. Threaded between the cycles are two Giya Kancheli miniatures drawn from theatre and movie music, as well as Arvo Pärt’s early tintinnabuli-style Variations for the Healing of Arinuschka(1977). Gourari’s investigation of artistic affinities is framed with Bach’s transcriptions of Venetian composers Antonio Vivaldi and Alessandro Marcello: “Anna Gourari makes these Bach slow movements, too, ours,” Paul Griffiths writes in the liner notes. “And the newer music is cherished and invigorated.”

Tracks

1~1~J.S. Bach_Concerto In G-Minor, Bwv 975 Largo
1~2~Schnittke_Five Aphorisms - Moderato Assai
1~3~Schnittke_Five Aphorisms - Allegretto
1~4~Schnittke_Five Aphorisms - Lento
1~5~Schnittke_Five Aphorisms - Senza Tempo
1~6~Schnittke_Five Aphorisms - Grave
1~7~Kancheli_Piano Piece No. 15
1~8~Shchedrin_Diary - Seven Pieces - Sostenuto Assai
1~9~Shchedrin_Diary - Seven Pieces - L'Istesso Tempo
1~10~Shchedrin_Diary - Seven Pieces - Allegretto Moderato (In Ritmo)
1~11~Shchedrin_Diary - Seven Pieces - Allegro, Ma Non Troppo
1~12~Shchedrin_Diary - Seven Pieces - Lento, Sempre Poco Rubato
1~13~Shchedrin_Diary - Seven Pieces - Presto Leggiero
1~14~Shchedrin_Diary - Seven Pieces - Sostenuto Alla Campana
1~15~Pärt_Variationen Zur Gesundung Von Arinuschka
1~16~Rihm_Zwiesprache - Alfred Schlee In Memoriam
1~17~Rihm_Zwiesprache - Paul Sacher In Memoriam
1~18~Rihm_Zwiesprache - Heinrich Klotz In Memoriam
1~19~Rihm_Zwiesprache - Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht In Memoriam
1~20~Rihm_Zwiesprache - Hermann Wiesler In Memoriam
1~21~Kancheli_Piano Piece No. 23
1~22~J.S.Bach_Concerto In D-Minor, Bwv 974 - Adagio

Details

Format: CD
Artist: Anna Gourari
Release Date: 24 May 2019
Genre: Classical Music
Label: EDITION OF CONTEMPORARY MUSIC
Distributor: Universal Music