Juilliard Focus 2014: Gubaidulina, Kancheli and Schnittke

Yesterday evening marked the final performance in Juilliard's Focus 2014 celebration of the music of Schnittke and his circle.  This has been a wonderful series that has provided a rare opportunity to hear together a number of works, many of them seldom performed, by a group of composers from the former USSR who have had a tremendous influence on late twentieth century music.

The first part of the program began with the orchestra performing a work by Sofia Gubaidulina entitled Fairy Tale Poem (1971) that could perhaps best be considered a brief tone poem.  This was its New York premiere.  It was appealingly light and melodic and easily the most enjoyable piece I've heard to date by this composer.  It is ironic that she herself does not hold the it in high regard.  As the program notes:

"Gubaidulina's publisher, Sikorski, says that although the piece has been performed frequently with the greatest success, she cannot imagine why, since she considers it a work of her youth, written before her own voice emerged."

The next piece was And farewell goes out sighing... (1999) by Giya Kancheli.  It's easy to see why this Georgian composer has attained such success.  His style is neo-romantic, even down to the choice of Shakespearean title and text, blended with plentiful references to liturgical music.  Taken together they create in the mind of the listener an impression of the mystical and spiritual.  This performance featured well executed solos by violinist Ken Hamao and countertenor John Holiday, both of whom were enthusiastically applauded by the audience at the work's end.

The program, and the series, concluded after intermission with the US premiere of Schnittke's Symphony No. 8 (1993).  This was another late work written after the composer had already suffered a series of debilitating strokes that were to finally end his life in 1998.  It is most notable for the fragmentation of the orchestra into smaller ensembles, each of which take turns playing passages from the various movements.  According to the program:

"The entire orchestra is almost never used together until the coda.  Schnittke certainly did not invent the idea of employing the orchestra largely as a collection of chamber ensembles; Mahler, whom he deeply admired, is famous for it."

I thought the symphony displayed an austere beauty despite its brooding and bleak atmosphere.  It presented a stark contrast to the lighter and more accessible music played in the first half of the program.

The talented orchestra at this performance was exceptionally well conducted by Anne Manson.  She showed complete control throughout the evening and elicited from the music every drop of feeling the composers had put into it.  For that matter, the entire series was well produced and displayed at each concert I attended the highest level of professionalism.