Topic: Belarusian composers

[Maciek]

And another continuation from an old topic.

Has anyone discovered something interesting in this area lately?

Maciek

[karlhenning]

TTT

[karlhenning]

Perhaps the question is, Does anyone know of a Belarusian composer?

[Maciek]

I guess the political climate over there isn't conducive to any sort of cultural exchange with the rest of the world (both directions).




I don't think I ever mentioned this CD in the old thread:



Acte Prealable AP0042

Oboe concerto      
Sonata for clarinet solo      
Trombone concerto      
Three portraits of Radoslava      
Four sentimental reminiscences      
Small triptych for four trumpets

[karlhenning]

I should be glad of a look at the Sonata for unaccompanied clarinet, of course.

[Maciek]

Here is a description of the disc I found on the Acte Prealable web page:

This Belarussian composer speaks the increasingly wide-spread language of neo-romanticism, lightly seasoned with minimalism, of which the latest example was Elisabetta Brusa. Gorelova is less sunny and brassy than Brusa, her Slavic soul showing itself in a minor-key, brooding quality which informs many of the six movements of her two concertos but, as in the last movement of the "Oboe concerto" and in the second of the "Trombone concerto", Slavic folklore and clear, high spirits come into play also. In the solo instrument pieces and in the "Portraits", some atonality appears, along with extended playing techniques but these are meant as fodder for the soloists and the general mood in these pieces is rather neo-classicism. This should appeal to all collectors of readily communicative modern music. Records International

[karlhenning]

Well, I'm not much of a lad for extended techniques, 'tis true.

[Maciek]

Not even when meant as fodder for the soloists?

[karlhenning]

This soloist scorns fodder 

[Maciek]

If I ever get the disc, I'll let you know how good the fodder is for the listener (this listener, in any case). (Found it available here and here, if anyone is interested.)

[Drasko]

Well, I have this, can't say that I like the music, can't say that even remember much of it...except for the first movement of 5th Symphony which revolves around theme which sounds to me like straight out of Star Trek. I'm not really familiar with Star Trek but I'm sure I heard something at least very similar.
Here's the entire first movement (some 8 minutes):
[mp3=200,20,0,left]http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/7/24/2018019/Track%20No01.mp3[/mp3]
First the theme appears in winds around 2:45, then taken by strings and brass at 3:40 and then recapitulated at 6:10.
Am I hearing things? Do we have any trekkies around?

[jimmosk]

Am I hearing things? Do we have any trekkies around?

I wouldn't call myself a Trekkie, but I do know and love Jerry Goldsmith's music for Star Trek, The Motion Picture -- whose title theme later was used as the theme for the television program Star Trek: The Next Generation.  You're right to hear a resemblance, but only for two bars or so; then it develops in a radically different, and as you'd expect more complex, way.  I don't think this could be used to support a plagiarism charge, just an independent creation of a somewhat similar theme.
For real plagiarism, you want something like the note-for-note use of the ending of Strauss's Macbeth by Danny Elfman in the music for the 1989 Batman movie, or James Horner cribbing from Hindemith in his music for Willow.

[vandermolen]

In Star Wars I think that John Williams cribbed from The Love of Three Oranges by Prokofiev.

I listened to the Glebov CD last night following the discussion here. I liked the second movement of the Symphony more than the first - it has a nice lyrical passage. Certainly I will listen again. The ballet from 'The Little Prince' (St Exupery - one of my favourite books) also had some endearing sequences - like film music.  Basically I preferred Glebov's quieter lyrical sequences to the sub-Shostakovich louder sections. After an unpromising start I enjoyed the CD more than expected and thanks for reviving the thread.

[Maciek]

While googling for information about Vsevolod Gritskevich, I found this nice page about Belarusian composers:
http://www.hanjonkers.com/english/booklet4.htm

(Actually, it was one of two pages the search returned. )

[Popov]

I downloaded the Glebov CD a couple years ago and enjoyed it a good deal. Glebov seems indeed more personal in his most tender music (the suite is absolutely lovely music), but Aurora-style music is a big weakness of mine, so I really enjoyed the Symphony as a whole back then. It has been very nice to listen to the 1st movement after so much time. 

Has someone listened to the other releases of Olympia's Belorussian Series?

[dhibbard]

I uploaded a bunch of Belarussian music on the Art Music forum .... and also updated the list of composers from Belarus.
enjoy !

[Zeus]

Alla Borzova is from Belarus (left in '93).  Naxos has released a number of her albums.  I have this one:

Borzova: Songs for Lada; To the New World

It's pretty good, maybe better.

[Mirror Image]

Alla Borzova is from Belarus (left in '93).  Naxos has released a number of her albums.  I have this one:

Borzova: Songs for Lada; To the New World

It's pretty good, maybe better.

To the bolded text: Naxos has only released one recording of any of this composer’s music. I’m not sure if there are more for download however, but this is the only physical disc you can buy.

[Zeus]

Curious.  I must have had a very lucid dream to the contrary.  I found one more Borzova disc on Albany.

Pinsk And Blue - Chamber Music Of Alla Borzova



Hmm.  Color me confused.

[dhibbard]

I found on eBay a 2 CD set of classical music of Belarus.   I don' t know if its still there.    Let me look.