Valentin Silvestrov, a genius or a lot of the same notes in different wraps?

[André]

Regarding Silvestrov, I´d go for the Metamusik & Postludium with Lubimov.
It´s £ 6.75 at
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B00008MNCG/ref=sr_1_1_olp?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1521314892&sr=1-1&keywords=silvestrov+metamusik

and Euros 5.14 at
https://www.amazon.fr/gp/offer-listing/B00008MNCG/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1521315036&sr=8-1&keywords=silvestrov+metamusik

Samples at https://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/classical/search?search_query=silvestrov+metamusik 
It´s quite simple, meditative music, say a bit like Pärt´s Tabula Rasa in that respect, though somewhat darker.

+ 1. A wonderful disc, the distillation of the composer's art in that period.

If you know symphony no 5, I suggest you go backwards. Try the first ones instead of no 6 (inferior to 5 IMHO). This is more diverse and adventurous. Symphonies 2 and 4 are available, and the cello and the violin symphonies as well:



Dedication is the symphony for violin and orchestra.



Meditation is the cello symphony. This disc includes a work I like a lot, the second symphony.

[MusicTurner]

2020 saw the premiere of a documentary movie about Silvestrov, by Sergei Bukovsky, with a duration of more than 2 hours.
It's nice that it also deals with the earlier avant-garde works, which tell of a different side of the composer.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11854142/

http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/4714/
https://www.arvopart.ee/en/arvo-part-center/events/valentin-silvestrov/?fbclid=IwAR2pyWKsXjC11EnoqsBAOfKtfU82ZfgLwAU9qdy5XB3Z8udtQcmt1ezqo9U

[MusicTurner]

Silvestrov, 84, has been rescued from the war & is now in Western Europe

https://slippedisc.com/2022/03/ukraines-top-composer-is-rescued/

[André]

  Wow !

[CRCulver]

What a terrible thing to have to experience in old age. I had heard a couple of years ago that Silvestrov had already suffered from loss of friendships with some of his musical peers in Russia – even many old Soviet dissidents in Russia accept the narrative on state TV that Ukraine had been taken over by a "Neo-Nazi junta", and they rejected Silvestrov simply for his embrace of Ukrainianness and supporting his country's independent existence.

[kyjo]

Silvestrov, 84, has been rescued from the war & is now in Western Europe

https://slippedisc.com/2022/03/ukraines-top-composer-is-rescued/

Great news!

What are everyone's favorite Silvestrov works? So far, I only know his highly regarded 5th Symphony, which is quite a haunting work if a bit too "static" for my taste. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood for it when I listened.

[Mirror Image]

Great news!

What are everyone's favorite Silvestrov works? So far, I only know his highly regarded 5th Symphony, which is quite a haunting work if a bit too "static" for my taste. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood for it when I listened.

Give a listen to his Symphony No. 4 for brass and strings. It's outstanding!

https://www.youtube.com/v/XMqXvVasEhs

[kyjo]

Give a listen to his Symphony No. 4 for brass and strings. It's outstanding!

https://www.youtube.com/v/XMqXvVasEhs

Oh yeah, I listened to this a few years ago but don't have strong memories of it. Time for a revisit!

[Karl Henning]

Great news!

What are everyone's favorite Silvestrov works? So far, I only know his highly regarded 5th Symphony, which is quite a haunting work if a bit too "static" for my taste. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood for it when I listened.

Stille Musik, though that will be on the "static" side for you. I also love his Piano Quintet.

[MusicTurner]

Deutsche Well published a Silvestrov interview about the current Ukraine situation (in German):

https://www.dw.com/de/valentin-silvestrov-was-macht-ihr-kremlteufel/a-61149397?maca=de-Facebook-sharing&fbclid=IwAR2fA4xU-WY9TIDMSooyqIBS_yslcRApaOesuF-iSjZsQ4AytqPvANjRORo

The headline says "What are you Kremlin devils doing". He didn't want to leave Kyiv, but was persuaded to go to Berlin. He is against boycotting all of the Russian culture, but the Putin regime consists of criminals, and Putin should be treated as a terrorist.

[bhodges]

Here's a Silvestrov gem from 2001, Hymne -- performed last month and just posted yesterday by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony -- in a luminous reading from conductor Juraj Valčuha. At the end, there's a long moment of silence, which seems all too appropriate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yRpXjsy_MY

--Bruce

[MusicTurner]

Silvestrov is still working; a 40-minute choral work, Psalm, was premiered in Warsaw yesterday. It had been commissioned in 2020, but was delayed because of the pandemic. It consists of variations on a Ukrainian folk song. Silvestrov was expected to be present, having travelled from Berlin.

[Karl Henning]

Silvestrov is still working; a 40-minute choral work, Psalm, was premiered in Warsaw yesterday. It had been commissioned in 2020, but was delayed because of the pandemic. It consists of variations on a Ukrainian folk song. Silvestrov was expected to be present, having travelled from Berlin.

Nice!

[staxomega]

New recording of his first string quartet, absolutely gorgeous performance:

[foxandpeng]

New recording of his first string quartet, absolutely gorgeous performance:

Slightly off topic... I found the coupling here of Shostakovich 8 and Schnittke 3 almost unbearably sad. I don't often find such things to be so afrecting, but this was profoundly mood altering.

[staxomega]

Slightly off topic... I found the coupling here of Shostakovich 8 and Schnittke 3 almost unbearably sad. I don't often find such things to be so afrecting, but this was profoundly mood altering.

The whole album is, but then again I woke up with a pep in my step in the mood to hear The Downward Spiral first thing that morning 

[bhodges]

Sampling some of this moving new ECM recording titled Maidan, with works Silvestrov wrote after the protests in 2014. Gorgeous performances by the Kyiv Chamber Choir, led by Mykola Hobdych.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlQFW5Om3jU

-Bruce

[Karl Henning]

Sampling some of this moving new ECM recording titled Maidan, with works Silvestrov wrote after the protests in 2014. Gorgeous performances by the Kyiv Chamber Choir, led by Mykola Hobdych.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlQFW5Om3jU

-Bruce

Nice!

[bhodges]

Just published today, my article on Silvestrov's Maidan, with the Kyiv Chamber Choir, and a fine reminder of the beauty of great choral singing. WRTI is the public radio station affiliated with Temple University, and I'm delighted to be working with Nate Chinen, the noted jazz writer, on articles here and there.

https://www.wrti.org/wrti-spotlight/2022-10-11/album-of-the-week-valentin-silvestrovs-maidan

-Bruce

[Karl Henning]

Nice, again!