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Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Anja Lechner, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Candida Thompson - Tigran Mansurian: Quasi parlando (2014)

Posted By: Designol

Date: 28 Jul 2022 11:50:56

Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Anja Lechner, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Candida Thompson - Tigran Mansurian: Quasi parlando (2014)

Quasi Parlando is an important addition to ECM's documentation of the work of Tigran Mansurian, an often breathtaking account of highly original contemporary chamber orchestra music. Issued in the wake of his 75th birthday, the album presents four works for soloists and strings, and marks the ECM debut of the Moldovan violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, winner of the 2013 Gramophone Awards 'Record of the Year'.

It opens with the Armenian composer's fiercely-concentrated Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and String Orchestra, and proceeds to new music performed by its dedicatees: the lyrical Romance, dedicated to Patricia Kopatchinskaja, and the intensely expressive Quasi Parlando, dedicated to German cellist Anja Lechner. Both are world premiere recordings, as is the Violin Concerto No 2, subtitled Four Serious Songs, which concludes the programme. Throughout, the soloists deliver committed performances, as does the Amsterdam Sinfonietta under the direction of Candida Thompson.

In terms of textural density, Mansurian's music has seen some changes in the thirty years that separate the composing of the Double Concerto and the Four Serious Songs, but his aesthetic stance has been consistent, both works sharing an immediacy of expression and rigorous creative will. At the same time, the composer encourages a degree of creative freedom from his music's interpreters: "What is important is what the music needs, not what I need", he said in a talk at the Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, immediately before the recording of these pieces in October 2012.

Tigran Mansurian's music was first heard on ECM with the recording Hayren (released in 2003), where his pieces were brought together with music of his great formative influence, the ethnologist, composer and priest, Komitas. Subsequent Mansurian recordings include Monodia, the String Quartets, and the choral album Ars Poetica.

ECM’s fourth release devoted to Tigran Mansurian (75 this year) focuses on his concertante music for string orchestra from the past decade. Most imposing is the Double Concerto, in which violin and cello combine over two movements – the first building to a febrile confrontation before withdrawing into the shadows, then the second bringing a sustained and intense discourse, with the soloists inexorably drawn into the enveloping string textures. Both shorter pieces sound tailor-made for the soloists in question: Romance unfolds as an initially lyrical dialogue whose poise is not regained after an agitated central phase, while Quasi parlando pursues a more discursive exchange well suited to the thoughtful artistry of Anja Lechner.

The emotional acuity of Patricia Kopatchinskaja’s playing is further demonstrated in Four Serious Songs, a concerto whose teasingly oblique assembly of formal elements is evident in a follow-through from the impassiveness of the opening movement, via the increasingly fractious gestures of its successor and the glowering unison writing of the ensuing Allegro (its single minute bringing the only fast music on this disc), to a finale whose inwardness readily affords the serenity implied by its semplice marking.

Throughout the programme, the playing of the Amsterdam Sinfonietta – as directed by Candida Thompson – reinforces the impressive showing from its series of recordings for Channel Classics, while both the spacious yet
never remote sound and the detailed booklet-notes are up to ECM’s customary standards. Those intent on exploring the music of this arresting figure could well start here.

Review by Richard Whitehouse, Gramophone.co.uk

Review by Hrayr Attarian, Allaboutjazz.com

Armenian composer Tigran Mansurian's poignant and introspective Quasi Parlando on ECM consists of four string concertos. Two penned almost three decades apart and two others that he wrote specifically for each of the soloists on the album; violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja and cellist Anja Lechner. The unifying theme of this splendid disc, and one that recurs throughout most of Mansurian's opus, is a sublime, almost effortless, narrative sense endowed with a timeless mysticism.

The music is laced with both sorrow and solace, often simultaneously as is clearly heard on the penetrating and profound "Four Serious Songs For Violin And String Orchestra" from 2006. On the first movement of this, somber yet lyrical, musing on death's inevitability Kopatchinskaja's throbbing, visceral sound flavors the stream of consciousness pondering of the Amsterdam Sinfonietta with quiet grief.

Her passionate and achingly gorgeous solo on the second is mournful yet enveloped in a gossamer spirituality. Conductor Candida Thompson deftly leads the Sinfonietta in an incandescent, and discreetly celebratory performance, rich in Armenian folk motifs, that undulates around Kopatchinskaja's violin. The brief "Allegro Vivace" burst of darkly hued whimsy before the stately, funèbre final section. The latter opens with an angelic serenity that Kopatchinskaja's violin shatters midway with her vibrant, wailing strings. The piece is simultaneously a celebration of life and rage against its finality.

Fragments of Armenian popular melodies color the melancholic and emotive "Romance For Violin And String Orchestra" (2011), composed for and dedicated to Kopatchinskaja. The violinist's unadorned and tender bowing echoes against the ensemble's fluid refrains. Kopatchinskaja's anguished, yet restrained dramatic phrases precede the transcendental, placid closure.

The title composition written for Lechner in 2012 is perhaps the most recitative of the recording. Thompson and the Sinfonietta establish an expectant, vivid ambience replete with folkloric patterns. Lechner's poetic, agile cello takes center stage as it resonates with humor, sadness and intense fervor. Her pizzicato tones bounce off the orchestral din with subtle theatricality leading to her concluding, con arco solemn chant.

Lechner and Kopatchinskaja's virtuosity shines on the haunting, 1978 "Double Concerto For Violin, Violoncello And String Orchestra." Lechner's strings reverberate wistfully while Kopatchinskaja's mellifluous violin glides in hypnotic patterns. A tense dialogue evolves between the two soloists over a backdrop of Sinfonietta's fiery sonic flourishes that flirts with dissonance. The intense symphonic ambience melts into a pensive tranquility as the first part ends.

The second passage, in contrast is more intimate and reflective. Kopatchinskaja's forlorn yet elegant violin punctuates the somber atmosphere with warmth and compassion. Lechner's reserved, and exquisite cello is sedately nostalgic. The flowing musical chronicle ends on a deeply elegiac note.

Part due to the choice of material and part to the deep sympathy the musicians have for Mansurian's oeuvre, this record serves as an overview of the composer's uniformly superb career. It also demonstrates that the intervening thirty-four years between the oldest and newest works have not dampened his creative zeal but instead enhanced it with a contemplative maturity.

Review by Hrayr Attarian, Allaboutjazz.com

Tigran Mansurian at Allmusic
Tigran Mansurian at Wiki

Patricia Kopatchinskaja at Allmusic
Patricia Kopatchinskaja at Wiki

Anja Lechner at Allmusic
Anja Lechner Website
Anja Lechner at Wiki

Candida Thompson at Allmusic
Candida Thompson Website
Candida Thompson at Wiki

Tracklist:

Double Concerto
01. I. Largo concentrando (13:09)
02. II. Largo sostenuto (09:37)

03. Romance (09:24)

04. Quasi parlando (08:00)

Concerto No.2 'Four Serious Songs'
05. I. Andante con moto (06:20)
06. II. Andante mosso, agitato (07:43)
07. III. Allegro vivace (01:08)
08. IV. Con moto, molto semplice (07:10)

EAC log

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EAC extraction logfile from 6. June 2014, 12:59

Tigran Mansurian / Quasi Parlando

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==== Log checksum E6232694841713E2C741032F183D546731BDEA329A39196CB1B1F1A02E5B201E ====

DR log

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2015-10-18 16:16:54

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Patricia Kopatchinskaja & Anja Lechner / Mansurian: Quasi parlando
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR15 -0.36 dB -21.44 dB 13:09 01-Double Concerto: I. Largo concentrando
DR13 -14.49 dB -33.89 dB 9:38 02-Double Concerto: II. Largo sostenuto
DR14 -3.87 dB -25.81 dB 9:25 03-Romance
DR16 -6.33 dB -28.57 dB 8:00 04-Quasi parlando
DR14 -9.71 dB -29.15 dB 6:20 05-Concerto No.2 'Four Serious Songs': I. Andante con moto
DR13 -3.06 dB -21.00 dB 7:44 06-Concerto No.2 'Four Serious Songs': II. Andante mosso, agitato
DR11 -3.49 dB -22.68 dB 1:08 07-Concerto No.2 'Four Serious Songs': III. Allegro vivace
DR15 -4.25 dB -26.22 dB 7:11 08-Concerto No.2 'Four Serious Songs': IV. Con moto, molto semplice
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 8
Official DR value: DR14

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 492 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================

All thanks to original releaser

More interesting music in My Blog

2014 Amsterdam Sinfonietta Anja Lechner Candida Thompson Classical ECM Lossless Patricia Kopatchinskaja Tigran Mansurian Classical Music CD-Rip + Scans FLAC MP3