New Classics
Born in Moscow in 1940, Vyacheslav Artyomov is regarded as Russia’s greatest living composer. As a young man, he developed a profound interest in Russian folklore and traditional music of the East, as well as the works of Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Messiaen, Arthur Honegger, and the Polish avant-garde. Artyomov’s warm, expressive compositions reflect his interest in the archaic, Christian motifs and Eastern meditation.
He prefers not to call his music ‘contemporary’, using instead a specific term for including it into the Tradition ‘musica perennis’ (eternal music). As he says, ‘music is the only way for the cognition of the sense of existence’. Since the fall of the Soviet regime his deep, spiritual and brilliantly crafted music has travelled the world to great acclaim. His works are in the grand symphonic and post-Romantic traditions and he has been called ‘the Bruckner of the 21st century’. This is the fifth in Divine Art’s series devoted to Vyacheslav Artyomov, which has included recordings of his ‘Threshold’ and ‘Gentle Emanation’ symphonies.
The Symphony of Elegies is the composer’s own favourite among his symphonies composed so far – and it is very different from the others, being exceptionally ethereal, mainly very quiet, and meditative as well as sorrowful. The Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra is conducted by Saulius Sondeckis. The album also features two other important works by Artyomov. ‘Awakening’, played here by Oleh Krysa and Tatiana Grindenko, requires virtuoso playing but not of the ‘fireworks’ kind. ‘Incantations’, featuring the Mark Pekarsky Percussion Ensemble and the marvelous vocal talent of the late soprano Lydia Davydova, is a percussion piece that was formerly recorded under the title Invocations.
‘Artyomov brings glory to our country and to Russian art.’ – Mstislav Rostropovich.
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