American Record Guide

The composer’s biography begins “Vyacheslav Artyomov’s life under circumstances of unrecognition, official defamation and exclusion from livelihood and—no less important-spiritual loneliness, is truly heroic, and music, created by him in such a totalitarian country is an extraordinary feat.” A contemporary and friend of Sofia Gubaidulina, his interests are vast and include improvising with non-orchestral and exotic instruments, Russian folklore, traditional music of the East, and physics. Written for Percussion Ensemble, A Sonata of Meditations has four movements: Morning Meditation, Afternoon Meditation, Evening Meditation, and Midnight Meditation. Written in thin orchestration and with slowly developing subject material, the work is constructed in such a way that sitting through a performance of it is a true guided meditation. Though each movement has a different energy and encompasses a wide range of moods, I would liken Artyomov here to John Luther Adams: the listener is allowed the mental space to embark on a personal meditation as the music weaves in and out of different sound worlds at a snail’s pace. The second piece, A Garland of Recitations, feels like a slow-moving cloud as the strings merge through eery harmonies, delicate as mist. The soloists take turns giving their individual recitations as per the title of the work. These recitations sound nearly improvised, and they feel earnest, like pleading soliloquies. Fans of Adams and Gubaidulina will find much to enjoy here.

—Stephanie Boyd