Rhythm and the borrowed past

Auerbach, Lera, Beaudoin, Richard, Cage, John, Messiaen, Olivier, różni kompozytorzy

Finehouse, Constantine, Kurganov, Daniel

ORC 100182

Violinist Daniel Kurganov and pianist Constantine Finehouse present official world premiere recordings of 21st century works by Lera Auerbach and Richard Beaudoin, as well music by John Cage and Olivier Messiaen in an album of compositions that juxtapose the anguish of lost memories with openness and hope.

As Richard Beaudoin argues in his booklet notes, this programme is characterised by the powerful sense of rhythm shared by these composers and the performers themselves. Russian polymath Lera Auerbach uses rhythm in a rhetorical and unifying way in her dramatic Violin Sonata No. 3 (2005). Richard Beaudoin composed In höchster Not (‘In deepest need’) when he was a student of Michael Finnissy; during the work’s three contrapuntal movements the violin and piano are often independent, even out-of-sync. John Cage is known for his witty avant-garde experiments in sound and his Nocturne (1947) is written in fluid notation, allowing the performers considerable freedom in their interpretation so that every performance is truly unique.

Olivier Messiaen’s rhythms were influenced by Indian music and are combined in his Thème et variations (1932), as with all his music, with a vivid sense of colour.

CD x 1

Orchid Classics

2.11.2021

5060189561827