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A Global Vision

Sofia Gubaidulina's music draws on eastern and western culture. Today, Donald Macleod and Gerard McBurney see how this informs her quest to find a universal musical language.

Sofia Gubaidulina's music draws on eastern and western culture. Today, Donald Macleod and Gerard McBurney consider how this plays in to her quest to find a universal musical language.

To mark Sofia Gubaidulina’s ninetieth birthday, Donald Macleod and Gerard McBurney explore five different aspects of her progressive and distinctive music. Gubaidulina has been living in Germany since 1992 and is still busy composing today. When she was born in 1931 in Tatarstan, the Soviet Union was under Stalinist rule. Up until her emigration, she worked as a composer under the strictly regulated conditions determined by Soviet cultural policies. Across the week we get an insight into the life of a composer behind the Iron Curtain, as Gubaidulina developed her own creative path, un-swayed by any hint of ideological pressure.

Gubaidulina's roots are steeped in Tatar and Russian music, literature and art. But as well as her own native language, she's deliberately sought out a broad range of linguistic sources, finding inspiration for both instrumental and vocal music in both ancient and modern texts.

Hommage to Marina Tsvetayeva for a capella chorus
I: The Day’s burden has sunk beside the Waves
West German Radio Vocal Ensemble
Marcus Creed, director

Rubaiyat
Sergei Yakovenko, baritone
Collegium Musicum, Gennady Rozhdestvensky Soloists’ Ensemble
Gennady Rozhdestvensky, conductor

Galgenlieder (excerpt)
Die Mitternachtmaus
Das aesthetische Wiesel
Das Knie
Elsbeth Moser, bayan
Gergely Bodoky, flute
Cornelia Monske, percussion
Barbara Hofling, mezzo-soprano
Martin Heinze, double bass

Hommage a TS Eliot (excerpt)
Musical meditation
Sin is Behovely, but
Eduard Brunner, clarinet
Christine Whittlesey, soprano
Gidon Kremer, violin
Radovan Vlatkovic horn
Alois Posch, double bass
David Geringas, cello
Klaus Thunemann, bassoon
Tabea Zimmermann, viola
Isabelle van Keulen, violin

Garden of joy and sorrow for flute, harp, spoken voice ad lib. (excerpt)
Hat Trick Ensemble

59 minutes

Music Played

  • Sofia Gubaidulina

    Hommage to Marina Tsvetayeva (I, The Day's burden has sunk beside the Waves)

    Performer: Marcus Creed. Choir: Danish National Choir. Conductor: Stefan Parkman.
    • Chandos CHAN 10633.
    • Chandos.
    • 13.
  • Sofia Gubaidulina

    Rubaiyat

    Singer: Sergei Yavkovenko. Ensemble: Collegium Musicum. Ensemble: Gennady Rozhdestvensky Soloists' Ensemble. Conductor: Gennady Nikolayevich Rozhdestvensky.
    • MELODIYA : SUCD-10-001098.
    • MELODIYA.
    • 8.
  • Sofia Gubaidulina

    Hommage a TS Eliot (excerpt)

    Performer: Eduard Brunner. Performer: Gidon Kremer. Performer: Radovan Vlatković. Performer: Alois Posch. Performer: David Geringas. Performer: Klaus Thunemann. Performer: Tabea Zimmermann. Performer: Isabelle van Keulen. Singer: Christine Whittlesey.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON : 427-3362.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON.
    • 5.
  • Sofia Gubaidulina

    Galgenlieder (excerpt)

    Performer: Elsbeth Moser. Performer: Gergely Bodoky. Performer: Cornelia Monske. Performer: Martin Heinze. Singer: Barbara Hofling.
    • DREYER GAIDO : GDCD 21071.
    • DREYER GAIDO.
    • 1.
  • Sofia Gubaidulina

    Garden of joy and sorrow for flute, harp, spoken voice (excerpt)

    Performer: Tabea Zimmermann. Performer: Adam Walker. Performer: Agnès Clément.

Broadcast

  • Thu 4 Nov 2021 12:00

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