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The Hilliard Ensemble, Dresdner Philharmonie, Dennis Russell Davies - Schnittke: Symphony No.9; Raskatov: Nunc dimittis (2009)

Posted By: Designol
The Hilliard Ensemble, Dresdner Philharmonie, Dennis Russell Davies - Schnittke: Symphony No.9; Raskatov: Nunc dimittis (2009)

Alfred Schnittke: Symphony No. 9; Alexander Raskatov: Nunc dimittis (2009)
Elena Vassilieva, mezzo-soprano, The Hilliard Ensemble
Dresdner Philharmonie, conducted by Dennis Russell Davies

EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 214 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 146 Mb | Scans included
Classical | Label: ECM | # ECM New Series 2025, 476 6994 | Time: 00:53:05

This 2009 ECM disc containing the world premiere of Alfred Schnittke's Ninth Symphony, the composer's final work, will be mandatory listening for fans of post-modernist Russian music, or contemporary music in general. Begun after the premiere of Schnittke's Eighth Symphony in 1994 and unfinished at the composer's death in 1998, the Ninth existed only as three movements of manuscript (and indecipherable manuscript at that: a stroke had paralyzed Schnittke's right side, forcing him to write with his left hand) until composer Alexandr Raskatov deciphered the manuscript and conductor Dennis Russell Davies presented its premiere. As presented in this January 2008 recording, Schnittke's Ninth continues and extends the austere sound world of the Eighth into ever more severe zones. There's no denying this is the authentic voice of Schnittke: the etiolated textures, abrupt gestures, timeless tempos, and haunting themes have clear roots in the composer's preceding works. Davies and the excellent Dresdner Philharmonie appear acutely conscious that the Ninth was the composer's last work, but the tone of leave-taking is inherent in Schnittke's inward music.

Schnittke's Ninth may or may not be judged the equal or even the superior of his Eighth, but it is vastly better than Raskatov's own Nunc dimittis that accompanies it here. Scored for mezzo-soprano, men's voices, and orchestra and intended as a Tombeau pour M. Schnittke, the Nunc dimittis is extremely loud and exceedingly abrasive. Though effectively performed by Davies and the Dresdner Philharmonie with mezzo-soprano Elena Vassilieva and the Hilliard Ensemble, Raskatov's tribute implicitly diminishes the man it explicitly admires. But after hearing it, the listener can be certain that its composer added nothing of his own music to the score of Schnittke's Ninth. Recorded in ECM's transparent yet immediate digital sound, this disc is unquestionably one of the most important issues of the year.

Review by James Leonard, Allmusic.com

“It seems that the ninth is a limit. He who wants to go beyond it must pass away…. Those who have written a Ninth stood too close to the hereafter.”
– Arnold Schoenberg


Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) is another in a long line of composers who have fallen to the so-called “curse of the ninth.” And while in Schnittke’s case the curse doesn’t quite hold water (it is, technically, his Tenth when one takes his Symphony No. 0 into account), the circumstances of its completion are prime material for the lore that surrounds such configurations of creative output. Regardless of how much we believe in the numerical significance of Schnittke’s Ninth, it was the last work he ever committed to paper. That he mustered the ability to do so after suffering four strokes, which had left his right side paralyzed, makes the work’s existence all the more enigmatic. Said debilitation forced Schnittke to write with his non-dominant hand, making for a virtually unreadable score. Famed Schnittke conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky subsequently prepared, under apparently spurious authority, a “performing edition,” which Schnittke vehemently rejected upon hearing a tape of its performance. Following his death soon thereafter, the score was entrusted by widow Irina to one Nikolai Korndorf, a fellow composer who sadly died of a brain tumor before he was able to do anything with it. Irina then passed the work along to Alexander Raskatov, who felt so moved in his attempts to provide a more definitive manuscript that he added an elegiac fourth movement of sorts to Schnittke’s already monumental three in the form of the Nunc dimittis (“Lord, let thy servant now depart into thy promis’d rest”) that rounds out this landmark recording.

The visceral Andante that opens the Ninth—which, in Raskatov’s estimation, acts as a “voice from beyond”—is like a string of blocks sagging over time. Harmonies move from consonance and dissonance in fluid sweeps, their ambiguity neither inviting nor repelling us. If anything, they signal a maturity that accepts those experiences that embolden us through their difficulty as well as those that refashion us through their proverbial beauty. Schnittke preserves his special sensitivity for the orchestra, treating it at times as a solo instrument, as if each section were its own string, and at others as if those voices were so distinct that they existed only through the vast spaces that separate them. It is this constant balancing act that makes the Schnittke experience so alive with nuance, easily adapting to our changing temperaments. In such a world of sound there is no self yet stable enough to hold on to for a lifetime. There is only the constant negotiation of our own musicality and the indeterminacy that binds it. And so, when the timpani announces itself at last, it sounds less like a declamatory statement and more like the heartbeat of a feeble and weary body. The addition of a harpsichord in the Moderato as a sort of tangential continuo of times past is a perfect example of Schnittke’s asymptotic grace. It also gives the symphony a concerto-like pathos, ever offset by a cryptic aftertaste and recumbent winds. As a whole, the Ninth is dominated by scales, which take a most blatant turn at the tail end of the Moderato, during which a trumpet runs through a chromatic line (perhaps in acknowledgment of its pedagogical roots?) as a lead-in to the final Presto, where we hear this modal motif echoed in the strings, and again in the lone oboe that welcomes the harpsichord’s unassuming return. Such fundamental utterances are, I think, keys into the piece’s inner energies, and prepare us for the gentle letting down of its cessation.

Raskatov’s intriguing companion piece, written in memoriam, is scored for mezzo-soprano, men’s voices and orchestra. It opens with verses by Joseph Brodsky, a favorite poet of Schnittke’s, and imparts its remaining attentions to a text by hesychast Staretz Silouan (who ECM listeners will recognize as a name of interest on Arvo Pärt’s Te Deum). Raskatov delves deeper into Schnittke’s symphonic territory, trail-marking it with voices along the way. Brief outbursts from harpsichord and marimba, along with some Ligeti-inspired vocal articulations, lend a ceremonial cast to the glowing mood. Dense brass swellings recall Górecki’s Old Polish Music, while a watery gong and shadowy electric guitar work their way into an ending that is but a mirror image of its own intentions.

A professor once told me: “Only a fool would think the answer is the most important part of the question.” Such a statement suits the music at hand, if only because the death(s) it circumscribes are as inexpressible as my unworthy attempts to relate it to the silent reader. In this regard, the present recording may be a give and take for the Schnittke admirer. On the one hand, it lacks the conviction of, say, his often-hailed Eighth. On the other, listeners will delight in the familiar presence of his beloved harpsichord and mellifluous scoring. By far one of the most stunning ECM New Series entries, this album is a more than fitting testament to a glorious composer and an opportune introduction for another who, though not so well known, walks humbly in his shadow.

Review by Tyran Grillo, ECMreviews.com

The Hilliard Ensemble, Dresdner Philharmonie, Dennis Russell Davies - Schnittke: Symphony No.9; Raskatov: Nunc dimittis (2009)



The Hilliard Ensemble, Dresdner Philharmonie, Dennis Russell Davies - Schnittke: Symphony No.9; Raskatov: Nunc dimittis (2009)



The Hilliard Ensemble, Dresdner Philharmonie, Dennis Russell Davies - Schnittke: Symphony No.9; Raskatov: Nunc dimittis (2009)



Dresdner Philharmonie
Dennis Russell Davies, conductor

Elena Vassilieva, mezzo-soprano (4)

The Hilliard Ensemble (4):
David James, countertenor
Steven Harrold, tenor
Rogers Covey-Crump, tenor
Gordon Jones, baritone

Recorded January 2008, Lukaskirche, Dresden

Tracklist:

Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998)
Symphony No. 9 (Reconstruction of the manuscript by A. Raskatov)
01. Andante (19:56)
02. Moderato (08:25)
03. Presto (08:31)

Alexander Raskatov (b.1953) In memoriam Alfred Schnittke
for mezzo-soprano, men’s voices and orchestra
Texts by Joseph Brodsky (1940-1996) and Starets Siluan (1866-1938)
04. Nunc Dimittis (16:10)


Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 5 from 4. May 2009

EAC extraction logfile from 14. April 2012, 12:45

Alfred Schnittke (Alexander Raskatov) / Symphony 9 - Reconstruction of the manucript by Alexander Raskatov

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foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2015-12-15 20:24:59

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Dresdner Philharmonie, Dennis Russell Davies / Alfred Schnittke Symphony 9 - Reconstruction of the manucript by Alexander Raskatov (1-3)
Elena Vassilieva, The Hilliard Ensemble, Dresdner Philharmonie, Dennis Russell Davies / Alfred Schnittke Symphony 9 - Reconstruction of the manucript by Alexander Raskatov (4)
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
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DR17 -0.84 dB -24.79 dB 19:57 01-Symphony No. 9 (Reconstruction of the manuscript by A. Raskatov) - Andante
DR17 -4.42 dB -28.61 dB 8:25 02-Symphony No. 9 (Reconstruction of the manuscript by A. Raskatov) - Moderato
DR15 -1.04 dB -23.13 dB 8:32 03-Symphony No. 9 (Reconstruction of the manuscript by A. Raskatov) - Presto
DR19 -2.38 dB -29.54 dB 16:11 04-Alexander Raskatov - Nunc Dimittis
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 4
Official DR value: DR17

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Bitrate: 497 kbps
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================================================================================

The Hilliard Ensemble, Dresdner Philharmonie, Dennis Russell Davies - Schnittke: Symphony No.9; Raskatov: Nunc dimittis (2009)

All thanks to original releaser - jebiawio

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