Gheorghi Arnaoudov: The Empire of Light. A. Tosheva - piano. Concord Concerto
CCD-42032 - 56:40 ‘ Produced by Heiner Stadler. Ritual I "Svarog Rituel").
Ritual II ("Incarnation dans la Lumiere"). “..un pan de ciel
au mileu du silence...”, Partita I. |
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With its floating clouds on the CD cover and its title, The Empire of Light, this collection of piano music by Bulgarian composer Gheorghi Arnaoudov seems at first glance like a typical New Age “cross-over” production – an impression reinforced by the annotations. Eric Salzman tells us that “this a music of stasis, a kind of intense minimalism” combining Western modernism with “a spiritual and esthetic mysticism that stems from Eastern tradition”. |
The composer breathlessly describes a piece called The Enchanted Domain
as the creation of “an instant of real-world sound image but the conception
of reality lies on the other side...in the frame of silence that remains...
In the vibrations of silence... the silence of the color, the cry of the
light, the murmur of the hand that paints.” Fortunately, the actual music is far more interesting than these spacey cliches suggest. Written mainly in the late 80s and early 90s, these colorful pieces deliver the requisite contemplative, floating sensations, but they also have solid ideas and firm structures. This music is reminiscent not so much of Arvo Pärt, as the notes ominously suggest, as the earlier, less saccharine George Crumb. There is also an echo of Messiaen in the huge dynamic range and the repeating bell-like sonorities in the highest registers of the piano. Rituals I and II are the most evocative and overtly mystical works, but the strongest is the earliest, the 1983 Partita, a rugged five-movement piece of neoclassicism, tightly written and crowded with compelling ideas. This piece suggest that when |
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the New Mysticism has finally run its course – not any time soon I’m afraid – Arnaoudov will still have much to offer.
One reason to buy this disc is the sensational pianism of Angela Tosheva, a young Bulgarian with a spectacular technique, a ravishing tone, a vibrant sense of color, and a huge dynamic range. She is a tireless champion of Arnaoudov’s music, and she is lucky to have her. Now, could Concord Concerto or some other enterprising label please let us hear her in more familiar repertory? Sullivan
by Heiner Stadler. Ritual I "Svarog Rituel"). Ritual II ("Incarnation dans la Lumière"). “...un pan de ciel au mileu du silence...”, Partita I. |
Elsewhere in this issue I discuss the common fallacy of mistaking the technique
used to create art for the art itself. On most of the music groups on the
Internet, as well as in the pages of most publications devoted to music,
one will often encounter someone who describes the music of this century
as a colossal washout, generally ascribing its failure to Schoenberg and
his successors. The recording under review poses an interesting conundrum
for such a view as the Bulgarian Gheorghi Arnaoudov (b. 1957) could accurately
be described as a postserialist but the sound of his music, which is the
thing after all, has nothing in common with serial composition. The present
release, which comprises his complete piano music, is apparently his debut
on CD. I should say straight out that I love the music on this CD and I
will undoubtedly become tiresome to my friends and family in my insistence
that they MUST listen to this music. Describing what this music is like
is more problematic. The promotional materials emphasize Arnaoudov's minimalist credentials and urge that route as a means of promotion. |
Eric Salzman, whose writings on new music I have enjoyed for twenty-five
years, stresses the mystical aspect of Arnaoudov's art in his informative
and entertaining liner notes, likening the music as filling the silence
like the smoke from a ritual fire fills the air. The result is to seemingly
forge a bond with the Eastern Europeans Pärt and Górecki. Then there is
that serialist connection I mentioned earlier. With due respect to Salzman
and the wizards of promotion at Concord, I hear the music as emerging out
of Messiaen and Scelsi. Throughout the glorious, reverberant piano sound
reinforces this notion and perhaps offers another route to Arnaoudov's
music for listeners. Throughout bell sounds permeate the music. The two Rituals and the three pieces that make up Un pan de ciel au mileu du silence... (A piece of sky amid silence after paintings by Magritte), dating from 1991, 1992, and 1991-94 respectively, represent five ways of doing essentially the same thing.All five pieces refer to light in their titles (the second of the Un pan... pieces is the title track, The Empire Of Light). The music begins on a single tone, usually a D, either soft or loud, and |
then builds to include all twelve notes of the scale. Eventually the music dies back to the single tone, usually marked ppppp, before it returns to silence. Vestiges of serial conceptions remain. The twelve tones don't all appear before a repetition but once they do, they always appear in the same order. There is no transposition of the row although tones are combined with one another as well as shifted in register so both the harmony and melody are constantly shifting. Throughout, he uses the reverberating overtones as ornamentation to the basic notes, building great structures of what Stockhausen, in his piano music, has referred to as colored silence. The tendency to build his rows in thirds and fifths means that there is always a sense of sonorous chords, as opposed to clusters, in the music. There is a definite sense of no way qualified to address the specific spiritual qualities involved, the sense of something larger going on is present here as much as it is in Bruckner. Having said all that it is something of a shock to reach the last piece on the program, the early Partita I from 1983, which is described by Salzman as being actually serial, and discover virtually all of Arnaoudov's current obsessions present in his try |
at a neo-Classical suite. Of the five movements (Prelude, Recitative, Aria, Toccata, and Fugue) only the last bears any resemblance to more conventional music.
Without scores one has to accept the accuracy of the performances on faith. The piano is a gorgeous instrument and, as recorded in Sofia's Salle Bulgaria, Angela Tosileva's tone is something to behold. Urgently recommended. John Story
Andrew Foster, featured the world premieres of Kells and Et Iterum Venturus
by the Bulgarian composer Georgi Arnaoudov. Written in 1998 for solo cello,
Kells uses high harmonics to evoke a stillness and calm while the numerous
bare fifts suggest images of an ancient world. However, delivering exposed high harmonics is not a recipe for |
tranquillity as far as the performer is concerned, and the Finnish cellist
Seeli Toivio was initially tentative, although as the dynamics of work
increased her lyrical style of playing becomes more confident. Et Iterum
Venturus has a more obvious stylistic allegiance to both Paert and Messiaen
and was vividly performed by Ivo Varbanov. Joanne Talbot The Strad, June 1999 |