Giya Kancheli
Encyclopedia
Giya Kancheli born 10 August 1935, in Tbilisi
, is a Georgian
composer
resident in Belgium
.
Since 1991, Kancheli has lived in Western Europe: first in Berlin, and since 1995 in Antwerp, where he is composer-in-residence for the Royal Flemish Philharmonic.
(in his ubiquitous blurred tonal transitions), zoom (such as the long crescendo
a third of the way into the Sixth Symphony), abrupt cuts
(jumping from very quiet to very loud, as in the opening of the Fifth Symphony), and so on. Rodion Shchedrin
speaks of Kancheli as "an ascetic with the temperament of a maximalist
; a restrained Vesuvius".
Kancheli has written seven symphonies
, and what he terms a liturgy
for viola
and orchestra
, called Mourned by the Wind. His Fourth Symphony received its American premiere, with the Philadelphia Orchestra
under Yuri Temirkanov
, in January 1978, not long before the cultural freeze in the United States against Soviet culture. Glasnost
allowed Kancheli to regain exposure, and he began to receive frequent commissions, as well as performances within Europe and America.
Championed internationally by the likes of Dennis Russell Davies
, Jansug Kakhidze
, Gidon Kremer
, Yuri Bashmet
, Kim Kashkashian
, Mstislav Rostropovich
, and the Kronos Quartet
, Kancheli has seen world premieres of his works in Seattle, as well as with the New York Philharmonic
under Kurt Masur
. He continues to receive regular commissions. New CDs of his recent works are regularly released, notably on the ECM label.
His work Styx is written for solo viola, chorus and orchestra. It is a farewell to his friends Avet Terterian
and Alfred Schnittke
, whose names are sung by the choir at certain points.
In Georgia, Kancheli's work is well-known in the theatre, from which he draws much of his musical composition . For two decades, he served as the music director of the Rustaveli Theatre
in Tbilisi. He composed an opera Music for the Living, in collaboration with Rustaveli director Robert Sturua
, and in December 1999, the opera was restaged for the Deutsches National Theater in Weimar
. He has written music for dozens of films, many of them well-known in the Russian-speaking world but virtually unknown outside it, such as Georgi Daneliya
's sci-fi cult hit Kin-dza-dza!
.
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
, is a Georgian
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
resident in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
.
Since 1991, Kancheli has lived in Western Europe: first in Berlin, and since 1995 in Antwerp, where he is composer-in-residence for the Royal Flemish Philharmonic.
Work
In his symphonies, Kancheli's musical language typically consists of slow scraps of minor-mode melody against long, subdued, anguished string discords. These passages are occasionally punctuated with "battle scenes" involving martial brass and percussion. His music post-1990 has become more refined and generally more subdued and nostalgic in character. Some commentators talk about his music in cinematic terms; one can find equivalents of the dissolveDissolve (filmmaking)
In the post-production process of film editing and video editing, a dissolve is a gradual transition from one image to another. The terms fade-out and fade-in and are used to describe a transition to and from a blank image. This is in contrast to a cut where there is no such transition. A dissolve...
(in his ubiquitous blurred tonal transitions), zoom (such as the long crescendo
Crescendo
-In music:*Crescendo, a passage of music during which the volume gradually increases, see Dynamics * Crescendo , a Liverpool-based electronic pop band* "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue", one of Duke Ellington's longer-form compositions...
a third of the way into the Sixth Symphony), abrupt cuts
Jump cut
A jump cut is a cut in film editing and vloging in which two sequential shots of the same subject are taken from camera positions that vary only slightly. This type of edit causes the subject of the shots to appear to "jump" position in a discontinuous way...
(jumping from very quiet to very loud, as in the opening of the Fifth Symphony), and so on. Rodion Shchedrin
Rodion Shchedrin
Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin is a Russian composer. He was one оf the leading Soviet composers, and was the chairman of the Union of Russian Composers from 1973 until 1990.-Life and Works:...
speaks of Kancheli as "an ascetic with the temperament of a maximalist
Maximalism
The term maximalism is sometimes associated with post-modern novels, such as by David Foster Wallace and Thomas Pynchon, where digression, reference, and elaboration of detail occupy a great fraction of the text....
; a restrained Vesuvius".
Kancheli has written seven symphonies
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
, and what he terms a liturgy
Liturgy
Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
for viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
and orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
, called Mourned by the Wind. His Fourth Symphony received its American premiere, with the Philadelphia Orchestra
Philadelphia Orchestra
The Philadelphia Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. One of the "Big Five" American orchestras, it was founded in 1900...
under Yuri Temirkanov
Yuri Temirkanov
Yuri Khatuevich Temirkanov is a Russian conductor of Circassian origin.Yuri Temirkanov has been the Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic since 1988.-Early life:...
, in January 1978, not long before the cultural freeze in the United States against Soviet culture. Glasnost
Glasnost
Glasnost was the policy of maximal publicity, openness, and transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the Soviet Union, together with freedom of information, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half of the 1980s...
allowed Kancheli to regain exposure, and he began to receive frequent commissions, as well as performances within Europe and America.
Championed internationally by the likes of Dennis Russell Davies
Dennis Russell Davies
Dennis Russell Davies is an American conductor and pianist. He studied piano and conducting at the Juilliard School where he received his doctorate...
, Jansug Kakhidze
Jansug Kakhidze
Jansug Kakhidze was a Georgian conductor, nicknamed "the Georgian Karajan". Kakhidze was music director of the Georgian State Symphony Orchestra for two decades beginning in 1973.-Musical career:...
, Gidon Kremer
Gidon Kremer
Gidon Kremer is a Latvian violinist and conductor. In 1980 he left the USSR and settled in Germany.-Biography:Kremer was born in Riga to parents of German-Jewish and Latvian-Swedish origins. He began playing the violin at the age of four, receiving instruction from his father and his grandfather,...
, Yuri Bashmet
Yuri Bashmet
Yuri Abramovich Bashmet is a Russian conductor and violist.Direct patrilineal descendant of Besht.-Biography:Yuri Bashmet was born on 24 January 1953 in Rostov-on-Don in the family of Abram Borisovich Bashmet and Maya Zinovyeva Bashmet . "Father's mother, Tsilya Efimovna, studied singing at the...
, Kim Kashkashian
Kim Kashkashian
Kim Kashkashian is an Armenian-American violist.-Professional career:Kim Kashkashian studied the viola with Karen Tuttle. She also studied at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. She won the 2nd prize at the 1980 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and the 1980 ARD International Music...
, Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, KBE , known to close friends as Slava, was a Soviet and Russian cellist and conductor. He was married to the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya. He is widely considered to have been the greatest cellist of the second half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest of...
, and the Kronos Quartet
Kronos Quartet
Kronos Quartet is a string quartet founded by violinist David Harrington in 1973 in Seattle, Washington. Since 1978, the quartet has been based in San Francisco, California. The longest-running combination of performers had Harrington and John Sherba on violin, Hank Dutt on viola, and Joan...
, Kancheli has seen world premieres of his works in Seattle, as well as with the New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
under Kurt Masur
Kurt Masur
Kurt Masur is a German conductor, particularly noted for his interpretation of German Romantic music.- Biography :Masur was born in Brieg, Lower Silesia, Germany and studied piano, composition and conducting in Leipzig, Saxony. Masur has been married three times...
. He continues to receive regular commissions. New CDs of his recent works are regularly released, notably on the ECM label.
His work Styx is written for solo viola, chorus and orchestra. It is a farewell to his friends Avet Terterian
Avet Terterian
Avet Terterian was an Armenian composer, awarded the Konrad Adenauer Prize. He was a friend and colleague of Giya Kancheli, Konstantin Orbelyan, and Tigran Mansuryan...
and Alfred Schnittke
Alfred Schnittke
Alfred Schnittke ; November 24, 1934 – August 3, 1998) was a Russian and Soviet composer. Schnittke's early music shows the strong influence of Dmitri Shostakovich. He developed a polystylistic technique in works such as the epic First Symphony and First Concerto Grosso...
, whose names are sung by the choir at certain points.
In Georgia, Kancheli's work is well-known in the theatre, from which he draws much of his musical composition . For two decades, he served as the music director of the Rustaveli Theatre
Rustaveli Theatre
Rustaveli National Theatre also referred to as Rustaveli State Drama Theatre, is found in Tbilisi, Georgia. The theatre is conveniently located at 17 Rustaveli Avenue, one of the main streets in Tbilisi...
in Tbilisi. He composed an opera Music for the Living, in collaboration with Rustaveli director Robert Sturua
Robert Sturua
Robert Sturua is a Georgian theater director, who gained international acclaim for his original interpretation of the works of Brecht, Shakespeare, Chekhov. He was based at the Shota Rustaveli Dramatic Theater in Tbilisi, and has staged productions throghout the world.- Biography :Robert Sturua...
, and in December 1999, the opera was restaged for the Deutsches National Theater in Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
. He has written music for dozens of films, many of them well-known in the Russian-speaking world but virtually unknown outside it, such as Georgi Daneliya
Georgi Daneliya
Georgi Daneliya is a Soviet/Georgian/Russian film director, who became known throughout the Soviet Union for his "sad comedies" .Daneliya graduated from the Moscow Architecture Institute and worked as an architect...
's sci-fi cult hit Kin-dza-dza!
Kin-dza-dza!
Kin-dza-dza! is a 1986 Soviet comedy-science fiction film released by the Mosfilm studio and directed by Georgi Daneliya, with a story by Georgi Daneliya and Revaz Gabriadze. The movie was filmed in color, consists of two parts and runs for 135 minutes in total.The film is a dark and grotesque...
.
Orchestral
- Symphony No. 2: Songs (1970)
- Symphony No. 3 (1973)
- Symphony No. 4 "To the Memory of Michelangelo" (1974)
- Symphony No. 5 "To the Memory of My Parents" (1977)
- Symphony No. 6 (1978–1980)
- Symphony No. 7 "Epilogue" (1986)
- Mourned by the Wind (Vom Winde beweint), liturgy for viola and orchestra (1989)
- Abie ne viderem (I turned away so as not to see) for alto flute / viola, piano and string orchestra (1992–1994)
- Trauerfarbenes Land (1994)
- ...à la Duduki (1995)
- Simi, for cello and orchestra (1995)
- Rokwa (1999)
Chamber music
- Morning Prayers for chamber orchestra and tape (1990; 1st work from the 1990–95 four-part cycle A Life without Christmas)
- Midday Prayers for soprano, clarinet and chamber orchestra (1990; 2nd work from the cycle A Life without Christmas)
- Night Prayers for string quartet (1992–1995; 4th work from the cycle A Life without Christmas)
- Caris Mere (After the wind) for soprano and viola (1994)
- Magnum Ignotum for wind ensemble (1994)
- Valse Boston for piano and strings (1996)
- Instead of a Tango for violin, bandoneon, piano and double bass (1996)
- In L'Istesso Tempo for piano quartet (1997)
- Sio for strings, piano and percussion (1998)
- Chiaroscuro for string quartet (2011)
Choral/Opera
- Music for the living, opera in two acts (1982–1984)
- Bright Sorrow Requiem (to the 40th Anniversary of the Victory over Fascism) (1984)
- Evening Prayers, for eight alto voices and chamber orchestra (1991; 3d work from the 1990–95 four-part cycle A Life without Christmas)
- Psalm 23, for soprano and chamber orchestra (1993)
- Lament, concerto for violin, soprano and orchestra (1994)
- Diplipito, for cello, counter-tenor and chamber orchestra (1997)
- And Farewell Goes Out Sighing... for violin, countertenor and orchestra (1999)
- Styx, for viola, mixed choir and orchestra (1999)
- Little Imber, for solo voice, children's and men's choirs and small ensemble (2003)
- Amao Omi, for SATB choir saxophone quartet (2005)
Sources
- Kennedy, MichaelMichael Kennedy (music critic)Dr. George Michael Sinclair Kennedy CBE is an English biographer, journalist and writer on classical music. He joined the Daily Telegraph at the age of 15 in 1941, and began writing music criticism for it in 1948...
(2006), The Oxford Dictionary of Music, 985 pages, ISBN 0-19-861459-4
External links
- List of works
- Entry at The Living Composers Project
- Music under Soviet Rule, by Ian McDonald
- Kancheli at Schirmer
- The Space of Absence in the Music of Giya Kancheli, by Dylan Trigg
- Giya Kancheli and the Aesthetics of Nostalgia, by Dylan Trigg
- Kancheli at ECM Records
- Gia Kancheli at IMDB
Interviews
- Giya Kancheli interview by Bruce Duffie, February 27, 1995