Kancheli: In I'istesso tempo; Time....and Again; V & V

COMPOSERS: Kancheli
LABELS: ECM
ALBUM TITLE: Kancheli
WORKS: In I'istesso tempo; Time....and Again; V & V
PERFORMER: Gidon Kremer, Oleg Maisenberg, Kremerata Baltica, Bridge Ensemble
CATALOGUE NO: 461 8182

Time... and Again is typical 1990s



Kancheli, with fragments of melody



in a slow tempo emerging from



silence and retreating immediately.



Bars of melting beauty are followed



by outbursts of violence; tenuous



passages verging on inaudibility



contrasted with full-blooded



Romantic statements. For the music to



work, the players need an acute sense



of timing, and Gidon Kremer and



Oleg Maisenberg have a complete



command of the flow of events,



paying as much attention to silence as to sound. In V & V, Kancheli sets



Kremer against a prerecorded voice



and a string orchestra. There’s more



continuity here, but the music still



has only a tenuous presence: climaxes



are occasionally won, but they’re cut



off abruptly, and the whole piece



has the crazy logic of a beautiful



but disturbing dream. Again, the



performances inhabit this world with



absolute confidence.



The Bridge Ensemble is just as



sympathetic in the piano quartet



In l’istesso tempo: in some ways,



a more conventional piece in



its development, but one with



disturbing undercurrents. The



regular pulse is menacing rather than



comforting, and tonality a refuge,



not a certainty. Kancheli’s position



as a powerful and individual voice



is becoming more apparent with



each vividly recorded issue in ECM’s



continuing series. Martin Cotton