Gubaidulina: Fachwerk & Silenzio
"A striking feature of Gubaidulina's work is the almost total absence of 'absolute' music. The vast majority of her pieces have an extra-musical dimension, eg. a poem ..." So reads in the linear notes of a new disc by Sofia Gubaidulina featuring two compositions in which a bayan - a Russian variant of the accordion - has a central role. I think the writer has got it wrong. The whatever from which the composer has got an idea for her composition should not be confused with extra-musical content of a composition.
The fact that there's some literary material behind her works - eg. Gubaidulina's enthusiasm for the architectural style of timber framing behind the Fachwerk (Timber Farming) - does not make her music programme music or other non-absolute music, far from that. The references she uses (certain geometrical patterns of timber framing and her desire to "show something in music reminiscent of that style") are purely musical, neither conceptual, nor descriptive. Once expressed by musical means these ideas stop having any other meaning than musical. It follows that Gubaidulina'a music on this and other albums can be taken as only referring (expressing) to themselves, not to anything extra-musical. No help from the outside world is required for the interpretation. Gubaidulina's music is music, not emotions, images, landscapes etc. That's what makes her music so great, not the background tories.
The use of the bayan distances this disc from those in which Gubaidulina's compositions are more faithful to her stravinskyan/schoenbergian roots. If I had some difficulties in pinning down the essence of the Fachwerk for Bayan, Percussion and String Orchestra, I very much enjoyed the subtle textures and rhythmic variations of Silenzio, a set of five pieces for Bayan, Violin and Cello. Prior this disc these works have not been recorded, celebrating Sofia Gubaidulina's long career and her 80th Anniversary.
In general, the friends of Gubaidulina's music should have a decent play back system in order to get fully rewarded by the listening experience. On this disc, "Silenzio" is performed almost entirely in pianissimo: the better the system the better it brings forward the delicalities of the quiet material without having to touch the volume knob. I have no complaints about the sound of this disc.