★★★★☆/★★★★☆
The leading Ukrainian composer, living in German exile since 2022, defies categorisation. Under Soviet rule, Valentin Silvestrov maintained an aloofness from imposed styles, ignoring political and national pressures. He was twice expelled from the Composers Union and carried on composing in his own stubborn way, mining elements of the past to relate to the unhappy present. Under Ukrainian independence he saw no reason to change.
The piano pieces played by Alexei Lyubimov on ECM, belong to the opening years of the 21st century. Some are dedicated to kindred composers Arvo Pärt, Alexander Knaifel, Leonid Hrabovsky — others refer to Glinka, Schubert and, unexpectedly, Henry Purcell. Each is a meditation on musicians and times that informed Silvestrov’s outlook. Although some might be mistaken on first hearing for anyone from Schumann to Einaudi, Silvestrov’s personality is unerring and unmistakable, gentle to the point of soporific, but always with a cogency that makes you listen to the end.
The violin concerto, played by Janusz Wawrowski with the Lithuanian national orchestra, dates from 2016, when the composer was turning 80. If Alfred Schnittke had never existed, Silvestrov would have invented him in this intense work, a score that veers without warning or explanation from orchestral bombast to solo contemplation, and back. It is an uneven conversation, rich enough in content to reward repeated listening. The accompanying eighth symphony of 2012 is shadowed by the Russian uprising in Crimea and the appalling tragedies that ensued. The symphony belongs to the canon established by Shostakovich and Vaughan Williams in 1943; it will never leave us. The conductor is Christopher Lyndon-Gee.
