Astreja – Music from Davos (1992)

After listening to a couple of albums by the Astreja Ensemble (originally. Sofia Gubaidulina, Vyacheslav Artemov and Victor Suslin; later, the group’s setting varied a bit around central musicians Victor Suslin and Gubaidulina), I have finally come to understand this notion made by many critics of Gubaidulina, namely, that she's trying to connect intuitively to pre-Christian musical customs in many of her works. Which, by the way, does not at all contradict her later religious convictions. Apparently, both concepts go hand in hand in her music.
The members of the Astreja group met in 1975 and started a collective using a vast array of unfamiliar traditional Russian music instruments: kanon, autoharp, tar, dutar, panduri, kernancha, zurna, duduk, drums, bells, gongs, guiro, maracas and many more which I was unable to decipher due to the eternal library stickers in the booklet. The number of instruments was reduced at the time of the aforelying live recording from Davos; both Gubaidulina and Suslin had emigrated to Germany after 1981 and could not possibly collect every single instrument they’d used during the fruitful years 1975-1981.
The Astreja collective meant to rely on their improvisational talents, which is (or used to be) quite uncommon practice in classical music. I’m sure many a lover of free jazz might appreciate this record just as much as more classically orientated listeners.

This was recorded live at the International Music Festival in Davos on 5th & 7th of August, 1991. When Gubaidulina joined Victor in Germany (they’re neighbours in a little village near Hamburg, if I’m not mistaken), they picked up the habit again, found that the initial sparks and more importantly, the joy of instantly making music hadn’t left them.

I’ve regularly read articles about Gubaidulina, who, perhaps more than others, openly dared to defy the rules set out by the rather strict Russian Ministry of Culture at the time. When she was told to not compose the way she did, she said she would compose the way she did, in spite of the troubles she might get.

Well, there are many photos around portraying her as quite a strong-willed personality. Look at those eyes full of determination. Against whomever’s “No”, I can well imagine her firmly outspoken “Yes” – and that’s the end of the argument. Gubaidulina composed what she wanted to compose.

Pre-Christian music, I said? Yes. Listen to the music. This is pure Paganism. Weird, powerful music, strikingly original, and scarier than Igor’s Sacre. Black magic. I do not doubt Valentina Ponomareva, a singer who I’ll have to search for after listening to this disc, strongly adds to the atmosphere of the music.

And how about Sofia…? O, we have always known. Gubaidulina is a witch. And we love her music.

Tracks:

01. Piece 1 [0:16:25.45]
02. Piece 2 [0:12:41.30]
03. Piece 3 [0:08:18.50]
04. Piece 4 [0:11:44.00]

Performers:

Sofia Gubaidulina – various instruments
Victor Suslin – various instruments
Valentina Ponomareva - voice
Mark Pekarsky – various percussive instruments