CD ECM Records Ivan Monighetti, Tatiana Melentieva - Alexander Knaifel: Blazhenstva

2006

Ivan Monighetti - violoncel, pian, dirijor
Tatiana Melentieva - soprana
Piotr Migunov - bas
State Hermitage Orchestra
Lege Artis Choir

Alexander Knaifel
- Lamento For Violoncello Solo (1967)
- Blazhenstva For Soloists, Orchestra And Choir (1996)

Following on from the critically-acclaimed “Amicta Sole” album, Russian composer Alexander Knaifel presents two strikingly different compositions, inspirationally linked through the figure of Mstislav Rostropovich. Knaifel’s background as a cellist is put to good service in the 18 minute Lamento for solo cello (written 1967, revised 1987). The scope of the instrument’s expressive potential is brought into play from the first furious sounds. Monighetti, who was Rostropovich’s last student at the Moscow Conservatory, rises to the work’s dynamic challenges. “Blazhenstva” in contrast is a radiant meditation on the Sermon on the Mount, for soloists, orchestra and choir, written as a 70th birthday present for Rostropovich in 1996. Monighetti here has a triple role - as pianist, cellist and conductor.

***

„Benediction” might well characterise Blazhenstva, a setting of the Beatitudes written for the 70th birthday of Rostropovich… What is certain is the consistency of its evolution – from an opening section in which soprano and bass are accompanied by sparse piano chords, through one of slowly descending string harmonies and another where the choir expounds the text over undulating string chords, to a final section where the cello is gradually left alone in musing introspection. Whether Blazhenstva is music to be experienced once rather than to be heard repeatedly is for each listener to decide, though the quality of performance and recording make the experience an involving one.
Richard Whitehouse, Gramophone

Lamento for solo cello begins with soloist Ivan Monighetti tearing a hole in the surrounding silence. Carving out a series of jarring double-stopped chords, this staccato assault on the instrument sounds more protestation than lament. The toccata-like writing of the opening gives way to a central section that consists of glacial harmonics and sul ponticello murmurings, out of which emerges a haunting, five-note melodic motif of beguiling simplicity. … Dedicated to Rostropovich on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, the disc’s title track dates from 1996. … Constructed from the most basic materials – quietly tolling chords in the piano, the unadorned luminosity of soprano and bass voices – the entire raison d’être of this impossibly gentle, unhurried work appears to be to dissever the listener from the terrestrial plane. Like the Pärt of Für Alina or the Silvestrov of Silent Songs, Blazhenstva possesses a crystalline beauty and hypnotic power.
Peter Quinn, International Record Review