Modern Offering

The violin concerto Offertorium is perhaps the most famous work of contemporary composer Sofia Gubaidulina. This cd features a performance by the work's dedicatee Gidon Kremer with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Dutoit. There is another substantial piece on the cd, Hommage a T. S. Eliot for octet and soprano with kremer leading the octet that also includes the likes of Tabea Zimmermann on viola. The soprano is Christine Whittlesey. Offertorium has Bach's Musical Offering hidden at its' core along with aspects of Berg's violin concerto. Gubaidulina oresents these in the style of Webern with clear overtones of Russian Orthodox chant. There is the distinctive clash between serenity and short sharp vbiloent passages before the piece moves to a kind of religious conclusion. The religious feel is also evident in the settings of Eliot's Four Quartets and the theme of spiritual renewal. Not a conventional song setting, the sung and instrumental parts seem quite seperate at times. Close listening reveals the appropriateness of the musical interludes to the preceding texts, however.