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Airat Ichmouratov Three Romances for viola, strings and harp, Op. 22 I mv. Moderato (Modern Classical Music) Elvira Misbakhova viola I Musici de Montreal Airat Ichmouratov conductor The Three Romances for viola, strings and harp, Op. 22 are beautiful miniatures, nostalgic and wistful, at times, more intense and dynamic at others. They are an affectionate character portrayal of Eleonora Turovsky (1939-2012) and were written as a birthday gift and first performed at a surprise birthday concert in 2009 by her pupils. The first Romance evokes a feeling of spring awakening in its graceful, sustained theme which ebbs and flows in the breeze. In the variation that follows, a more active accompaniment from the harp enriches the string texture, as the viola line gradually comes into bloom. The viola then becomes more ardent, dying away into a coda built upon fragments of the theme. A final soliloquy from the viola, echoes the main theme. Its outline becomes a slow-moving ostinato around which the second Romance is built. Its yearning main theme rises and falls after the manner of the previous Romance, to which it is thematically related. As the layers build and a new, more rhythmic theme is introduced, the music becomes more emphatic and insistent. The tension is resolved during a brief recitative and the viola leads into a concluding variation over the opening ostinato sequence. The third Romance has an elegiac atmosphere at the beginning and end, partly through the pervading atmosphere of the Adagietto from Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, but also through the expressive long suspensions built into the opening motif of the main theme. (Its leap of a seventh – deriving from one of the themes in the last movement of Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony – plays a particularly powerful role in the Octet and has subsequently evolved into what Ichmouratov acknowledges as his personal ‘Fate’ motif, found in such works as the Fourth String Quartet, Second Cello Concerto and Second Concerto Grosso). Here, it evolves from poignancy to persistence and forceful dissonance within a short time span. The movement closes with the tranquillity of the opening. The Romances had their public première May 16, 2012 by Elvira Misbakhova with I Musici de Montréal conducted by the composer. © 2019 Keith Horner check my playlists: Orchestra music: Music for Chamber (String) Orchestra: Chamber music and music for piano solo: ? list=PLEp6Ds_zmcMqterEU8ZAwzGxMWRQLGgsp Conductor: Music for Children: Kleztory klezmer band: Modern Classical Music for Studying, Concentration, Relaxation: Maestro de la Cuisine: *********************************** Airat Ichmouratov is a Russian / Canadian classic composer, conductor and klezmer clarinetist. (Modern Classical Music) Twitter: Instagram: Facebook: #classicalmusic #Ichmouratov #modernclassicalmusic #chamberorchestra #misbakhova #contemporaryclassicalmusic #strings #viola #Alto #violist #modadeviola #luthier #relax #bratsche
