Sofia Gubaidulina

On Saturday night we went to another of the Miller Theater's composer portraits, this one of the Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina.  I have heard Gubaidulina's music when she came to Vancouver a while ago (back in the days when people played notated contemporary music there).   She was born in 1931, and has lived through tumultuous times in Russian life and music.  My previous impression of her was as a Christian and somewhat mystical composer through works like "Offertorium". This concert, however, showed a more modernistic composer; one work written in the early 1970's, was serial sounding, and full of dissonant sound effects characteristic of the period.   The highlight, though, was a concerto for bassoon, with an orchestra of 4 cellos and 3 basses.   Low strings!   This proved to be extremely original and quirky, often frequently upending conventional notions of the relationship between soloist and ensemble.  Full of striking ensemble effects, it received a wonderful performance from the soloist.  Another piece, for harpsichord and string quintet, was based on a Bach chorale, and was also intriguing to hear.

When we go to these new music concerts, we are also looking carefully at the audience, to see if we find people that we might have known 25 years ago (which involves trying to imagine what they might look like 25 years later...)   We were delighted to find at this concert our old friend Leo Treitler  (who we last saw a year ago..)   So we went for a drink, and caught up.