2022: a year in music
This year brought a number of stunning discoveries - here are some of them, in chronological order as I came across them:
Shostakovich piano trios: 1st trio was written by a 16-year old Shostakovich and is a lovely, playful piece, so unlike most of his oeuvre. 2nd trio was composed during the war and is a piece of astounding emotional depth, despite its fairly simple language. I wrote more about it here.
Век-волкодав (The Age of Wolfhound) is a song by the Russian rapper Noize MC, from a tribute album to Osip Mandelstam, based on his poetry and reimagined by living musicians. Here’s my translation of the poem.
Muğam sayagı (À la mugham) by Franghiz Alizadeh is a work for string quartet that captivated me from the opening measures - a mesmerizing motif in cello that is sustained for ~4.5 min while other instruments gradually add their voices layer by layer, followed by dramatic and colorful development. Kronos Quartet recorded this and other works of Franghiz Alizade, like Oasis and The Apsheron quintet.
Pie Jesu by Lili Boulanger, for soprano, string quartet, harp and organ is an enchanting piece which she completed by the end of her life at the age of 24. I also love her song cycle Clairières dans le ciel. Here’s a full album on apple music.
Brahms piano concerto 2 in B-flat - I listened to it while reading Jeremy Denk’s autobiography ‘Every good boy does fine’ where it is of great personal significance for the author. It’s a majestic piece, to be sure!
Also thanks to that book I discovered György Sebök (Denk’s revered piano teacher) and Jànos Starker (cellist and long-time collaborator of Sebök). They recoreded Bach’s cello suites and cello sonatas, Brahms and Mendelsson cello sonatas and Beethoven cello sonatas, among others.
Sonatas for Viola Alone by Paul Hindemith are a part of the staple viola repertoire but for me they were a huge discovery. Especially the 2nd movement of the 4th sonata, ‘Lied’, is an absolute thing of beauty.
Fauré’s Requiem is perhaps the most luminous and mirthful of all requiems, expressing “a very human feeling of faith in eternal rest” - I wrote more about it here.
Reena Esmail is a huge discovery for me. She’s an Indian-American composer, and her ideas of fusing Indian and Western classical music speaks to me deeply because this is exactly what I’m trying to do with Azerbaijani mugham and Western classical forms as well. I especially enjoyed her piece for solo cello Perhaps, When the violin for SATB choir + cello, and This love between us: Prayers of unity, especially the last movement, Islam.
I’ve been revisiting and rediscovering recordings by Imamyar Hasanov, an eminent Azerbaijani-American kamancha player. Dance of Fire and this duet with Arslan Hazreti stood out to me among many of his masterful recordings.
