Gubaidulina: The Canticle of the Sun

Featuring

Daniel Reuss
Pieter Wispelwey
An Raskin
Collegium Vocale Gent
Sofia Gubaidulina

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Composition History

Sofia Gubaidulina composed 'The Canticle of the Sun' in 1997 for the 70th birthday of Mstislav Rostropovich, whom she considered 'the greatest cellist of the 20th century'.

Performer Biography

Pieter Wispelwey, the cellist on this recording, won the Elisabeth Everts Prize in 1985, an award for the most promising musician in the Netherlands.

Composer Biography

Sofia Gubaidulina, born in Tatarstan in 1931, lived in Moscow until 1992, after which she moved to Germany and now resides near Hamburg.

Compositional Technique

Sofia Gubaidulina's 'In Croce' for cello and organ or bajan (Russian accordion) features the two instruments playing in distant registers, with their lines crossing to symbolize the cross.

Compositional Technique

'The Canticle of the Sun' is based on 'Il cantico frate sole', the Hymn to Brother Sun by Francis of Assisi, a song of praise to God, the sun, creation, and death.

Compositional Technique

In 'The Canticle of the Sun', the cellist is required to play at increasingly lower pitches, then produce scraping sounds below the bridge, rattle a drum, and play a flexatone with a double bass bow, before returning to the cello with rising pitches.

Performer Biography

An Raskin, who plays the bajan (a variant of the push-button accordion) on this album, studied with renowned bajan player Professor Friedrich Lips at the Gnessin-academy in Moscow.