The album's program, titled 'In Croce,' is not a memento mori, but rather an exploration of abstract thoughts and emotions to make them comprehensible.
Compositional Technique
Giya Kancheli's almost ten-minute cello solo 'Having Wept' is dedicated to Mstislav Rostropovich and traces a psychologically observed set of emotions, including rage, sorrow, and emptiness, as echoes of a fit of weeping.
Composer's Artistic Vision
John Tavener's 'Svyati' for mixed choir and cello emphasizes the moment in Orthodox Christian liturgy where a bereaved family takes leave of one of their members with a kiss, signifying the opening of 'the doors of the new room, the timeless room of eternity'.
Compositional Technique
Sofia Gubaidulina, a composer born in the USSR, originally intended her 'Ten Preludes for solo cello' to be 'Ten Etudes' for teaching emotional approach rather than technical skill.
Composer Biography
Bertold Hummel, a composer featured on this album, completed his work 'Abschied' (parting) for solo cello just days before his death on August 9, 2002.
Composition History
Samuel Barber arranged the second movement of his 1936 String Quartet op. 11 for string orchestra to create a more impactful, 'oil painting' version of the original 'pastel picture'.
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