Simi, Magnum Igotum: Rostropovich(Vc)kakhidze / Royal Flemish Po

Georgian composer Giya Kancheli's music manifests a sublime melancholy in a quietly measured, halting voice that is unmistakably individual. 'Simi,' a concertante piece for cello and orchestra written for Mstislav Rostropovich, is a close relative of 'Mourned by the Wind,' the viola concerto he wrote for Yuri Bashmet. As in many of Kancheli's later works, a familiar sonic cadence establishes itself: a bleak stillness, populated only by wisps of minor triads and the whispered prayers of the cello, is obliterated by an event of terrible power, in whose wake another still scene evolves, quietly awaiting its own annihilation. Repeated though this formula is, it nonetheless retains its power. 'Magnum Ignotum' is a bit different, however, as a wind chamber group and bass interact with tapes of a Georgian priest, folksingers and a choir, softly but purposefully wending their way through subtle tonal changes without any explosive interruption.