MIKHAIL CHEKALIN - LAST SEASONS

CCn'C, 2001
[contemporary classical, chamber music]

Published by Culture Ware Music Publ. Mixed and produced by Mikhail Chekalin. Executive producer: Ulrich Rutzel. Mastering by Radu Marinescu, Liquid Gold Mastering. Drawings by M.Chekalin. Fotos by D.Chekalin. Linernotes supervised by Christian Salvesen. Booklet design by Agentur Elbblick Thomas Kunadt. Creative conception of CCn'C by Kristjan Jarvi and Ulrich Rutzel.

LAST SEASONS
was primarily composed as a piece for a chamber orchestra, as distinct from Black square, for example, which had an original electronic version prior to its symphonic embodiment. The title itself refers to the classical history of genre, making a straightforward appeal to a tradition from Vivaldi and Tchaikovsky up to Stockhausen. This title does not imply any mockery. It challenges its own existence within the strictest framework of chamber music. I didn't follow along the lines of adoption or stylisation, I did not mean to create any kind of a collage. I was seeking an effect wholly divorced from quasi intellectualism, avoiding any conceptual devices. I wanted to do without any super-purposes, such as "to add my own understanding of the era in my own language." I would like to have a right to spontaneity myself, a right to express a live emotion lost in the vortex of time. The music is so full of emotion. Everything borders on something else - this is the succession of the seasons, isn't it? There is a continuous flow. I decided against dividing it into four seasons. Instead there are ten parts and each has its own subtitle in the classical tradition of naming the theme and character. I used the most fanciful Italian terms. They still lay down some definite rules and conditions which any conductor would feel necessary to follow. They state the rules of the game. For a modern man, seasons hold their own psychological realm, where inner anxieties and global collisions make themselves felt simultaneously. There is a chance that one day we will not have seasons anymore.
M. Chekalin

THE BLACK SQUARE
painted by the Russian artist Kazimir Malevich has brilliantly represented the temporal essence of the 20th century. Created at the beginning of the century it conveys a vision of the end of time. We are all deeply rooted in the 20th century, our very life is deeply saturated with its spirit. Striving to come to terms with a whole lot of experience of living in the 20th century, we feel a continuous feedback from it, and we cannot help but absorb it. Even more so, an artist who yields to the temptation and plunges himself into this vortex of living experience, strives to get to the bottom of it and to extract and abstract its essence. Dedicating this work to Malevich, I refer myself to the beginning of the century, and I sought to catch an image of my own end of the century. The focal point is born of tension between the two poles: beginning - end, past - present, history - personal story, modern - post-modern.
M. Chekalin

LAST SEASONS - 52:48 (A composition in ten parts for chamber music orchestra. 1997-1998)

1. Andante con pieta 3:50
2. Passionato 4:58
3. Moderato agitato con affetto 7:30
4. Quieto 9:11
5. Diafano amabile 5:51
6. Scherzoso moderato 2:56
7. Confidente Allontanato 5:21
8. Patetico furioso 6:20
9. Pastorale espressivo 4:01
10. Allegro banale 2:52
Moscow Chamber Music Orchestra. Conducted by Vladislav Bulakhov. Electronic: M.Chekalin. Parts 1-3 recorded December 1999 - January 2000 at Melodia Studio, Moscow. Parts 4-10 recorded September - December 2000 at Gnesin Concert Hall, Moscow. Recording engineer: Valeri Lebedev.

BLACK SQUARE - 21:49 (Concerto Grosso in four movements. 1996)

1. Adagio vivace (I) 3:45
2. Presto (II) 3:03
3. Grave (III) 6:37
4. Largo (IV) 8:24
Grand State Symphony Orchestra of St.Petersburg. Conductor Alexander Polischuk. Recorded live at the Shostakovich Big Philharmonic Hall, St.Petersburg, May 2, 1997.

Total time: 75:22

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