A Spiritually Time-Warped Envoy To Galina Ustvolskaya

Composer Galina Ustvolskaya, who was born in 1919 in her beloved Petrograd, Russia; died on December 22, 2006, in her, again, beloved Petersburg, Russia. I look forward to reexploring her powerful expressionist and religious music of the 20th century, and encourage others to do so too.

I was unaware of her passing when I last posted here on December 24 and 31; and was again yesterday as I listened, on my return flight from Ukraine, Poland, and London, to Valery Gergiev and Yuri Bashmet perform the August 18, 2006 London Proms concert featuring Shostakovich, Schnittke's Viola Concerto, and Tchaikovsky's Symphony #6.

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Last Thursday, my wife -- who works as an assistant to Peter I. Tchaikovsky's great grand nephew -- and I listened to the Wroclaw Academic Chamber Orchestra expertly perform, in the historic Marian Oratorio of the Leopoldium Collegium (Wroclaw University) [where Brahms received an honorary musical doctorate from the city and university fathers of Prussian Breslau, Germany] works by Lipinsky [a clarinet concerto], T. Baird, and Villa Lobos [his guitar concerto]. Alas, the expert musicians were not able also to incorporate a chamber music tribute to Galina Ustvolskaya. Perhaps the ensemble will honor her with a full program when Wroclaw soon assumes the position --following Krakow [and Sibiu, Romania] -- of 'European' Capital City of Culture.

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Yuri Bashmet and the Moscow Soloists, with Wu Man, at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., Wednesday, January 24, 2007.

Perhaps there could be an addition of a work by Galina Ustvolskaya?























Galina Ustvolskaya, 1919-2006

Photo credit: Boosey and Hawkes. With thanks.