Jens E. Christensen – Gubaidulina/Gorecki (1996)

It’s always pleasant to find pieces of one of my favourite composers that I don’t know yet. I managed to discover three works from Sofia Gubaidulina I’d never heard before. Two of them are on this album: “Light and Shadow” for organ, and “Detto I” for organ and percussion (how’s that for a setting).
At first sight, the title Detto may seem familiar to you - however, that may be “Detto II” for cello and chamber ensemble you’re thinking of.
Her dazzling compositions for bajan have shown us milady Gubaidulina has an undeniably aggressive trait to her personality. Towards the end of Detto II you’ll hear a furious blast from the organ, short, but lasting long enough to remind you she can be a diabolical imp indeed. Which was why I immediately liked her music in the first place; she’s a suspense master a la Hitchcock, you never know when she’s going to strike and give you a fright.

Most of you will know Gorecki’s “O Domina Nostra”, of course. For the purpose of this post I listened to it again…sort of re-discovered it, actually. It’s absolutely beautiful music.
His “Kantata” for organ was new to me; it’s a good choice to accompany Gubaidulina’s compositions because of its darkish undertone.


Tracks

01. Light and Shadow [0:07:34.45]
02. Detto I [0:20:18.30]
03. O, Domina Nostra [0:25:07.73]
04. Kantata [0:10:22.35]

Performers:

Jens E. Christensen - organ
Anne-Lise Berntsen – soprano (O Domina Nostra)

The Danish Royal Academy Percussion are:
Jesper Korneliusen, Jesper Lorck, Thomas Widlund, Bent Lylloff