This CD includes two pieces for an extraordinary combination of forces: solo viola, chorus, and orchestra (or percussion). Composers Giya Kancheli and John Tavener are frequently classified as "holy minimalists," but the designation "holy post-modernist" would be more accurate, if decidedly less spiritual sounding. Both composers are products of secular societies, have developed a preoccupation with spiritual topics in their music, and have rejected the prevailing modernism of their times in favor of a style, which in spite ...
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This CD includes two pieces for an extraordinary combination of forces: solo viola, chorus, and orchestra (or percussion). Composers Giya Kancheli and John Tavener are frequently classified as "holy minimalists," but the designation "holy post-modernist" would be more accurate, if decidedly less spiritual sounding. Both composers are products of secular societies, have developed a preoccupation with spiritual topics in their music, and have rejected the prevailing modernism of their times in favor of a style, which in spite of its emotional directness and simplicity can't by any stretch of the imagination be legitimately characterized as minimalism. One characteristic that links Kancheli and the other so-called "holy minimalists" such as Górecki and Pärt is the earnest sobriety of their music. It would be ungenerous to characterize the work of such a diverse group of composers as humorless, but (particularly among those who suffered for the bulk of their professional lives under the artistic...
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