FRIENDS / INDEX1 / TEXTS / GALLERY / CDS / MUSIC / PERFORMANCES / ELENA / DMITRI / PHILIP / ALISSA / HOME1 / HOME3 TWO SONGS on Poems by Akhmatova Op. 2b, 1 & 4 for Voice and Piano. This was one of my first experiences in composition and was written in 1967 as part of The Creation, a cycle of four songs to poems by the Russian poet Anna Akhmatova. Later I selected just these two, for I was not satisfied with the standard of the others. The first song is meditative and the second is like a joke. (Available on MRCD012a). See: Texts.Elena Firsova: COMPOSER'S NOTES
Opp: (click the numbers)
2b, 5, 15, 19, 21, 23, 24, 27, 31, 34, 35, 36, 44, 45, 46, 54, 60, 62, 63, 64, 70, 74, 78, 84, 85, 86, 88, 90, 93, 94, 102, 104,SONATA for cello and piano Op. 5 was written in the beginning of 1971, when I was 1st year student of Moscow Conservatoire. That time I was attracted with Cello Sonata by Benjamin Britten and its influence it is possible to trace here. It is three-movement composition: Sonata Allegro, Scherzo and Finale. It was dedicated to the cellist Alatol Liberman who premiered it on 8 April 1972 at the Leningrad Conservatoire and I played the piano part. (Available on MRCD005a).EF005 CAPRICCIO for flute and saxophone quartet Op. 15 1976. Duration: 8’. First performance: 27 April 1977, Union of Composers, Moscow, Irina Lozben (flute) – Lev Mikhailov, Alexander Oseitchuk, Leonid Nabatov, Vladimir Yeryomin (saxophones) © Sikorski, Hamburg for the world. Score: Sovetsky Kompozitor Publishers, Moscow, 1979 in the collection “Pieces for woodwind ensembles”, vol. 2. This piece was written at the request of the remarkable musician Lev Mikhailov who had just founded the Moscow Saxophone Quartet. He asked me to add a flute to the saxophone quartet, so I wrote this composition in the form of a short one-movement concertino for solo flute, with the quartet functioning as a chamber orchestra. This is quite an early piece, written a year after I graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, and I had the feeling that this is truly my 'opus number one', the composition in which I was responsible for every single note. However because some of my previous works had already been printed, I numbered this composition opus 15. CHAMBER CONCERTO No. 1 for flute and string orchestra Op.19 (1978). This is the first Chamber Concerto in the series of several written for different solo instruments with a small orchestra. It is a one-movement composition. For the material I took two previously written contrasting Inventions for solo flute. The Concerto was premiered on 10 March 1980 at Union of Composers, Moscow with Alexander Korneev, flute and Sergei Skripka, conductor. (Available on MRCD002). ELEGY for Piano solo Op.21 (1979) This composition was my first serious attempt to write music for piano solo. I wanted to represent piano in my music as a beautiful lyrical instrument, not black and white, but having all the spectrum of tints and nuances of colour. The composition also is one of my most personal and intimate works, and in spite of a quite dramatic climax, it is basically soft, gentle and quiet. Duration is about 9 minutes. (Available on MRCD015).
FPLAY (mp3): the beginningThe beginning of the composer's manuscript of Elegy Op.21 (1979)
THREE POEMS by Osip Mandelstam Op.23 for Soprano and Piano. This work was written in spring 1980 just after my cantata Tristia, a setting of poems by the great Russian poet Osip Mandelstam (1891-1938). At this very time I understood how important the poetry of Mandelstam is to me, and that all my life I would set his poems to music. From his poetry I learnt that we can speak very quietly about the most important things, and that we can see the most tragic occurrences in the light of beauty. The second song was written six years earlier and almost casually, but I recalled it then and decided to include it in this cycle after some revision. The first performance took place in Moscow in November 1981, with the soprano Lydia Davydova. The British premiere was given in London three years later, with the soprano Jane Manning. The score is published by G.Schirmer (New York) and also Sovetski Kompozitor (Moscow). (Available on MRCD012a). See: Texts. MISTERIOSO (Quartet No.3) Op.24 (1980). This one-movement piece for string quartet was written to the anniversary of Igor Stravinsky. The music is closely associated with the subject of death and especially with its mystical aspect. It is not programmatic music, but it has some figurative features. For instance a bird singing (bar 32), which has a connection with the epigraph to the Quartet from the text of The Nightingale: by Stravinsky "…and there another garden lies beyond the white wall." From the very beginning the repetition of the note d, which all the instruments gradually play is the symbolic picture of a white wall of a graveyard. In the climax this repeated note turns into g-sharp, which has a tritone relation with the initial tone (bar 74). The end of the climax section symbolises the very moment of death, when the soul is flying away (bars 85-87). After the climax the funeral chorale is entered. The viola and cello play this with double-stopping (bar 88). At the very end after the bird singing the image of the white wall comes back again. (Available on MRCD002)
FPLAY (mp3): the middleEF027 SPRING SONATA for flute and Piano Op.27 (1982). I began to write this piece in Moscow and completed it in Ruza (composers' resort near Moscow) at the springtime of 1982. It is about 10 minutes long one-movement composition in a typical (deliberately typical) sonata form. The Sonata is the one of my most light-coloured works, in serene mood, which is connected with a felling inherited from awakening of spring. "Spring Sonata" was written by the request of Russian flutist Irina Lozben and dedicated to her. She played the first performance of the piece on 29 February 1984 in the Union of Composers in Moscow together with Vassili Lobanov (piano).SPHINX for harp solo Op.27a (1982). Duration: 1' Publishing rights: Sikorski, Hamburg for the world. The very short solo piece for harp was written in the Spring of 1982. Shortly before that my piece POSTLUDE for harp and chamber orchestra was performed in Moscow, and the harpist complained that it was too much work with pedals in that piece. So I decided to write a new piece without use of pedals at all. The first fragment of the piece I already used for the TV film about ancient art in Hermitage as the musical image of a sphinx. EF027a
EARTHLY LIFE, Op.31 (1984), Cantata for soprano and chamber ensemble to words by Osip Mandelstam. Commissioned by BBC and first performed on 10th November 1986 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London with Penelope Walmsley-Clark (soprano), and Nash Ensemble conducted by Lionel Friend. Duration about 20 minutes. Score is printed by "Boosey & Hawkes". Program note: “Earthly Life is Firsova’s seventh work to Mandelstam’s words. It takes the form of a cantata in five movements for soprano and chamber ensemble of 10 players (flute, percussion, harp, 3 violins, viola, cello and double bass). The first movement is a delicate setting of the poet’s brief lines, suggesting an introduction to the whole piece. The flickering unease of the second movement evaporates into stillness with Mandelstam’s rhetorical question from which the work’s title is taken. The central movement is a rapt setting of one of Mandelstam’s most famous early poems, full of mysterious almost religious imagery. The fourth movement is a scherzo-like development of the words and atmosphere of the second movement. The arch-like form of the whole piece is summed up in the smaller arch of the last movement in an impassioned setting of Mandelstam’s hymn to the possibilities of life within ‘the enchanted vicious circle’.” (Gerard McBurney) See: Texts. MUSIC FOR 12, Op.34 (1986) was completed in March 1986. It was written as a request made by the Soloists' Ensemble of the Bolshoy Theatre, and later they played the piece many times. But the Ensemble Modern, conducted by Peter Eötvös at the Festival in West Berlin 12 September 1986 played the premiere. This is a quite short one-movement piece, about 10 minutes long. Here I tried for the first time to work with the musical theme, which is possible to attribute to a "retro-style"; I mean the style of the late Romanticism or early Expressionism. However using this material I wanted to write a piece of our time. And I hope I succeed. In the middle of my work on this piece I received an urgent commission from Hans Sikorski Publishers to write a solo violin piece. I didn't want to tear myself away from the material I lived with at that time so I based my violin Fantasia on the same theme. As a result I wrote two completely different compositions in sense of genre, form and the principles of development but of the same one thematic pattern. (Available on MRCD002) SONATA Op.35 (1986). In the Sonata I have used the sonata form in a quite traditional way. The music material stylistically was very similar to Piano Sonata Op.1 by Alban Berg. At first I even wanted to dedicate it to memory of him, but moving forward the music was losing more and more this resemblance and I decided: possibly he would not like such a dedication and I reject this idea. Usually I perceive all the piano music and especially contemporary one as black-and-white. I had some similar feelings about the beginning of this Sonata as well, but nearer to the end of the piece I could see the appearance of the colours. (Available on MRCD015) FOREST WALKS, Op.36 (1987). Cantata for soprano and chamber ensemble (flute, clarinet, harp and string quartet) to words by Osip Mandelstam. Commissioned by the Nash Ensemble and first performed on 21st June 1988 at the Almeida Theatre, London, by Penelope Walmsley-Clark, soprano, and the Nash Ensemble, conducted by Ian Brown. Score is printed by "Boosey & Hawkes" My most important works are, for me, those which set texts by Mandelstam. These include Three Poems by Mandelstam for soprano and piano and four cantatas for solo voice and orchestra or chamber ensemble, Petrarch's Sonnets, Tristia, The Stone and Earthly life. Mandelstam, especially early Mandelstam, is my favourite poet and the one to whom I feel closest. His influence is felt not only in those works, which set his words, but also in my music as a whole. His poetry is written in precisely the way I would like to write music.
Forest Walks is essentially another little cantata on his poems. Written in the spring of 1987, it continues the line of thought of the previous four cantatas. The instrumental ensemble was determined by the commission and follows that of Ravel's Introduction and Allegro, perhaps so that these pieces could be performed together in one concert. Partly by association with Ravel's work, this piece is also in two movements, for which I chose two poems where the artist, while walking in the forest, is deeply absorbed in himself. Elena Firsova, 1993. See: Texts.
ODYSSEY Op. 44 (1990) for 7 players (flute, horn, violin, viola, cello, harp and percussion). On the 1st of February 1990 I received a rather strange telegram from France (from Les Productions de l'Aigle, 6 rue Madame):
"Dear Mrs Firsova, …We would like to ask you to compose for us a piece for quite a unique occasion. The 42 year old Peter Bird, an outstanding British sailor, has decided to undertake a most exceptional sea adventure: he is going to raw across the North Pacific on his own from Vladivostock to San Francisco. In Peter Bird's mind, this is a most symbolic voyage, which will link the USSR and the USA against all the odds… We would very much like to have a music piece composed especially for this occasion by a great Soviet composer, an idea which has created great enthusiasm in the music world. The score of this work would be given to Peter Bird on leaving Vladivostock. On his arrival in San Francisco he would hand it over most symbolically to a great American conductor (we are thinking of Mr Previn), who would conduct its performance. We would be extremely honoured, should you agree to contribute to such venture… What would you think of composing a piece for a seven to eight instrument ensemble? … Respectfully, Sylvie Barbe"
All my friends and I laughed a lot at such a crazy idea. Nobody believed that this trip really would take place. Maybe it was only a joke? But the Soviet copyright agency VAAP officially confirmed this information. Very soon (25th March 1990) I finished my Odyssey for seven performers. But the mysterious sailor and all his company are disappeared forever. The first European performance of this piece took place on 31 October 1991 in Heidelberg.
Elena Firsova, 18.12.1991
P.S. 19 March 1993 when my Odyssey was played in Berlin during the pre-concert talk I have learn from the audience that Peter Bird just began his journey from Vladivostock to San Francisco.
P.P.S. At the beginning of March 1994 I turned on TV by chance and have seen Peter Bird who just crossed the North Pacific (certainly without my score).
P.P.P.S. A few years later I have heard on the Radio, that Peter Bird is drowned crossing the North Pacific for the second time around the same time when my Odyssey was performed in Japan. (Available on MRCD004)VERDEHR-TERZETT op. 45 1990 for violin, clarinet and piano. Commissioned by the Verdehr Trio, one movement: Andante. Duration: 10’ First performance: 7 March 1991, Madrid, Verdehr Trio Publishing rights: Sikorski, Hamburg for the world
This composition was commissioned by the USA-based Verdehr Trio and the title is a form of homage to this ensemble. The work’s images have the connections with the poem of Osip Mandelstam ‘I have forgotten the word I wanted to say’ written in 1920. I worked with the same material in two other compositions: ‘Stygian Song’ (1989) and ‘Secret Way’ (1992). ‘Verdehr-Terzett’ and ‘Stygian Song’ are two chamber versions (instrumental and vocal/instrumental) of the ideas that were developed later in ‘Secret Way’ – a large-scale work for soprano and symphony orchestra. Elena Firsova, 30th October 1992, DartingtonTHE NIGHTINGALE AND THE ROSE - chamber opera (Wilde/Rossetti) Op.46 (1991). Duration: 80'.
This was the last composition written in Russia in 1991 just before I came to England. The text is woven from Oscar Wilde's classic short story and four poems of Christina Rossetti creating a libretto of haunting beauty and Pre-Rafaelite melancholy. The three soloists in the opera are The Nightingale (soprano), The Student (tenor) and The Girl (mezzo-soprano). Also there is a chamber choir and orchestra of 17 players (1.1.1.1-1.1.1.0-harp, celesta, 3 percussion-1.1.1.1.1).
The plot: a young student is told by the girl he loves that she will dance with him all night if only he will bring her a red rose. But he cannot find such a rose in the garden. The nightingale hears his complaints and is so moved that she decides to find a red rose for him herself. Unfortunately the first two rose-trees she asks produce white and yellow roses. Only the third tree, which grows beneath the student’s window, produces red roses. But this tree has been chilled by the winter frosts and the nightingale learns that she will only obtain her red-rose if she sings to it all night long, pressing her heart against one of its thorns and spilling her warm blood over its cold branches. She must give her life for this red rose. The student understands nothing of this. Hearing the nightingale’s song in the garden, he thinks it something meaningless and of no practical use. So the nightingale, impaled on a thorn of the rose-tree, sings all night long beneath the student’s window. And at dawn she dies and her body falls into the long grass. And the student looks out and sees to his delight a red rose, which he immediately plucks and takes to the girl he loves. But the girl is quite unimpressed, declaring that the rose will not go with her dress and, anyway, she prefers the jewels given to her by the Chamberlain’s nephew. So the student, disillusioned and impatient, hurls the red rose beneath the wheels of a passing carriage and returns to his books.
The opera was staged in July 1994 at the Almeida Opera where it was repeated five times.MEDITATION IN THE JAPANESE GARDEN Op. 54 for Flute, Viola and Piano
This one-movement composition was written in March 1992 in Cambridge. It was commissioned by the famous Swiss flutist Aurele Nicolet. The main musical material has some links with one of the Songs of the Nightingale from my chamber opera The Nightingale and the Rose (1991), where the singer is accompanied by a harp. The piano part therefore sometimes has a harp-like texture. The title was provoked by the combination of instruments which, it seemed to me, links with the Japanese concept of beauty. It is also connected with the small Japanese garden in Dartington where I liked to be. (Available on MRCD002 and MRCD012a/13a).CASSANDRA for symphony orchestra Op.60 (1992), 12'.
I was in the process of planning a new work for orchestra when in the autumn of 1992 I received a commission to write an orchestral score for the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra. The commission acted as a very strong stimulus upon my work, so that by the end of 1992 a sketch of the composition was completed. I named it "Cassandra", the images being not only connected with the Trojan prophetess, but also with the situation in Russia today, where an apprehension for the country's future leads to concerns for the fate of the world. Cassandra herself is portrayed by solo cello, and the inevitability of Fate is expressed by the bass drum. (Available on MRCD005a).THE NIGHT DEMONS Op.62: Duo for Cello and Piano. The piece is one of a series of duos for cello and piano (or organ) written in 1992-3 and commissioned for different performers. Written for Steven Isserlis, The Night Demons was commissioned by the Norfolk and Norwich Festival and completed in March 1993 at Keele. My recent re-reading of E. T. A. Hoffman's fantastic stories, The Golden Pot and Lord of the Fleas strongly influenced the piece. A secondary theme is the re-working of some of the musical material from my opera The Nightingale and the Rose, based on the story by Oscar Wilde and the poetry of Christina Rossetti. (Available on MRCD012a/13a and MRCD14a). CRUCIFIXION Op.63 for Cello and Accordion (or Organ). This was written in Spring 1993 for two remarkable performers, Karine Georgian and ElsbethMoser. The outlines of sonata form can be seen in the structure of this one-movement concert work. The title has no direct religious meaning, but rather is connected with the feelings of the human being entering a hard period in his life. (Available on MRCD005a, MRCD012a/13a and MRCD14a). HYMN TO SPRING Op.64 for Piano. This was commissioned for the American pianist Yvar Mikhashoff and written in May 1993. The first performance was in June that year at the Almeida Festival in London. Just before this work I had written Crucifixion, rather a dark piece, and now I wanted to compose something different, more light and joyful, something in a spring mood. There are two layers in Hymn to Spring. The first one is a bird singing, with quite free playing in an improvisatory manner. The second one is a sequence of major triads, rather like a hymn, moving from B major to A major. In the short coda the music returns to B major once more. (Available on MRCD012a/13a, MRCD14a and MRCD015). FPLAY (mp3): the beginning BEFORE THE THUNDERSTORM Op.70: Cantata for Soprano and Chamber Ensemble on poems by Osip Mandelstam. This Cantata was completed in March 1994 in Keele. The genre of the solo cantata is probably the most important one for me. I have written cantatas on poems by Osip Mandelstam at regular intervals all my life, and every time it gives me a very strong creative impulse which even acts upon the next few compositions. Before the Thunderstorm was already my seventh cantata and is the third to be commissioned by the Nash Ensemble, following Earthly Life (1984) and Forest Walks (1987). The composition consists of six movements. The first is an instrumental introduction, and then the other five movements with voice follow. I set texts from Mandelstam's Moscow Poems (1930-34), written a short time before his first arrest. The poems are full of presentiments of his impending catastrophe. The title comes from the second line of the third poem: "…I feel without fear the thunderstorm is coming… Thunderstorms can mean many different things. This one for Mandelstam meant his imprisonment, exile and death in the concentration camp of the GULAG. (Available on MRCD4, MRCD012a/13aand MRCD14a). See: Texts.
FPLAY (Real): the beginning2nd page of the composer's manuscript of Before the Thunderstorm Op.70 (1994):
THE STONE GUEST (String Quartet No.8) Op.74 (1995). The year 1997 was announced as The Schubert's Year, and in connection to that I received a commission from the Nomos Quartet to write a new work for the programme "Schubert und die Moderne". I have been thinking about what kind of music Schubert would write if he lived today. And because song was his favorite genre, and he often used his songs for his instrumental music including string quartets, I decided also to use here my own vocal music. I have taken the material from my solo cantata "The Stone" – which was written in 1983 and still has never been performed – the settings of the poems by Osip Mandelstam from his book "The Stone". The title "Stone Guest" came from this and also from the fact that Schubert is appearing here in the shape of a quotation from his 15th Quartet (G major) and relates somehow to the image of a Stone Guest from Alexander Pushkin's poem of the same title. The Quartet has two movements: the first one (Allegro vivace) is a fast introduction to the second main one (Adagio rubato). (Available on MRCD018) CHAMBER CONCERTO NO.5 OP.78 (1996) for cello with string orchestra, harp and celesta. This is one of my 6 Chamber Concertos, which are for different instruments. The 5th concerto is the 2nd cello concerto in this series. I like the cello very much and I am always eager to write for it. It was also a great pleasure for me to write this composition for such a wonderful performer, Karina Georgian. I wrote this concerto in 1996 and the premiere took place in Germany 1997 (October) at the Kronberg festival which was dedicated to the 70th birthday anniversary of Mstislav Rostropovich. This is a one-movement composition lasting 15-16 minutes. In this composition I used a similar idea to what I did in my earlier composition, "Music for Twelve", by trying to adapt the "retro" material in the sphere of contemporary music.
(Available on MRCD005a)
FPLAY (Real): the beginning
FPLAY (mp3): the middle
LA MALINCONIA (String Quartet No. 10) Op.84. The music of my String Quartet No.10 is connected with Beethoven’s String Quartet Op.18, No.6, particularly with the introductory part of Beethoven’s final movement, marked “La Malinconia”. The Quartet has the same title "La Malinconia" and this expresses the character of the music of my composition. I also use the idea of three grace notes from Beethoven’s "La Malinconia", and in the coda there is a short direct quotation from this music. The Quartet was written specially for the Brodsky Quartet’s latest project for which six composers have written works reflecting in some way the six Op.18 quartets of Beethoven. (Available on MRCD012a/13a and MRCD14a). CAPTIVITY for Wind Orchestra Op.85 (1998). The work was commissioned by BABWE Education Trust. The title "Captivity" is connected with my mixed fillings about five years, which I spent in a very beautiful place with all possible conditions for a good life and composing, but at the same time with an isolation from real world, vivid music life and contacts with musicians. The musical aspect of the title is connected with use of the complete chords in harmony, which sometimes made me feel too limited. This is one-movement composition with the features of sonata form treated in a very free manner. (Available on MRCD016). LEAVING, Op.86 (1998) for string orchestra. This one-movement composition for string orchestra was written in the summer 1998 soon after the death of my father, and therefore all the music is about this. The solo violin represents here the personal farewell to life. The piece was premiered on 29 August 1999 at Fredener Musiktage, Germany, with Camerata Freden conducted by Adrian Adlam. (Available on MRCD002).
FPLAY (mp3): the beginningTHE SCENT OF ABSENCE two settings of poems by Oleg Prokofiev Op.88 for Voice (bass), Flute and Harp. This short vocal cycle-diptych for voice, flute and harp sets two poems by Oleg Sergeyevich Prokofiev, son of the famous composer. He lived in Moscow from 1935 until 1971, when he moved to London. He died in August 1998 and these songs are dedicated to his memory. Both poems set are from his book The Scent of Absence and were read out at his funeral in St Margaret’s Church, Blackheath. Both concern death. In Russia and elswere the figure two is a symbol of death. I brought two chrysanthemums to his funeral. My two songs are also two metaphorical flowers for his grave. (Available on MRCD002, MRCD012a/13a and MRCD14a).See: Texts. FROZEN TIME Op.90 for Violin, Viola, Cello and Piano. This was commissioned by theSchubert Ensemble for their project to create contemporary repertoire for teenage children, hence quite a simple texture is used. It was written in 1999 and the premiere was given by pupils of the Purcell School in the Wigmore Hall in May that year. The musical material first appeared in 1996 with the short piano piece, Evening Music. However I was so preoccupied with this material that soon after I made an orchestral version of the piece. I then composed the Chamber Concerto No.5 for cello and strings, based on the same musical idea but with a completely different development. When I received the commission for a Piano Quartet I returned again to this idea, for I decided that its quasi-romantic material treated in a contemporary manner would be ideal for the purpose, and could ease the young musician’s path to contemporary music. (Available on MRCD012a/13a and MRCD14a). The oratorio "DAS ERSTE IST VERGANGEN"
(The Former Things are Passed Away) Christushumnus 2000, Op.93
Was commissioned by EXPO 2000 in Hannover.
Dr. HeinzZahrnt and Dr Hans-Christian Droemann compiled the text from the prose fragment by Franz Kafka, the Prayer found on the Buchenvald's wall, and the Bible. The music was written in 1999 at St Albans. It has 14 movements:
1. Einstimmung/Introduction (Bass, Orchestra) Franz Kafka (Duration: 5:00)
2. Warum 1 /Why 1 (Choir, Orchestra) Psalter (1:51)
3. Warum 2/Why 2 (Soprano, Choir, Orchestra) Job 3,20-22 (2:37)
4. Protest (Man's Choir, Orchestra) Job 9,21+35; 31,16; 13,18+22 (1:44)
5. Aufschrei/Scream (Bass, Orchestra) Prayer from the Concentration Camp Buchenwald (3:11)
6. Interludium 1/Interlude 1 (Orchestra) (2:26)
7. Streit/Argument (Tutti) Matthew 5,3-10 (6:07)
8. Leitwort/Leading Word (Soprano, Orchestra) Isaiah 53,1+2 (1:12)
9. Frohe Botschaft/Happy News (Bass, Organ) Matthew 11,28-30 (2:33)
10. Interludium 2/Interlude 2 (Orchestra) (1:22)
11. Hymnus/Hymn (Tutti) Philippians 2,5-11 (4:47)
12. Interludium 3/Interlude 3 (Orchestra) (2:08)
13. Bekenntnis/Confession (Soprano solo) John 6,68-6 (1:19)
14. Epilog/Epilogue (Bass, Choir, Orchestra) Revelation, 21,4; Job 19,26-27 (5:52)
It was premiered on 3rd of October in the Christus-Pavillion at the Exhibition by Beate Gracher (Soprano), Reinhart Groeschel (Bass) Choir and Chamber Orchestra of Stadtkirche St. Johannis, Lothar Mohn (Conductor) Recorded 4 October 2000 St. Johannis, Hannover (Available on MRCD016)
FPLAY (Real): Mov. 1, the beginning
FPLAY (mp3): Mov. 14, the beginningVERNAL EQUINOX Op.94 for Violin and Piano. The piece was commissioned by my friend Simon Rainer, specially for today’s birthday concert. The actual day of birth, March 21st, is the first day of spring (or Vernal Equinox), hence the title of my piece. On this day too Bach and Mussorgsky were born. I decided to use fragments of their music in it as well as the notes for my own initials, E F. These sound at the beginning of the violin part, with the supporting grace notes D Eb (DS) representing Dmitri Smirnov, my husband. These four notes taken together present the famous BACH motto transposed and inverted. Mussorgsky is represented with music from his "Catacombs" (from Pictures at an Exhibition), which I have used in a free succession and development. At the beginning it is heard only in the piano part, but it gradually percolates into the violin part. Bach at first appears through the BACH motto, but in the middle section he turns into a modified quotation from his Chaconne for solo violin. In the short Coda we can hear the clock chimes – a symbol of time. The piece closes as it began, with the EF motif heard in the very high harmonics of the violin. This is the signature. (Available on MRCD012a/13a and MRCD14a).
FPLAY (Real): the middleFOR ALISSA, for solo piano, Op.102, 2002. Duration ca. 6-7 minutes. I wrote this piece for my daughter Alissa in October 2002. It is written in a form of variations on a theme that was taken from my early song set a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) “A widow bird sate mourning for her love…” composed when I was 16, the same age which Alissa is now. Elena Firsova: WINTER SONGS for soprano and cello, Op.104 (2003)
1. Frost 2. Snow Storm 3. Space
All my life I write music on poems by Osip Mandelstam (1891-1938?). At the beginning I set his early poetry from his books “The Stone” and “Tristia” than they were the “Moscow Poems” and now I came to his late poetry “Voronezh Notebooks”, the most tragic ones, connected to the life of the poet in exile before his last arrest in 1938 and death in the one of the labour camps of Stalin’s GULAG (the exact date of his death has no been established). The images of winter come through all three movements of this cycle. I wrote this composition for soprano and cello. I think it is a wonderful combination.
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