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- John Tavener
Akhmatova Songs (1993)
- Chester Music Ltd (World)
Commissioned by the Cricklade Music Festival
- vc
- Soprano; 2vn.va.vc
- Soprano
- 20 min
- Anna Akhmatova
- Russian
- 27th June 2025, Southbank Centre, London, United Kingdom
- 3rd July 2025, Gjethuset, Frederiksværk, Denmark
Programme Note
The six poems that I have chosen from Akhmatova were written at different periods in her life. The first three suggest her veneration of other poets - Dante, Pushkin and Lermontov, and Pasternak. In the central couplet she mistrusts praise of her own work. Then comes her own longing to write, as the Muse comes. The last poem Death looks forward to her own death (with the suggestion of a personal after-life); its inevitability and her own longing for it.
In my settings for soprano and cello I have tried to reflect the deceptive simplicity of the verse, which stems from classical tradition. In the final song Death the musical material of the earlier songs is gathered together. Then the poet bids a painful farewell to her beloved homeland, and steps into the ‘cabin’ that has been particularly prepared for her.
The Akhmatova Songs were commissioned by the Cricklade Music Festival and first performed on 28 September 1993 by Patricia Rozario and Steven Isserlis at St Sampsons Church, Cricklade. John Tavener
In my settings for soprano and cello I have tried to reflect the deceptive simplicity of the verse, which stems from classical tradition. In the final song Death the musical material of the earlier songs is gathered together. Then the poet bids a painful farewell to her beloved homeland, and steps into the ‘cabin’ that has been particularly prepared for her.
The Akhmatova Songs were commissioned by the Cricklade Music Festival and first performed on 28 September 1993 by Patricia Rozario and Steven Isserlis at St Sampsons Church, Cricklade. John Tavener
Media
Akhmatova Songs for Soprano and Cello: I. Dante
Akhmatova Songs for Soprano and Cello: II. Pushkin and Lermontov
Akhmatova Songs for Soprano and Cello: III. Boris Pasternak
Akhmatova Songs for Soprano and Cello: IV. Couplet
Akhmatova Songs for Soprano and Cello: V. The Muse
Akhmatova Songs for Soprano and Cello: VI. Death
Discography
This is not a lullaby
- LabelTRPTK Reference
- SoloistChanna Malkin, soprano; Maya Fridman, cello
- Released2021
John Tavener: A Portrait
- LabelNaxos
- Catalogue Number8.558152-53
- Soloistvarious
- LabelRCA
- Catalogue Number09026 68761-2
- EnsembleKiev Chamber Choir / Chilingirian String Quartet / Moscow Virtuosi
- SoloistPatricia Rozario, soprano / Steven Isserlis, cello / Vladimir Spivakov and Mykola Gobdych, conductors