Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- Sofia Gubaidulina
Two Paths (A Dedication to Mary and Martha) (1999)
- Schirmer Russian Music (USA, Canada, Mexico, Central and South America only)
Available in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Central and South America only
- 2(bfl)+pic.22+Ebcl+bcl.2+cbn/431+btbn+cbtbn.1/timp.5perc/cel.pf/str(16.14.12.10.8)
- 2 Cellos
- 2 Violas
- 24 min
Programme Note
Composer note:
The work owes its existence to the conductor Kurt Masur and his wife, Tomoko Masur. They invited me to compose a piece for two violas and orchestra. In other words, from the very outset I appreciated that the soloists would be two identical string instruments manifesting themselves through two female personas.
Under the circumstances it was entirely natural to choose a theme familiar from centuries of artistic experience, the theme of two types of love – of Mary and of Martha. It is a theme of two ways of loving: 1) to love taking upon oneself worldly cares and by so doing ensure the foundation of life, and 2) to love dedicating oneself to the sublime, to experience together with the Beloved the route of terrible suffering to the cross, so as to procure light and blessing for life.
Naturally music doesn’t convey these metaphysical stimuli to us literally and directly. That isn’t its job. It is, however, capable of creating a metaphor, a kind of comparison concealed from the concrete. For example, sounds moving in different directions, motion upwards or downwards, already can constitute a sufficiently definable metaphor of two differing psychological directions, two paths into the unknown forest of the perpetual variety of life.
In this composition the orchestra plays the role of the initiator; within it, a series of dramatic situations occur sometimes highly aggressive and savage. Each of these situations poses questions for the soloists that they must answer.
The process of formulating such answers provides the premise of the composition, dedicating its form. It presents itself as a chain of variations, during the course of which the relationship of the two solo personas – to each other and to the orchestra – changes.
I. In the first variation they answer the orchestra’s fortissimo with a contrasting pianissimo. Their impulses, moreover, are utterly transparent: motion upwards in Viola I, motion downwards in Viola II.
II. In the second variation, the original unambiguity is replaced by more complex relationships. It is more like a dialogue than an opposition.
III. In the third variation, the picture is further complicated by the inclusion of orchestral soloists in the dialogue between the two violas.
IV. In the fourth variations, the picture becomes even more complicated. However, this process leads once again to the original clarity: motion upwards in Viola I, and motion downwards in Viola II.
V. Fifth variation. In the orchestra there is static undulating motion, pianissimo; the soloist are maximally expressivo: they make attempts to meet at the center of the diapason, but they manage only to continue their paths – one proceeding upwards from below, the other downwards from above – passing each other crosswise.
VI. This sets in motion the stasis in the orchestra: two opposing layers in the high and low registers beginning to move towards each other, each reaching its extreme limit. Simultaneously with this crossing, which takes place in a slow tempo, a dynamic, motoic episode begins (crescendo from pianissimo to fortissimo leading to the main climax, an orchestral totti.
VII. The seventh variation. This is a sort of conclusion, a summing-up of the quests: Viola I gradually reaches the extremes of its highest register; with an ostinato Viola II reaffirms its very lowest register
--Sofia Gubaidulina
The work owes its existence to the conductor Kurt Masur and his wife, Tomoko Masur. They invited me to compose a piece for two violas and orchestra. In other words, from the very outset I appreciated that the soloists would be two identical string instruments manifesting themselves through two female personas.
Under the circumstances it was entirely natural to choose a theme familiar from centuries of artistic experience, the theme of two types of love – of Mary and of Martha. It is a theme of two ways of loving: 1) to love taking upon oneself worldly cares and by so doing ensure the foundation of life, and 2) to love dedicating oneself to the sublime, to experience together with the Beloved the route of terrible suffering to the cross, so as to procure light and blessing for life.
Naturally music doesn’t convey these metaphysical stimuli to us literally and directly. That isn’t its job. It is, however, capable of creating a metaphor, a kind of comparison concealed from the concrete. For example, sounds moving in different directions, motion upwards or downwards, already can constitute a sufficiently definable metaphor of two differing psychological directions, two paths into the unknown forest of the perpetual variety of life.
In this composition the orchestra plays the role of the initiator; within it, a series of dramatic situations occur sometimes highly aggressive and savage. Each of these situations poses questions for the soloists that they must answer.
The process of formulating such answers provides the premise of the composition, dedicating its form. It presents itself as a chain of variations, during the course of which the relationship of the two solo personas – to each other and to the orchestra – changes.
I. In the first variation they answer the orchestra’s fortissimo with a contrasting pianissimo. Their impulses, moreover, are utterly transparent: motion upwards in Viola I, motion downwards in Viola II.
II. In the second variation, the original unambiguity is replaced by more complex relationships. It is more like a dialogue than an opposition.
III. In the third variation, the picture is further complicated by the inclusion of orchestral soloists in the dialogue between the two violas.
IV. In the fourth variations, the picture becomes even more complicated. However, this process leads once again to the original clarity: motion upwards in Viola I, and motion downwards in Viola II.
V. Fifth variation. In the orchestra there is static undulating motion, pianissimo; the soloist are maximally expressivo: they make attempts to meet at the center of the diapason, but they manage only to continue their paths – one proceeding upwards from below, the other downwards from above – passing each other crosswise.
VI. This sets in motion the stasis in the orchestra: two opposing layers in the high and low registers beginning to move towards each other, each reaching its extreme limit. Simultaneously with this crossing, which takes place in a slow tempo, a dynamic, motoic episode begins (crescendo from pianissimo to fortissimo leading to the main climax, an orchestral totti.
VII. The seventh variation. This is a sort of conclusion, a summing-up of the quests: Viola I gradually reaches the extremes of its highest register; with an ostinato Viola II reaffirms its very lowest register
--Sofia Gubaidulina
Scores
Reviews
The concert offered a welcome second chance to hear Sofia Gubaidulina's TWO PATHS. The viola has a husky, sunset sound and here a pair of them engage in obscurely passionate dialogue, now coiling themselves around each other, now pulling apart with enigmatic urgency. Their private drama is bathed in a lamplight glow from the orchestra. The piece follows a flow of comforting intimacies and troubling cries. Music of such immediacy and finesse deserves not just a second hearing, but the opportunity to become familiar.
Sofia Gubaidulina's TWO PATHS [is a] gripping, imaginatively conceived work, well-suited to the musical gifts and personalities of two remarkable performers. Gubaidulina selected her TWO PATHS theme [as] the 'two types of love...two different psychological directions' exhibited in the New Testament account of Mary and Martha, sisters from Bethany who offered hospitality to Christ and his disciples.
TWO PATHS drew on the very different traditions of Asian mysticism and the European avant-garde. The 20-minute concerto opens with an insistent three-note motif in the woodwinds and strings that recurs throughout the piece, setting a musically aggressive backdrop for the entrance of the soloists. More often than not, the soloists were heard without accompaniment. Their parts intertwined harmonically, conversed, clashed dissonantly and moved in opposite directions.
Musically, TWO PATHS is not a virtuosic showpiece, but it makes considerable demands on the soloists. The Martha part has many difficult low trills in the netherworld of the viola range. Mary shows her ethereal, questing nature through ascending chromatic lines and whispery harmonics - high, pure tones of flutelike timbre. Two segments of the piece were particularly unforgettable: a "weeping" motif for the strings, like overlapping cries of anguish, and a section which the soloists play above repeated, tinkling chords in the celesta, until the whole orchestra comes in and gradually gathers itself into a frenetic climax.
In this premiere, Mr. Masur's deep affinity for the modern Russian school of composers, united his brilliant soloists with an obviously enthusiastic orchestra in a highly skilled, lovingly realized performance.