Sofia Gubaidulina - Hommage à T. S. Eliot, I-IV

Hommage à T. S. Eliot, for soprano & octet (1987-1991) I. (violin I & II, viola, cello, double bass) II. (clarinet, bassoon, horn) III. “Time and the bell have buried the day“ (soprano) IV. (violin I & II, viola, cello, double bass) V. “The chill ascends from feet to knees“ (soprano, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin I & II, viola, cello, double bass) VI. (clarinet, violin I, viola, cello) VII. “Sin is Behovely, but“ (soprano, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin I & II, viola, cello, double bass) Christine Whittlesey, soprano Gidon Kremer, violin I Isabelle van Keulen, violin II Tabea Zimmermann, viola (alto) David Geringas, cello Alois Posch, double bass Eduard Brunner, clarinet Klaus Thunemann, bassoon Radovan Vlatkovic, horn In 1986, Gubaydulina read the Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot, an experience which she described as “shattering.“ Three excerpts from this work then found their way into a commission from Köln Musik, which required that the composer write a piece with the same scoring as Schubert’s Octet, so that the two compositions could be performed in a concert together. Gubaydulina added a soprano part to this grouping of instruments, and composed a work inspired by the concerns of the poems which she called “an effortless bridge into music.“ Hommage à T.S. Eliot, like many of Gubaydulina’s pieces, is striking in the use of texture and instrumental effects and colors. The composer builds a substantial amount of contrast into her works through the use of highly differentiated textures, and in many compositions is concerned particularly with the expression of opposites: for example in the Hommage the otherworldly plucked string sounds and harmonics of movement IV are contrasted by the sustained string and clarinet pitches of the sixth movement. This method of building the work is also achieved by the use of different groups of instruments: the first movement is solely strings; second movement wind; third movement solo soprano; and fourth movement strings again; with the whole ensemble only coming together in the fifth and seventh movements. Additionally, other resources such as contrasting harmonies contribute to the effect of oppositions, for example the use of very traditional sounding brass fanfares in movement II against more dissonant passages in other sections (although this is not a very dissonant work overall). The theme of the poems is the intensity with which it is possible to experience time, but some of the imagery of the portions Gubaydulina has selected includes the type of oppositions just referred to: “The chill ascends ... / The fever sings“ and “black cloud“ against “the sun.“ A further arresting aspect of Gubaydulina’s writing is the subtlety with which she transforms one texture or color into another. In this octet, the sixth movement features sustained clarinet and string pitches which are played together to make a blended sound as one color is replaced by another. Chamber music has been well suited to this coloristic type of writing, and this piece is one of many in the chamber genre by Gubaydulina. The composer has spoken of the possibility of composing four string quartets, perhaps also with choral parts, to be grouped around this piece. [] Art by Balcomb Greene