Alexandre Raskatov : L'alphabet de la mort

Alexandre Raskatov, né à Moscou en 1953, vit en France depuis 2007. La musique vocale est un pan important de son oeuvre : il a composé en effet pour une grande variété d'auteurs russes. Récemment son opéra Coeur de chien a été donné à l'opéra de Lyon. On lui doit une adaptation des fameux Chants et danses de la mort de Modeste Moussorgsky (cette partition adaptée pour ténor et orchestre n'est pas en vente mais disponible uniquement en location). La partition de sa propre confrontation avec le sujet de la mort est en revanche disponible à la bibliothèque : il s'agit de "L'alphabet de la mort" dans une distribution pour voix de basse et orchestre, sur des textes du poète futuriste russe Velimir Khlednikov. L'oeuvre est une commande de la radio néerlandaise NTR Radio.


 

Répétition pour la création de l'Alphabet de la mort, en 2011, sous la supervision du compositeur


"...A song cycle set to poems by the Russian Futurist poet Velimir Khlebnikov, Alphabet of Death’s music is often as absurd as the text is, but this works extremely well. The orchestra made sounds I’ve never heard any orchestra make before; among other things the strings of the harpsichord hit on with and the cellists were rather passionately attacking their instruments. None of this seemed to be superfluous though, every single note made sense and sounded necessary. The complexity of Raskatov’s music never becomes confusing or overdone, because there is also structure, repetition and beautiful rhythms and melodies. Bass soloist Nikolay Didenko was more than up to the challenge of the vocals, his voice was powerful yet full of nuance, and there was an obvious understanding of the text. Even though the text was in Russian, as a listener you could feel and understand what Didenko sung about, and similarly the orchestration added many elements to this understanding. Didenko and the Radio Kamer Filharmonie were led by Brad Lubman’s prodigious skill into a more than excellent performance. Highlight was the seventh and last song, starting with the words “I died and burst out laughing”, a sentence that aptly describes the entire Alphabet of Death. I certainly hope that this piece, and more of Raskatov's works, will become a regular feature in classical music programs."
(Compte rendu de la création de l'oeuvre par Renée Reitsma, 18 avril 2011)


Disponibilité

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