SMIRNOV Abel. to be or not to be…. FIRSOVA Piano Quartet No. 2 Four Seasons. Quartet for the Time of Grief  Rudersdal C Players  OUR 8.226932 (55:00) Reviewed from a wav download with resolution 24/44

Love and Loss (OUR Recordings) presents the Rudersdal Chamber Players (RCP) (Jonas Frølund, clarinet, Christine Pryn, violin, Marie Stockmarr Becker, viola, John Ehde, cello, Manuel Esperilla, piano), performing music by Russian-born composers Elena Firsova and Dmitri Smirnov. In 2019, the newly-formed RCP played works by Firsova and Smirnov. The RCP soon thereafter commissioned two of the compositions included on Love and Loss: Firsova’s Piano Quartet No. 2 Four Seasons, and Smirnov’s to be or not to be… (2018-9). Smirnov’s Abel (1991) and Firsova’s Quartet for the Time of Grief (2023) complete the recording. Elena Firsova and Dmitri Smirnov met while studying at the Moscow Conservatory. They fell in love, and ultimately wed. Following a 1979 concert in Cologne that included their music, Firsova, Smirnov, and their mentor Edison Denisov were among 7 denounced by Tikhon Khrennikov, secretary of the Union of Soviet Composers. Hardships ensued for Firsova and Smirnov. In 1991, they left Russia for England, which became their permanent residence. On April 9, 2020, Dmitri Smirnov died at the age of 71, an early victim of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Dmitri Smirnov’s Abel is inspired by William Blake’s The Body of Abel Found by Adam and Eve. Smirnov describes his work: “Four figures of Blake’s highly expressive tempera drawing The body of Abel found by Adam and Eve (c. 1826, now in the Tate Gallery) correspond to the four instruments: Abel — clarinet, Eve — violin, Adam — cello, and Cain — piano. Each of them is given a unique motif, enabling me to attempt to grasp the spirit of the picture in musical sounds and shapes.” to be or not to be… is a setting for piano quartet (piano, violin, viola, cello) of the iconic soliloquy from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The viola assumes the role of the Prince of Denmark, proclaiming Smirnov’s instrumental transcription of Shakespeare’s poetry. Smirnov acknowledges the “Muss es sein? Es muss Sein!” passage in Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 16, op. 135 as a predecessor to his composition. The remaining instruments provide intense commentary, including references to Louange à l’Immortalité de Jésus, the finale of Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. Elena Firsova offers a brief explanation of her Piano Quartet No. 2 Four Seasons: “The four movements are a description of the English seasons starting from a mild Winter, a beautiful Spring, a short Summer and a rather sad Autumn.” Firsova’s Quartet for the Time of Grief is a memorial to her departed husband. The work features the same scoring as the Quartet for the End of Time, and a reference to the Messiaen that also appears in Smirnov’s to be or not to be….
All of the featured compositions are characterized by an overall approach both brooding and agitated, with ever-shifting colors and textures. References to pieces by other composers are at times overt, and other times more fleeting and subliminal. While listening to these pieces, I thought often of the music of Alfred Schnittke. I’m not suggesting one would mistake the works of Firsova or Smirnov for Schnittke’s. But I do think there is a similar aesthetic at play, one that I find hypnotically compelling with regard to all three. The performances by the Rudersdal Chamber Players are penetrating, colorful, and intensely gripping. Recommended. Ken Meltzer
Five stars: Chamber music by Elena Firsova and Dmitri Smirnov