Alexander Korsantia, Georgian Chamber Orchestra Ingolstadt, Ariel Zuckermann - Georgian Miniatures (2011)

Tracklist

01. Symphony No. 3, "Chamber Symphony"
02. Concerto quasi una Fantasia: I. Molto largo
03. Concerto quasi una Fantasia: II. Sostenuto
04. Concerto quasi una Fantasia: III. Rondo - Toccata
05. 3 Miniatures (Version for String Orchestra): I. Lale
06. 3 Miniatures (Version for String Orchestra): II. Indimindi
07. 12 Miniatures: Suliko (Version for String Orchestra)
08. 3 Miniatures (Version for String Orchestra): III. Satshidao
09. 17 Miniatures (Version for String Orchestra): Simgera (Song)
10. 17 Miniatures (Version for String Orchestra): Dance Tune
11. 17 Miniatures (Version for String Orchestra): A Joke
12. 12 Miniatures (Version for String Orchestra): Mstkhemsuri (Shepherd's Dance)
13. 12 Miniatures (Version for String Orchestra): Zoli Gamididgulda
14. 12 Miniatures (Version for String Orchestra): Rural Dance
15. 12 Miniatures (Version for String Orchestra): Eldfluga (Firefly)



The title Georgian Miniatures is a curious one for this release from Germany's Oehms Classics; Sulchan Nassidse's Chamber Symphony No. 3, although it falls into three loosely bounded sections, clocks in at more than 19 minutes, and the Concerto quasi una fantasia for piano, strings, celesta, and harpsichord boasts a 17-minute first movement. Only Sulchan Zinzadse's Miniatures for chamber orchestra, arrangements of pieces for string quartet, really qualify. These are delightful little folkloric pieces, completely tonal, that lose nothing in audience appeal for having adhered to the official Soviet guidelines of the time. The other two works have only sparse passages that seem specifically Georgian, although annotators Burkhard and Sibylle Schäfer try to claim that a certain nostalgic quality is characteristic of that small and culturally distinctive nation. Nassidse's Chamber Symphony is the closest in style of the three works to the composer who still wields the anxiety of influence over the entire former Soviet Union, Dmitry Shostakovich. Bardanashvili's piece is compared by the annotators and by the composer himself to Alfred Schnittke, but with its three keyboard instruments it has a madcap quality that's all its own. The music is of uniformly high quality, and some listeners will find it's worth the purchase price just to hear the variety of sounds that issue forth from the string section of the Georgian Chamber Orchestra of Ingolstadt, a Georgian expatriate group in Germany, conducted by an Israeli, Ariel Zuckermann. A superior release of music that's almost unknown outside its native country. Incidentally, although the booklet specifically states that the Georgian script on the cover says "Georgian Miniatures," it says only "Miniatures."

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