Ava Rasti - Ginestra (2023)

Named for a flower which grows on the slopes of a volcano, Ginestra explores destruction, revolution, survival and reconstruction.
Over six pieces Iranian composer Ava Rasti envelops us in a complex stillness within which turmoil, eruption and menace lurk.
Ginestra has been created out of samples from the canon of classical Western music, including works by Bach, Sibelius, Beethoven and Mahler. In composing in this manner Rasti contends that her work is a search for the violence inside beauty and nostalgia, and the revolution inside us all.
She states: "There is violence inside beauty inside the nostalgia, inside the peace and inside the history. There is a revolution inside us about the past about survival. There is a revolution inside beauty. These pieces are the result of the destruction of beautiful moments in history, with the emergence of revolution, destruction, and reconstruction."
Never more urgent than now, Ginestra is a testament to survival as a form of resistance, and a reminder that swirling pressures can exist beneath veneers of stasis.