Ukrainian Valentin Silvestrov (b. 1937), in common with some other ex-Soviet composers, is polystylistic. As a means of commentary, he may use older, less radical sounds alongside stark modernism. This symphony, finished in 1995 and revised through 2002, is meant to be a farewell to the 20th century. The five-movement work begins with harsh 12-tone music where dissonant intervals rapidly pile up to constitute a screaming, ugly chord. The music freezes on the chord, then repeats the process over and over again in various permutations of the tone row. Gradually the chords become less harsh, but the symphony’s structural concept–building chords, then pausing, then building again–creates a musical momentum that lurches instead of flows. When the long third movement arrives (at 26 minutes it constitutes half the symphony’s duration) the music has become vaguely tonal, and much “prettier”. By the end, we’re in a Mahler adagio world, but without real melody or consistent rhythmic pulse.
Have European composers forgotten how to write fast music? The whole symphony progresses, if that is the right word, at a dream-like pace. While the symphony can keep our attention, little stays in the memory aside from an overworked five-note pattern. I find little message here besides a suggestion that 20th-century music had to be ugly, but now can be pretty. And that is not enough to justify an hour of listening. The Bonn orchestra plays well, conductor Roman Kofman’s evident respect for the work keeps it from being just boring, and the ungimmicky SACD surround-sound locates the members of the orchestra accurately. Recommended only for persons who follow recent developments in post-Soviet music.
