Disruptive Tradition

What do Unsuk Chin and Sofia Gubaidulina have in common? At first glance, not much. The music of the South Korean-born composer, trained by György Ligeti, is certainly not characterized by spiritual or religious inspirations and forces. Gubaidulina, who comes from Tatarstan, became famous for this very profile. She was also attacked for it in the Soviet Union. What unites them, however, is a – more or less fraught – relationship to tradition.

With the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize 2024, Chin is now also considered one of the great classics of contemporary music. And both composers are known for their eruptive, furious forces: Chin's "Rocaná (Room of Light)" from 2008 and Gubaidulina's "Figures of Time" from 1994 exemplify this.

Both works explore postmodern methods, with bold and colorful orchestrations. Interspersed are works by Gubaidulina that represent the religious aspect of her work. Or is this merely a misunderstanding? "I am a religious Russian Orthodox person, and I understand religion in the literal sense of the word, as re-ligio, that is, the restoration of connections, the restoration of the legato of life," says Gubaidulina.

Alice di Piazza is a benchmark interpreter of this style. The final version of the rarely performed piano concerto "Introitus," composed in 1978, is the result of close collaboration with the Italian pianist. Her intensive engagement with the musical cosmos of Gubaidulina began with the "Chaconne" of 1962, a piece of radical reduction.