Kancheli: Themes From the Songbook

A very special album for Giya Kancheli's 75th birthday. When starting out on his career as a creator of symphonic and chamber music, the Georgian composer also wrote much incidental music for the theatre and the cinema. Though still little-known in the West, the film music was widely heard across the former Soviet Union and the themes here (there are 20 on the album) enjoyed great popularity. ECM decided to invite Dino Saluzzi to revisit Kancheli's music for stage and screen, in his personal and highly creative way. Simultaneously Gidon Kremer, an old friend and champion of Kancheli's music, also expressed an interest in doing something special for Giya's birthday. With both Kremer and Saluzzi on board, the project took on new dimensions. Finding links between the worlds - Kancheli's, Kremer's, and Saluzzi's - is a task adroitly handled by Pushkarev. The vibraphonist, who works often with Kremerata Baltica, prepared arrangements realized with Kremer in Riga, and also worked in Oslo with Saluzzi, intuitively supporting Dino's very relaxed approach to the material. Nine of the featured themes derive from Kancheli's collaborations with internationally acclaimed theatre director Robert Sturua. There are also themes from films by Georgi Danelia, Eldar Shengelaia, Sergei Bodrov, Lana Gogoberidze and others.