orchestra
– duration: c. 10’
- Instrumentation
- Notes
- Score
- Audio
- Press
Percussion 1: Xylophone, 1 Tibetan singing bowl, suspended cymbal 2 wooden clappers (mimicking a treshchotka)
Percussion 2: Glockenspiel, 1 crystal glass- tuned to E-7 (c. 2637 hz), 2 wooden clappers (mimicking a treshchotka)
Percussion 3: Vibraphone, 1 crystal glass – tuned to F#-6 (c. 1480 Hz), suspended cymbal, 2 wooden clappers (mimicking a treshchotka)
*Offstage Ensemble Left: Flute, Violin, & Viola
*Offstage Ensemble Right: Oboe, Violin, & Cello
Program Notes by Scott Foglesong
They were a family out of time, living deep in the Siberian taiga and utterly divorced from the 20th century. The team of geologists that stumbled across the Lykovs in 1978 discovered people for whom cellophane was a revelation, who were unaware of the Second World War, space exploration, or television. Yet the Lykovs were not mindless primitives; they were literate people who carefully maintained their stout Old Believer rituals. It had been just that religious conviction, born in the 17th century as a reaction against the reforms of Patriarch Nikon of Moscow, that led Karp Lykov and his family to retreat deep into the taiga back in 1936, in the face of Bolshevik determination to purge Russia of Christianity, including the Old Believers.
It was the Lykov family’s principal entertainment of recounting their dreams to each other that provided D. J. Sparr with the inspiration for Dreams of the Old Believers.
Sparr makes use of two offstage ensembles—one made up of flute, violin and viola, the other oboe, violin and cello—that are designed to create a sense of those recounted dreams, together with harmonies and textures that invoke works by Russian composers Borodin, Stravinsky, Scriabin, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich.
Sparr writes: “To combine my compositional style with specific influences from Russian music, I am using an idea from film and theater scholarship called Mise en scène, i.e., ‘placing on stage.’ For me, that means incorporating elements from Russian orchestral literature as a ‘set’ or ‘backdrop’ over which I can create a dreamlike ‘composed’ reflection of this family’s story. I’m thinking specifically about life—Karp Lykov’s search for a greater life for his family and the birth of some of his children in the Taiga, and death—as they all died once they were found by the modern scientists.”
Review: California Symphony Dreaming With Cabrera and Russian Spectaculars
This world premiere, a 10-minute single-movement composition titled Dreams of the Old Believers, more or less fits the concert theme because it is inspired by the story of the Lykov family who had been living for decades in complete isolation in the Siberian taiga, until they were discovered by accident in 1978.
Old Believers is the name of a group of Christians that separated from the Russian Orthodox Church in the 17th century, out of protest against church reforms introduced by the then-Patriarch Nikon (1605-1681). As Old Believers, the Lykov family fled to the taiga in 1936, during the height of the anti-religious campaign that was going on in the Soviet Union.
For his composition, Sparr found inspiration in one specific detail from the Lykov family’s life in isolation: For entertainment, they would recount their dreams to each other.
How much of all this has ended up in the actual musical composition is anyone’s guess (and perhaps not even that relevant), but the story inspired a piece that is a blast. Dreams of the Old Believers opens with nebulous strings, bell-like brassy accents and a muted trumpet, until the oboe emerges with a compelling melody that is echoed by the flute moments later.
In the program notes, Sparr writes that he incorporated elements from Russian orchestral literature as a backdrop for his own musical reflections. Parts of the composition indeed reminded me of Stravinsky’s erupting Russian spring in Le Sacre du Printemps, with hints of Borodin and Scriabin, but there was also a suggestion of Steve Reich.
Sparr is especially creative with his choice and use of percussion; for instance, he uses a Tibetan Singing Bowl, two tuned crystal glasses, and wooden clappers in the instrumentation. Two offstage ensembles (flute/violin/viola and oboe/violin/cello) serve as voices for the Lykov’s recounted dreams, using melodies that consist of a limited number of notes within a narrow range of the scale, but are mesmerizing in their simplicity and repetition.
Although the spatial effect of the (left and right) offstage ensembles was pretty much lost from where I was sitting,
Dreams of the Old Believers is a well-crafted, very accessible, rich and colorful piece of music with a lot of atmosphere.
By Niels Swinkels, San Francisco Classical Voice, 05/04/2014
Review: California Symphony sparkles under Donato Cabrera’s guidance
Sparr took his inspiration from Karp Lykov, a Russian national who, seeking religious freedom, led his family into the Siberian wilderness in 1936 and lived there, isolated from the rest of the world, until the late 1970s. Cut off from civilization, they were unaware of World War II, space exploration, or television, and spent much of their time recounting dreams.
Cast in a single movement, the 10-minute score melds bright sonorities and shimmering Old World themes.
Two offstage ensembles — one comprised of flute, violin and viola; the other oboe, violin and cello — occasionally break through the larger soundscape to give voice to those dreams; chimes and mallet instruments supply a driving pulse.
Cabrera led a relentlessly enveloping performance, one that finally faded away like a memory. “Dreams of the Old Believers” was Sparr’s final work for this orchestra, and also his finest.
-By Georgia Rowe, San Jose Mercury News 05/05/2014