The twelfth album in ECM's New Series by the outstanding Georgian composer Giya Kancheli presents two important world premiere recordings: "Chiaroscuro" for violin and chamber orchestra and "Twilight" for two violins and chamber orchestra.[3] Gidon Kremer and the Kremerata Baltica have long enjoyed a close relationship with Kancheli.[3] In "Twilight," we witness the impressive collaboration between Kremer and Patricia Kopatchinskaya, two of the most expressive violinists of our time. This work was conceived as a reflective contemplation of transience during Kancheli's convalescence from illness, when he saw in the leaves and branches of the poplar trees outside his window a symbol of change and transformation. "Chiaroscuro," on the other hand, derives its name from the Renaissance and Baroque painting technique, whose emphasis on dramatic contrasts between light and dark directly corresponds to the extreme dynamic shifts in Kancheli's composition, vividly interpreted by the Kremerata Baltica. The recording was made in December 2014 in Vilnius, Lithuania, under the production of Manfred Eicher. This release significantly enriches Kancheli's ECM catalogue and is published in the year of his 80th birthday.[1][2]
