Ustvolskaya’s Brutalism Beyond Architecture

Portrait of Galina Ustvolskaya on the cover of the album of her five symphonies (from its Amazon.com Web page)

Once again, I find myself writing about the release of a new BIS album taking place one week from today. However, while Franz Schreker, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and Ernst Krenek were major composers during the first half of the twentieth century, Galina Ustvolskaya found her own approach to modernism during the second half. One week from today, BIS will release its recording of her five symphonies, the earliest (which included vocal work by two boys) composed in 1955 and the fifth, given the title “Amen,” completed in 1990. It is probably worth mentioning that some of the vocal passages for the two boys were a cappella.

What may be most important to Ustvolskaya was her strong commitment to religion. This did not go down well with the Soviet authoritarianism that dominated the middle of the twentieth century. She was never openly censured for her commitment to her faith; but, as her Wikipedia page puts it, she was accused by Soviet authorities “of being unwilling to communicate and of ‘narrowness’ and ‘obstinacy.’” When one reviews the catalog of her works, one can appreciate that commitment; but one consequence is that her compositions were only recognized and performed after her death.

That commitment is most evident in the subtitles she gives to the second, third, fourth, and fifth symphonies. Indeed, one wonders whether she decided to assign the title “Amen” to her final symphony knowing that it would be her last. Nevertheless, my own listening impressions of these five symphony, all performed by the London Philharmonic under the baton of Christian Karlsen, were unabashedly secular.

Mind you, at least some readers probably know by now that I have been an atheist for pretty much the second half of my life. Thus, when I listen to these five symphonies, I am listening primarily to Ustvolskaya’s imaginative approaches to sonorities. I am willing to acknowledge the titles associated with the last four of the symphonies and the declamation of texts in the second and third; but my focus is on the interplay between the instrumental writing and those texts.

My primary impression is that Ustvolskaya found an approach to composition with a spirit that was akin to the brutalist movement in architecture. In many ways, that made for a unique approach to the act of listening. The question is whether, having prepared my “listening chops” to account for this album, I shall return for future listening engagements!