Maxim Shalygin “Letters to Anna“ symphony for violin solo [backstage]

Year: 2009 - 2010 || Duration: 27’30“ || The first and only performer: Emmy Storms || the work has received an honorable mention at the Gaudeamus competition 2012. ______________________________________________________________________ “[...].The most striking merit of this ‘untimely’ work, however, is that it is drenched with a spirit that totally lacks in many contemporary Western music: a penchant for the transcendent that only succeeds in convincing when it is expressed by a master who sovereignly commands his medium. Therein, Shalygin is an heir to composers like Ustvolskaya (or filmmakers like Tarkowski), who, from a broader perspective, are more akin to Bach, the spirit of whose chaconne resounds in Shalygins ‘symphony’, whereas composers like Lachenmann, notwithstanding their often impressive feats, are only heir to a supposed ”continuous negation of the norm’ by the great masters. However that may be, there is no doubt that a great composer is coming here. Let us hope that he