Gubaidulina, Sofia Asgatovna

▪ 2000

      Sofia Gubaidulina might have been the envy of many a contemporary composer when two of her new works were performed in New York City on the same day in 1999. On April 29 the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Kurt Masur premiered Two Paths, a work for two violas and orchestra commissioned by the conductor's wife, violist Tomoko. The two solo instruments, taken in the New York performances by members of the orchestra, represented the voices of the biblical Mary and Martha. On the same day, the NHK Symphony, the orchestra of the Japanese broadcasting system, performed In the Shadow of the Tree under the direction of Charles Dutoit, a work commissioned by the orchestra and featuring one soloist performing on three types of Asian harps—the koto, bass koto, and zheng.

      Gubaidulina was born on Oct. 24, 1931, in Chistopol in what was then the Tatar Autonomous S.S.R. (now Tatarstan, Russia). Her father was Tatar and her mother Russian. From 1946 to 1949 she had lessons at the Kazan Music Academy, and from 1949 to 1954 she studied piano and composition at the Kazan Conservatory. She studied composition at the Moscow Conservatory from 1954 to 1959. At first her works were rarely played in the Soviet Union and were not recorded, and for a time she supported herself by writing music for movies, including scores for animated films. In 1975 she helped found a group that performed improvisations on rare Russian and Central Asian instruments. She first traveled to the West in 1985, and in 1992 she moved to Hamburg, Ger. Over the years, she gained notice with commissions from new music festivals, from institutions such as the Library of Congress and the International Bach Academy of Stuttgart, Ger., and from orchestras and individual musicians.

      Gubaidulina's works exhibited a number of dualities—the traditional combined with the avant-garde, the East and the West, the soloist juxtaposed with the group. Except for the earliest compositions, her works were polytonal and were characterized by strongly accented rhythms. Her use of folk and of nonstandard instruments, sometimes in unusual combinations, often produced striking timbres. At the same time, she employed a number of traditional genres, writing orchestral and choral works, concerti for various instruments, and string quartets and other chamber works. One of the earliest works to gain widespread notice was Offertorium (1980), a violin concerto first played and recorded by her compatriot and its dedicatee, Gidon Kremer. Other recorded works included the cantata Rubayat (1969) for baritone and chamber orchestra and Pro et Contra(1989) for large orchestra. Among her many honours was the Koussevitzky International Recording Award for new music, which she received twice.

Robert Rauch

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