• Tracks

It was never even an unofficial club of composers like the Russian "Mighty Handful" or the French "Les Six". And yet, there are striking commonalities among a group of Soviet composers all born in the 1930s. They were hailed from ethnic minorities in the Russia-dominated Soviet Union and they defied the cultural-political directives which eventually led them to find a post-ideological musical language - guided by a personal faith - that enchants listeners to this day with it's unique beauty. Giya Kancheli, born in Tbilisi in 1935, is one of them. A fellow composer called him "an ascetic with the temperament of a maximalist - a restrained Vesuvius." The works on this disc - for and with the piano - display exactly that side of his: To be able to make time seemingly stand still... while continuing to dance