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[...] After
Tabakova’s viola and
strings arrangement of
Schubert’s warm-hearted
Arpeggione Sonata, her
Fantasy Homage to
Schubert took us to a
wondrous, ethereal
place, where spectral
string textures conjure
up a magical impression
of floating through
space, and through which
the late emergence of
yet another Schubert
theme on viola provides
a heart-stopping moment
[...] |
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Ken Walton about Fantasy
Homage to Schubert,
October 2015 / The
Scotsman |
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WALES ARTS
REVIEW |
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It was fitting that
the finale of this
year’s Vale of Glamorgan
Festival should showcase
the work of the
festival’s featured
composers, Arvo Pärt and
Dobrinka Tabokova, and
that for this occasion
it should accord their
music the spaciousness
of Cardiff’s premier
concert hall. [...]
Dobrinka Tabakova’s
Centuries of Meditation
(2012), was commissioned
for the Three Choirs
Festival and premiered
in the year of its
composition by the Three
Choirs Festival Youth
Choir with the Orchestra
of the Swan conducted by
David Hill in Hereford
Cathedral, under the
stained glass windows
which were its
inspiration. A
translucent work for
choir and strings, this
entrances the listener
from the start as the
strings shimmer under
the voices. Tabakova
exploits every technique
available to her
players, adding harp –
here played by Ceri
Wynne Jones – to create
additional layers of
resonance, akin to the
bell-like sounds which
are integral to Pärt’s
work. Voices and strings
blend and are woven
together in a completely
captivating way. Her
music will appeal
instantly to lovers of
the English choral
tradition, and yet it is
new and different and
all her own. Her choice
of texts from the works
of the English mystic
Thomas Traherne is
nothing short of
completely felicitous –
the very quality he
himself sought. […]
In the second half of
this concert we heard
the UK premiere of
Tabakova’s Concerto for
Violincello and Strings
(2008), with Kristina
Blaumane, for whom the
piece was written, as
cello soloist. In the
first movement a curious
thing happened: at a
certain point the
soloist was playing,
alone, and yet there was
a penumbra of sound
around her. Whether this
was a happy effect of
the acoustics of the
hall or Tabakova is some
sort of mesmerist I
cannot say. Her sound
certainly blooms – a
word she uses herself in
her always
unpretentious,
illuminating programme
notes – and the hall
certainly carries it
out, but there is
something more. It is
perhaps that access to a
deep source which has
been mentioned before in
relation to both
Tabakova and Pärt’s
music, something
intangible.
I would say to anyone
who loves the cello and
who reveres Elgar’s
Cello Concerto that they
should listen to this
work. The cover of this
year’s Vale Festival
programme carries the
strapline ‘Today’s New
Music; Tomorrow’s
Classics’. I would say
that this could be one
of them. [...]
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Cath Barton about
Centuries of Meditations
and Concerto for Cello &
Strings, May 2015 /
Wales Arts Review |
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Recording of the
month |
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I was greatly
impressed with Dobrinka
Tabakova’s highly
imaginative Alma
Redemptoris mater. The
piece makes great play
with dancing triads,
initially given to the
female voices, around
which other musical
material is skillfully
woven. This is an
intriguing piece which
manages at one and the
same time to sound very
old and very new.
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John Quinn about Alma
Redemptoris Mater,
February 2015 / Music
Web International |
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Dobrinka Tabakova
treats the meditative
Alma redemptoris mater
in a highly effective
quasi-orchestral style
[…] most memorable |
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Malcolm Riley about Alma
Redemptoris Mater,
January 2015 /
Gramophone Magazine |
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Judith Weir
about The Marian
Collection |
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But it’s the new-ness
of the new music (all
recently commissioned by
Merton College) that
provides illumination
for everything else
[...]. I particularly
admired Dobrinka
Tabakova’s setting of
Alma Redemptoris Mater;
ingenious polytonality
resolving itself
logically, but warmly. |
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Judith Weir about Alma
Redemptoris Mater /
November 2014 |
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| [...]
A Royal Philharmonic
Society commission,
Dobrinka Tabakova's
Pulse, with film noir by
Ruth Paxton and using
gamelan, piano and
percussion, confirmed
the talent of this young
British composer: one to
watch. |
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Fiona Maddocks about
Pulse, July 2014 / The
Observer |
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| All music is cut from the cloth of life, either in celebration or defiance of it. Perhaps that is why critics and historians are habitually searching for easy clues and obvious hints in a composer's biography to explain their work. String Paths, conceptualised as a documentation of pieces written between 2002 and 2008, isn't making life easy for them. The album compiles five pieces highlighting and contrasting different ensemble constellations, from the multifarious trio "Insight" and a "Suite in Old Style" to the show-stopping Concerto for Cello and Strings, which sandwiches a slow "Longing" sequence in between two passionate, anthemic, rhythmically agitated movements. Melody, a pronounced sense of propulsion and a 21st century sense of harmony are the main building blocks here.
[...] The closing septet "Such Different Paths" is a case in point, a process of lines exploding onto the canvas, then continually flowing, dripping, rising, converging, blurring, drifting apart and re-aligning again. It may seem as though there were a program at work here. But in reality, creation is a means to an end, which intriguingly blurs the borders between the autobiographical and the absolute. Those looking for easy clues and obvious hints will definitely be disappointed: Tabakova is writing music for the ritual of listening. Explaining away its mystery is the last thing on her mind. |
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Tobias Fischer
about String Paths, Feb 2014 / tokafi.com |
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  Contemporary
Compositional Record of
the Year |
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"The genius crafting of
Tabakova’s compositions
are not just great
contemporary works – they
were INSTANT CLASSICS.
Tabakova’s works are
alluring to say the least
and emotionally one of the
most humbling records for
even the most staunch
listener. String Paths
pieces together delicate,
fragile movement that are
beautiful at every turn.
Tabakova is far above in a
class of composers to
herself and very rarely do
audiences see a living
legend develop as it
happens. String Paths is
Tabakova’s first super
milestone vibrant with
imagination and color that
will set the bar
incredibly high for all
classical composers going
forward." |
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The team at weblog Alto
Riot about String Paths,
December 2013 / Alto Riot |
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| "[...]stunning
[...] an original and exciting, deeply moving, and triumphant commercial recording debut. What’s more, there is something immediate and personal about her music that will prove the envy of many of her peers. Tabakova may be using the musical materials of tradition, but through them she has broken new paths, while young composers are sure to take notice and be inspired." |
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| Mark
Nowakowski about String
Paths, October 2013
/ The Washington Times
Communities |
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| [...]“String Paths,’’ features the intensely hypnotic music of Dobrinka Tabakova.
[...] Tabakova writes
under the arch of
ancient and modern, of
mystical and
magisterial,
particularly her glowing “Concerto for Cello and Strings’’
[...] Tabakova’s writing sounds effortless, if not ethereal, and she challenges listeners without making them feel uncomfortable. From the first to last notes on this disc, the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra and a top-notch group of soloists wrap us in a luminous blanket of sound." |
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| Kurt
Loft about String
Paths, September
2013 / Tampa Tribune |
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| "The
first CD solely devoted
to Bulgarian-born
Londoner Dobrinka
Tabakova certainly makes
clear the basis of her
appeal, with her music's
unabashed combination of
tonality, modality and
folk influences, choric
chant, East-West
synthesis and - in the
works here - a sensuous
delight in the sonority
of strings. Much of the
work on offer could be
music for an arthouse
film, set in some
desolate, beautiful
land. Slow movements
express longing and
rapture, while the
lively rhythms and
modality of her quicker
ones remind me of Vaughn
Williams: [...] Tabakova
writes for her chosen
instruments with
disarming naturalness
and enthusiasm, as in
the bravura septet Such
different paths [...]
Most fascinating is the
Suite in Old Style [...]
ECM's publicity calls it
'Rameau channeling' but
this is no pastiche,
rather a Schnittke-style
polystylistic romp with
oriental cross-currents.
Contemporary music, in
short, that's amazingly
easy on the ear'
*****Orchestral Choice
***** |
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| Calum
MacDonald about String
Paths, August 2013 /
BBC Music Magazine |
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| "ECM have swooped down on 32-year old Dobrinka Tabakova with a hypnotic Cello Concerto and a Rameau-channeling Suite in Old Style for viola and chamber orchestra. The expressive range is riveting, piercingly beautiful and frequently radiant, and each of the pieces reveals an ingenious use of instrumental resources that enable the composer to paint with broad strokes." |
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| Haiku
Reviews about String
Paths, August 2013 /
Huffpost Arts &
Culture |
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| "Bulgarian-British composer Dobrinka Tabakova was impressed during her studies by such figures as Sofia Gubaidulina, Giya Kancheli, and perhaps Alfred Schnittke. Yet the music on this collection doesn't follow any of those examples slavishly. The Baroque elements of Schnittke's music are present in the Suite in Old Style for viola, harpsichord, and strings, but there is nothing neo-classic about the work. Instead, Tabakova extends the massed sound of Baroque music into a series of abstract planes, ornamented with other small details of Baroque concerto style. The effect is completely individual, and so it goes through the rest of the program, with references to traditional styles that seem at once completely natural and thoroughly decontextualized. Frozen River Flows, for violin, accordion, and double bass, seems inevitably to refer to Schubert's cycle Die Winterreise, yet it captures the tension of that work in an entirely different way from the original. The string septet Such Different Paths, written for and performed here by violinist Janine Jansen, has a violin part that disassociates itself from the rest of the septet and rises into the stratosphere; the configuration resembles, among other works, The Lark Ascending, yet the music shares a certain tension with the rest of the program. Although the mood is sensuous rather than challenging or violent, the tight writing for the instrumental ensembles and the difficulty of the individual parts adds a rigor to the whole that makes a fascinating contrast with the various familiar bits that go by. The various combinations of top-flight mostly Eastern European players could hardly be improved upon; they have clearly found in Tabakova composer who can furnish them with absolutely contemporary ideas that do not discard the training that shaped them. The music is likewise perfectly suited to ECM's hyperclarity of engineering." |
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| James Manheim
about String
Paths, August 2013 /
Allmusic.com |
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| "Revel
in this ... you cannot
help but be emotionally
moved." ...
"When we have
composers such as
Dobrinka Tabakova at the
very threshold of her
career and artists such
as those playing on this
record we need have no
fear for the future of
music. It will last as
long as people like her
write and people like us
listen. This disc is
full of music to delight
and wonder at. It is
played superlatively and
with ECM’s usual
attention to maintaining
its benchmark standards
in sound." |
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| Rob
Barnett and Steve Arloff
about String Paths,
August 2013 / Music Web
International |
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"Performances of music by Dobrinka Tabakova (Bulgarian-born 1980 but London resident since she was 11) have become a welcome and frequent feature of musical life in Britain and across continental Europe for so long now that it is strange a CD dedicated to her music should have taken so long to appear. It was worth the wait: this one is outstanding in every aspect - hugely enjoyable from start to finish and at times extraordinarily lovely.
The disc opens with the string trio Insight from 2002, a single span of not quite ten minutes and it grabs the listener immediately. It is, quite simply, gorgeous, with caramel-rich chords animated by a stabbing gesture gradually giving way to an urgent, folk-like dance; Bradley Bambarger's notes reveal that she was thinking of the trio as an accordion, and the textures breathe in and out accordingly, the more active elements springing from that chordal foundation like flares off the surface of the sun before
settling down again. It has been a long time since I heard a new piece of music as sheerly beautiful as this one, and these ten minutes more than justify the price of the disk as a whole.
The Concerto for cello and strings (2008), about 20 minutes in duration, opens with a movement marked 'Turbulent, tense', but after the opening bustle, reminiscent of Arvo Part at his most vigorous, the cello spins out a long melody that initially calms matters down; the bustle returns and the two elements fise together before being enveloped in a cloud of slow
string chords. The central movement, 'Longing', is where Tabakova lets her lyrical heart off its leash in an exquisitely impassioned cello solo, supported at first tenderly and then increasingly ardently by the string orchestra until, passion spent, the music coasts gently into shelter and rest. The finale, 'Radiant', opens with harmonics, suggesting that the soul which passed from life in the second movement was now floating upwards, but the vigour that attends the cello part and soon spreads to the rest of the orchestra pushes such sentimentality aside; their folk-inspired minimalist dance tumbles happily onwards until held chords pin down its movements and the music stops without further ado.
The six-minute Frozen River Flows was originally written, for oboe and percussion, in 2005; this arrangement, for violin, double bass and accordion, was made shortly afterwards at the request of Roman Mints- and it works wonderfully well. As the title suggest, Tabakova's fondness for
juxtaposing lyrical and more active elements is deployed here, too, a more vigorous central passage emerging from, and being reclaimed by, long and lovely melodic lines-and the instrumentation is strikingly effective. This piece, too, has more that its fair share of magic.
The three-movement, 17-minute Suite in Old Style (2006) was written for viola, harpsichord and string quintet; here the quintet is expanded to string
orchestra. In contrast with the emotional intensity of much of the rest of the disc, Tabakova here lets her hair down with some relatively relaxed pseudo-Baroque, with two buoyant dances either side of a very lovely nocturne.
The closing string septet, Such different paths, opens with the most explicitly minimalist material, with a series of little motivic cells thrown around by the violins and slowly expanding out to take in the other instruments (the piece is scored for pairs of violins, violas and cello and a double bass). Tabakova being Tabakova, it doesn't take long for modal dance elements to invade the proceedings. But the
energy seeps away and the music sinks into a slow mantra in the lower strings; an ecstatic violin solo that deliberately echoes Vaughn Williams's ascending lark (in homage to the performance of the VW by Janine Jansen, for whom Such different paths was composed and who resumes her responsibilities here) casts an hypnotic spell and the music passes from view in long, loving lines, tranquil and unassertively ecstatic.
Tabakova is fortunate in her musical friends, and many of them are gathered here to make her music: Kristina Blaumane and Maxim Rysanov are outstanding soloists in the Cello Concerto and Suite in Old Style respectively, but the performances are of the highest quality across the CD as a whole. The recordings bring clarity to the solo lines and rich
reverberance to the carpet of string-orchestral sound that Tabakova favours. A winner, then, and I urge you to make its acquaintances soon- it will take only the opening bars of Insight to persuade you that you made the right decision." |
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Martin
Anderson about String
Paths, July/August 2013 /
International Record
Review
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"No indie classical producer has done more to raise the market profile of important new contemporary voices than Manfred Eicher, the ever-enterprising founder-director of the ECM New Series label. He has got several uncommonly interesting CDs out this summer, including "String Paths," the first full collection of works for small ensemble by Dobrinka Tabakova.
Anyone who admires the fusion of ancient and modern in the music of Arvo Part will respond to the works of the young, Bulgarian-born, English-educated composer. In Tabakova's Concerto for Cello and Strings, Kristina Blaumane's cello moves across a landscape of increasingly luminous timbres, spiraling upward at the ecstatic close. The tonal-modal intensities are at once piercingly sweet and pungently dissonant in the string trio "Insights" and the string septet "Such different paths," variously played by violinist Janine Jansen and several of Tabakova's former conservatory colleagues, with the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra." |
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John von Rhein about String
Paths, July 2013 /
Chicago Tribune
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| "Die 33-jähre
Dobrinka Tabakova schreibt Musik, die direkt zum Hörer spricht; in der Platz ist für die große Emotion und auch Sehnsucht. Zuweilen erinnert ihr Stil an Arvo Pärt, dann wieder an Olivier Messiaen oder amerikanische Minimal Musik. Glücklich kann sich eine junge Komponistin schätzen, der solch exzellente Interpreten zur Seite stehe! Kristina Blaumane im Cellokonzert, der Bratscher Maxim Rysanov in der 'Suite in Old Style' Janine Jansen im Streichseptett- sie spielen Tabakovas Musik, dass kaum Wünsche offenbleiben: mit emotionaler Tiefe, beeindruckendem Klangsinn und nebenbei auch mit schlichter Perfektion. Vielleicht sind es aber auch einfach Intensität und Vielschichtigkeit von Tabakovas Sehnsuchts-Musiken, die sie zum Äußersten
inspirieren." |
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Clemens
Haustein about String
Paths, July 2013 /
Stereo Magazine
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| "Compelling music from a young British-Bulgarian composer[…]
Even on a first hearing,
the music of
Bulgarian-born and
London-educated composer
Dobrinka Tabakova sounds
reassuringly familiar.
It's no less fresh and
compelling for that,
though. Her glowing tonal
harmonies and grand, sweeping gestures convey a huge emotional depth that gives
the pieces here immediate appeal. And it would be hard to better the
passionately committed performances of her
music[…] on this remarkable disk.
The high point is
Kristina Blaumane's
astonishingly powerful
performance of
Tabakova's 2008 Cello
Concerto, an account of
such intensity that it's
quite draining to listen
to[...] From start to finish it’s hard not to be swept up in the abundant power of Tabakova’s
music- matched in a
recorded sound that's
warm and clear." |
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David
Kettle about String
Paths, June 2013 /
The Strad
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| "Bulgarian-born and resident in London for the past two decades, Dobrinka
Tabakova (b 1980) brings together several of those facets that have pervaded
Central and Eastern European music over the past quarter of a century. This
first disc dedicated to her output
[...] is judiciously balanced between chamber
and concertante pieces, with the latter represented by works for cello and
viola. [...] The performances are as formidably assured as the roster of
musicians would suggest, while ECM’s spaciously atmospheric sound suits the
music-making ideally […]
a thoughtful and approachable new voice which ought to
secure an enthusiastic following." |
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Richard
Whitehouse about
String Paths,
June 2013 / Gramophone
Magazine
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"[...]
Ausdruck einer sehr persönlichen
Sprache. Die 2006 entstandene
Suite scheint der Ausgangspunkt für die
erste, bei ECM
erschienene, Porträt-CD
dieser außergewöhnlichen jungen Komponistin gewesen zu
sein. Neben der Suite
präsentiert sie mit drei Kammermusikwerken und dem Konzert für Violoncello und
Streichorchester vier Werke sehr unterschiedlichen
Zuschnitts, die jedoch alle
Ausdruck einer sehr persönlichen Sprache
sind. Die Bulgarin hat keinerlei Scheu
vor fast romantisch
anmutenden, weit gespannten melodischen
Linien, vor offen
ausgestellter Expressivität und
Emotionalität, vor süffigen Streicherkantilenen
- und vor der Tonalität.[...] Vertreter der reinen Lehre mögen sich angesichts
eines so offenkundig entspannten Verhältnisses zu Tradition und Vergangenheit
möglicherweise mit Grausen
wenden. Doch es wäre ein
Missverständnis, Tabakovas
Unbefangenheit mit Unreflektiertheit zu
verwechseln. Und ihre klangsinnliche
Musik entwickelt eine enorme
Sogwirkung, nicht nur in ihren
ruhigen, meditativen
Momenten. Dass Tabakovas Musik einigermaßen barrierefrei auch von Menschen
gehört werden kann, die wenig Erfahrung mit zeitgenössischer Musik
haben, muss
man sicher nicht für eine Katastrophe
halten, und einen Hinweis auf ihre
Qualität liefert dieser Umstand schon gar
nicht.[...] 1980 im bulgarischen Plovdiv
geboren, ging Dobrinka Tabakova 1991 nach London, wo sie
u.a. am Junior
Department der Royal Academy of Music, an der Guildhall School und am King's
College studierte. Meisterkurse bei John Adams, Louis
Andriessen, Iannis Xenakis
u.a. ergänzen das Bild eines von Grund auf ideologiefreien
Komponierens. Von
daher sollte man sich
hüten, sie vorschnell in die Ecke
osteuropäischer,
gefühliger Postmoderne zu
stellen. Seien es die fragile Kühle ihres Trios
"Frozen River Flows" für
Violine, Akkordeon und
Kontrabass, der an
minimalistische Verspieltheit erinnernde Beginn ihres Streichseptetts " Such
different paths" oder die immer wieder von Ausbrüchen
gestörten flächigen Klänge
und ruhigen Linien ihres Streichtrios "Insight", die auf der neuen CD
dokumentierte Sprache Tabakovas ist so
vielseitig, von einer solchen
Differenziertheit und
Intensität, dass sich jede
vorschnelle Einordnung
verbietet. Dass die
überragenden
Interpreten nicht wenig
zum überaus positiven
Gesamteindruck dieser
Veröffentlichung
beitragen, muss kaum
eigens erwähnt werden.
Das gilt für den
Bratscher Maxim Rysanov,
der sich intensiv für
die Musik Tabakovas
einsetzt, nicht anders
als für Janine Jansen
als die sicher
prominenteste
Künstlerin auf dieser
CD, für das Litauische
Kammerorchester ebenso
wie für alle anderen
Beteiligten. Eine
wunderschöne CD."
"[...]Expression of a very personal language.
The suite created in 2006 appears to have been the point of departure for the first portrait CD, appearing on the ECM label, of this exceptional young composer. Besides the suite she presents, with the three pieces of chamber music and the concerto for cello and string orchestra, four works of very varied format which, however, are all an expression of a very personal language. The Bulgarian has absolutely no reticence when it comes to sounding almost romantic, from wide-ranging melodic lines, to openly exhibited expressiveness and emotionality, to full-bodied string cantilenas - and to tonality.
[...] Defenders of the pure doctrine may possibly turn away with horror on account of such an obviously relaxed attitude towards tradition and the past. But it would be a mistake to confuse Tabakova’s naturalness with a lack of reflection. And the sensuous timbre of her music develops an enormous pull, not just in her quiet, meditative moments. It is certainly not correct to think it a catastrophe the way that Tabakova’s music can also be heard, more or less without barriers, by people who have little experience of contemporary music and this fact certainly does not provide any indication of her quality.[...]
Born in 1980 in the Bulgarian city of
Plovdiv, Dobrinka Tabakova moved in 1991 to London, where she studied among others at the Junior Department of the Royal Academy of Music, at the Guildhall School and at King's College. Master classes with John Adams, Louis
Andriessen, Iannis Xenakis complement the picture of ideology-free composition from scratch. Therefore one should be careful of hastily placing her in the East European, Post-Modernist pigeonhole. Whether it is the fragile coolness of her trio "Frozen River Flows" for violin, accordion and contrabass, the beginning of her string septet "Such different paths" reminiscent of minimalist playfulness or the expansive sounds and quieter lines of her string trio "Insight" repeatedly disturbed by outbreaks, the language of Tabakova documented on her new CD is so versatile, of such sophistication and intensity, that any hasty classification is out of the question.
It goes without saying that the outstanding interpreters make a not insignificant contribution to the generally positive overall impression of this release. This applies to the violist Maxim
Rysanov, who is intensively committed to Tabakova’s music, as it does to Janine Jansen as the undoubtedly most prominent artist on this CD, to the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra as well as to all the others involved. A wonderful CD."
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Oswald
Beaujean, about
String Paths,
June 2013 / Bayerischer
Rundfunk Radio
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"Mit zum Gamüt.
Wie unterhält man sich mit einem Komponisten des 18.
Jahrhunderts? Wie lassen sich
Sprach-und Ländergrenzen,
Epochen, vor allem: die festen Vorstellungen von
dem, was an Neuer Musik gefälligst neu zu sein
habe, überwinden? Die bulgarisch-britische Komponistin Dobrinka Tabakova, Jahrgang 1980, tut es
einfach. In aufreizend naiven Klangmaleireien ruft ihre Suite in Old Style für Viol, Harfe und Streicher barocke
Fanfaren, Jagdszenen und Spiegelsäle à la Rameau vors innere
Ohr. Oft trügt der
Schein, wie in einem tönenden
Trompe-l-oeil, und alle Kategorien lösen sich auf, verschmelzen zu einer urwüchsigen Sinnlichkeit
(wie auch in ihrem
Cello-Konzert). Man könnte diese
Musik, die zwischen südosteuropäischer Folklore, Gershwin und Giya Kancheli ihre Inspirationsquellen
sucht, eklektizistisch
nennen. Man könnte es aber auch lassen und
sagen: Solchen Mut zum Gemüt haben wir lange nicht mehr gehört."
"...Such
courage we have not
heard in a while" |
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Christine
Lemke-Matwey about String
Paths, June 2013 /
Die Zeit
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| "Dobrinka Tabakova’s music has a particularly 21st-century feel for its broad palette – its free mix of tonality and modality, of folk-music influence and the example of past masters.” ECM’s sleeve note is entirely accurate. We’re innately suspicious of contemporary music which is easy on the ear – as if there’s conflict between accessibility and compositional rigour. Tabakova was born in Bulgaria in 1980, moving to London to study in the early 1990s. Her aim is to write music “that grabs you and has something to say,” citing John Adams and Sofia Gubaidulina among her inspirations. And she’s brilliant at seizing your attention – the angular bass figurations which kick off the Concerto for Cello and Strings, or the accordion-like wheeziness which colours parts of the string trio Insight. The concerto’s last movement is stunning, the combination of vigour and ecstacy recalling
Tippett. Tabakova’s Suite in Old Style for viola and chamber orchestra won’t frighten anyone – an affectionate baroque pastiche which does plumb genuine depths. That it could have been composed at any point during the last century shouldn’t underplay its charms. More striking is a trio for violin, accordion and bass, and an ambitious string septet, Such different paths, dedicated to (and here recorded by) Dutch violinist Janine Jansen. Solo playing throughout is inspired, whether it’s from Maxim Rysanov on viola, Kristine Blaumane on cello, or violinist Roman Mints. ECM’s sound is, as usual, rich and detailed. |
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Graham Rickson
about String Paths,
June 2013 / The Arts Desk
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Aptly for a Bulgarian composer educated in England, the music of Dobrinka Tabakova pivots on the cusp of East and West European, as well as sounding both ancient and modern.
[... there are echoes here of Arvo Pärt, both in the tintinnabuli effects occasionally discernible in the turbulent first movement of her “Concerto for Cello and Strings”, and in the ascetic but radiant tone of her string trio “Insight”.
Elsewhere, violin keens wistfully over a wanly pulsing double bass and droning accordion to achieve the appropriately glacial tone of “Frozen River Flows”, while her “Suite in Old Style” employs viola, harpsichord and orchestra in a manner part folk dance, part elegy, and part reverie. |
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Andy
Gill about String
Paths, May 2013 /
The Independent
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| From the tender, but dramatic ‘Insight’ to ‘The Suite In Old Style’, which seems to call on and fuse elements from a huge range of musical times and traditions, the power and complexity of her music shines through, served by wonderful musicianship. For me there were traces of Arvo Pärt, Elgar and even Michael Nyman at his best. But Tabakova’s music is unique, fusing east and west in a highly original way. The haunting theme that is revisited time and again in the 16-minute-long-conclusion to the album, ‘Such Different Paths’, is stunning, giving me to believe that Tabakova is one of the best young composers working today. |
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Fern
Bryant about String
Paths, May 2013 /
Musical Pointers
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| Polish
playwright Sławomir Mrożek, in his 1965 play Tango, asked how can
progress be possible if everything is permissible and tradition is dead?
Bulgarian/English composer Dobrinka Tabakova in String Paths (her debut release
for ECM […]) answers this question by constantly referencing the past on one hand,
but peppering it with contemporary innovation and neat compositional tricks on
the other.[...] Taken as a whole, the album hits the delicate balance between
clarity, complexity, tradition and innovation perfectly and is one that reveals
itself little by little with each
listen. |
|
Rob
Edgar about String
Paths, May 2013 /
London Jazz
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It takes a lot to upstage Fauré’s Requiem, but it happened on Monday afternoon with a Three Choirs Festival commission, Centuries of Meditations by the young British/Bulgarian composer Dobrinka Tabakova.
The work is a setting of words by the 17th century mystic Thomas
Traherne, which inspired Tom Denny’s four stained glass windows in the Audley Chapel of Hereford Cathedral. And like the burnished reds, gold and greens of the windows, the music itself blazes with light and texture.
Tabakova’s style is deceptively minimalist, but never in an over repetitive way. It makes felicitous use of repeated chord patterns and ostinati (strings of the Orchestra of the Swan were glowingly sonorous) and long vocal lines (sustained with lustrous fortitude by the disciplined and surprisingly mature sounding TCF Youth Choir) that grow exponentially towards a sense of wondrous
fulfilment.
Although not designed as a companion-piece to the
Fauré, this new and hauntingly beautiful composition seemed strangely apposite, perhaps due to its shared themes of faith, love and humanity;… |
|
David Hart about
Centuries of Meditations, July
2012 / Birmingham Post
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[...]The triumph of the afternoon, though, was Dobrinka Tabakova’s specially-commissioned piece Centuries of Meditations. In Hereford Cathedral’s tiny Audley Chapel are four stained glass windows made by Tom Denny in 2009. Each one explores an aspect of local 17th-century mystic Thomas Traherne’s philosophy, and Tabakova had taken sections of his poetry as her inspiration. The young British/Bulgarian composer was present to hear her work come to life, with the youthful chorus as an entirely appropriate vehicle. Taking the enthusiastic applause, she beamed like the sun and, with hand on heart, was clearly moved by the occasion. And rightly so.
This thoughtful and thought-provoking piece was dreamy in its unfolding. Interpreting the windows from left to right, the first movement reflects a celebration of nature, with life-affirming forward motion and a sense of bursting forth; the second emphasises the importance of faith, musing on the shining central cross through unaccompanied plainchant; the third is a meditation on love, with the window’s central figure bathed in a glow of light, ‘translated musically’, according to Tabakova, ‘as growing rich cluster chords, which radiate from a single note’; and the fourth depicts community, by means of a city (clearly Hereford itself as the Cathedral is seen in the distance), the work coming to a close with the development of a theme of bells and culminating in a joyous finale. The choir and orchestra were perfectly balanced and did full justice to this accessible new work. It was a privilege to witness the bringing together of windows, words and music in the most appropriate location, especially as even the weather was in tune. My lasting memory will be of this phrase of
Traherne, sung with tenderness and clarity, the final sustained word continuing to shimmer with light and life before skittering up into an accomplished slide: ‘You are as prone to love as the sun to shine.’ |
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Katherine Dixson
about Centuries of Meditations,
July 2012 / bachtrack
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| At first glance
Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata seems
a most unlikely candidate for
transformation into a
fully-fledged viola concerto. A
closer look at the score suggests
otherwise, particularly as the
piano plays a rather subsidiary
role in the musical argument.
Indeed there is some historical
precedence for Dobrinka Tabakova’s
resourceful arrangement in the
present release since Gaspar
Cassadó adapted the same work for
cello and full orchestra in 1930.
Yet whereas the Cassadó sounds
somewhat bloated, Tabakova’s
adaptation for string orchestra
seems more closely attuned to the
intimate spirit of the original.
Certainly Maxim Rysanov makes the
best possible case for hearing
this version, delivering a
wonderfully poetic account of the
solo part with subtle and
sensitive accompaniment from the
Swedish Chamber Orchestra. |
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|
BBC Music
Magazine, Sept 2011 , about Schubert Arpeggione
arrangement
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[...] the
string-orchestra arrangement of
the piano part by Dobrinka
Tabakova is convincing in its
sensitivity and instrumental
colouring.
|
|
Geoffrey Norris
about Schubert Arpeggione
arrangement, Aug 2011, The Daily
Telegraph
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| [...]
And there was the
luminous “Syng, Hevin
Imperiall” by Dobrinka
Tabakova, one of three winners of
the Sorel Composition Competition
for female choral composers on the
program. Setting a 15th-century
Middle English poem by William
Dunbar, it closed in a mood of
gorgeous calm after a gauzily
beautiful opening punctuated with
organ flourishes. |
|
Zachary Woolfe
about Syng, Hevin Imperiall, June
2011 / The New York
Times |
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| Tabakova world premiere is a class
act [...]
This beautifully crafted piece was commissioned by the organist William Saunders from the young British/Bulgarian composer and written especially with Brentwood Cathedral’s restored Hunter organ in mind. The two movements, Pastoral and Choral, were simple in structure but rich in sonority and harmony and were done full justice by Saunders. The Choral particularly caught the ear with its emotional intensity and sensuous, shifting harmonies. It is not hard to imagine this quickly establishing itself in the organ repertoire. |
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David Worsfold
about Diptych for solo organ, Oct
2010 / bachtrack |
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|
| The rather lengthy
intermission ended with the
anticipation of yet another
arrangement of a well-known and
loved sonata for a stringed
instrument and piano: Franz
Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata.
Although written for a defunct,
very short-lived instrument that
was a bowed combination of cello,
guitar and gamba, it is now mostly
played on cello. This performance
featured Rachlin playing the viola along with the ASMF in
an arrangement by Dobrinka Tabakova, an
award winning young British/Bulgarian
composer. While admittedly it is
difficult to overcome one’s comfort and
bias to the original, this arrangement
seemed to work much better than the Kreutzer
[...] This was a very satisfying
experience and adds another excellent
adaptation to the already many versions
of one of Schubert’s masterpieces. |
|
Jeffrey Rossman about Schubert
Arpeggione arrangement, Apr 2010 / Classical Voice of North
Carolina |
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|
Die
Kremerata Baltica war beim Auftritt zur
Mozartwoche am Mittwoch in Spiellaune um
ihren Meister geschart. Ein Stück, auf
das man sich auf Anhieb verliebt, war
"Sun Triptych" für Violine
und Violoncello der 30-jährigen
gebürtigen Bulgarin Dobrinka Tabakova.[...]
Kremerata Baltica, who performed at the
Mozart-week on Wednesday surrounded their director in playful mood. A piece which one
fell in love with straight away was
Sun Triptych for violin and
cello [and strings] by the 30-year-old Bulgarian-born Dobrinka Tabakova... |
|
|
eStro about Sun
Triptych, Jan 2010 / Salzburger
Nachrichten |
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[...]
In der Orchesterfassung mit Jansen am
Konzertmeisterpult klangen die
phasenverschobenen "Pfade"
dieses Stücks, die sich immer weiter
verästelten, diesmal noch konturierter
als in der bekannten Kammermusikversion.
Auch wenn die Pseudotonalität und die
an Bartók oder Kurtág angelehnte
Folkoristik Tabakovas nicht wirklich neu
in der Neuen Musik sind, üben die
Empfindsamkeit und der obsolete
Sehnsuchtsgestus doch große Faszination
aus. [...]
In the orchestra version, with Jansen in the leader's seat, we heard
Such different paths... There were moments of pseudo-tonality and folk-leanings akin to Bartok or Kurtág … the emotional charge and longing gestures produced fascinating effects... |
|
Helmut
Peters about Such
Different Paths, Jan
2010 / Die Welt |
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[…] Dobrinka Tabakova's recently composed Suite in Jazz Style in which you surely can hear jazz, but not only. Digesting strong influences of other composers and music of the last century, the work immediately sounds like an instant classic
[…] Everything is fresh, vibrant and makes sense. The music is rarely atonal and speaks a rich language. The interesting thing is, nothing seems to be scored following some kind of predetermined conception of how written music should sound today. As an agreeable consequence, the result is therefore very personal. Rysanov, to whom the work has been dedicated, and
Katsnelson, make an exceptional job and served the score with true style and spirit.
During the days of the composition [of Shostakovich's Sonata for viola and
piano], Shostakovich wrote an open letter to the musicians of the world:
'By building bridges into the future, we must take care not to burn the bridges connecting today’s culture to its immortal
past.' It seems like Dobrinka Tabakova does more than merely fulfilling this mission: whereas Shostakovich showed conflict between the old and the new by putting literal quotations in the middle of a work, she simply merges both worlds. |
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|
Antoine Richard about Suite in Jazz
Style, Oct 2009 / tokafi.com |
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| Bulgarian/British composer Dobrinka Tabakova[‘s][…] Modétudes are just as short as the Scriabin
Preludes, but they use modal scales to build still more sharply characterized, melodic miniatures. The results can occasionally sound like Keith Jarrett (in the Aeolian study), but Tabakova is her own woman. The life and imagination of these works, written while she was still a teenager studying in London, are remarkable, and the strength carries through to the more recent
Nocturne, written for Chang. |
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Paul Ingram about
Modétudes and Nocturne, Aug 2009
/ Fanfare Magazine |
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Безспорно
избраният
център
на
програмата
бе
едно
очаквано
име:
Добринка
Табакова
с
творбата
‛Ореол
‛(1999).
Действително
яркостта
и
необичайната
звукова
образност,
съчетани
с
дълбочина,
поетичност
и
неподражаемо
артистичен
контур
на
творбата
в
музикалното
пространство,
превърнаха
тази
премиера
за
България
в
чудесно
преживяване.
Ето
че
отново,
тъкмо
на
форума
ppIANISSIMO, се
случи
нещо,
което
от
няколко
години
си
пожелавам:
концертно
изживяване
с
творчеството
на
младата
българска
композиторка,
постигнала,
сякаш
незабелязано
в
борбата
за
оцеляване
на
малкото
културни
пространства
в
България,
световен
успех.
[...] В мен
остана
яркото
впечатление
за
нейната
индивидуална
концепция
за
звуково
структуриране,
великолепното
изграждане
и
яснота
на
драматургията,
която
при
това
притежава
необикновени
и
нестандартни
пространствени
и
времеви
контури.
Благодарна
съм,
че
присъствах
на
тази
нейна
позакъсняла
българска
премиера
и че
вече
мога
да се
нарека
‛фен“
на
младата
композиторка.
Without question
the centre of the programme was a
familiar name- Dobrinka Tabakova
with her work
Halo (1999). The
brightness and unusual sonorities,
together with the depth and poetry
of the work’s shape, made this
an unforgettable experience […] I
was left with the impression of
strong individuality with an
ability to arrange sonic shapes
and a clarity which creates a
strong sense of dramaturgy… I
can now call myself a ‘fan’ of
the young composer. |
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Angelina Petrova
about 'Halo', April 2009
Culture Magazine, BG |
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Tabakova, die viel für Gidon Kremer und dessen Ensembles schreibt, ist mit diesem Stück etwas gelungen: Sie führt den angloamerikanischen Minimalismus zusammen mit der osteuropäischen Moderne der Zwischenkriegszeit, die in der archaischen Folklore das Neue suchte. Janacek, Martinu und Szymanowski sind hier weitergedacht zu einem reizvollen, packenden Stück, das jenseits der Dilemmata "Neuer Musik" über Tonalität und Mehrstimmigkeit nachdenkt. Richard von Weizsäcker - Ehrenmitglied des Förderkreises Spectrum Concerts Berlin e. V. - wollte seine Begeisterung darüber gar nicht verbergen und gratulierte der jungen Komponistin lebhaft in der Pause.
Tabakova, who has also written for
Gidon Kremer and his ensemble, has here succeeded with this work: She blends Anglo-American minimalism together with the flavour of East European 20th century composers and has produced something completely new. Janacek, Martinu and Szymanowski are re-invented in an attractive, absorbing piece, which thinks beyond the dilemmas ' of new music '. Richard von Weizsäcker - honorary member of Berlin Spectrum Concerts – could not hide his enthusiasm and congratulated the young composer enthusiastically in the break. |
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Jan Brachmann about Such Different
Paths, Jan 2008 / Berliner Zeitung |
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Erinnerungsarbeit
liegt hier im Aufspüren dieses
genialen, ganz anders als Strauss
von den Zeitläuften
beeinträchtigten Komponisten.
Auch das Septett „Such Different
Paths“ der 27-jährigen Bulgarin
Dobrinka Tabakova, als
Auftragswerk uraufgeführt,
wandelt auf Spuren der
Vergangenheit: mit dissonant
irisierenden Schichtungen
folkloristisch anmutenden
Materials, die sich immer mehr in
harmonische Schönheit
zurückziehen und zeigen, wie
zerbrechlich und bewahrenswert sie
ist.
In this evocative work, we are introduced to this brilliantly different composer. The septet- Such different paths commissioned from the 27-year old Bulgarian-born Dobrinka Tabakova, performed here for the first time, strolls on some tracks of the past: with dissonant shimmering
harmonies and folk-like material, which
gradually dissolves into a fragile beauty… |
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Isabel Hertzfeld
about Such different paths, Jan
2008 / Der Tagesspiegel |
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| [...]
the unusual and
inventive programme, makes this
disc a real winner […][Dobrinka
Tabakova displays an] extraordinary ear for melody and texture… |
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Ivan Moody about Whispered
Lullaby, May 2007 / International
Record Review |
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[…] the most beautiful moment comes in the last track, a haunting miniature, Whispered Lullaby,
[…] which, with its Debussyesque colourings, draws this hugely impressive disk to a meltingly calm end. |
|
The
Scotsman, May 2007
Kenneth Walton about Whispered
Lullaby |
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[…] intimate, dreamy Whispered Lullaby
[…] a perfect encore. |
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Duncan Druce about
Whispered Lullaby, June 2007 /
Gramophone Magazine |
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| […] conjures some unusual and intriguing sonorities from the choir and the discreet organ accompaniment. The slow moving music is highly effective and makes good use of the vast acoustics of the
cathedral. |
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John Quinn about
Praise, Feb 2005 / MusicWeb
International |
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| [...]
the startlingly original – immediately appealing – and prize-winning Praise by Dobrinka Tabakova |
|
| BBC Music Magazine, Feb 2005 |
| ________________________________________________________________________________ |
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| […]
Solid form, multicoloured sound world, with an excellent balance between soloist and orchestra
[…] a composition saturated with an inner, captivating and natural energy… |
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Juliana Alexieva about Concerto for Viola
& Strings, Nov 2004 / Culture
Magazine |
| ________________________________________________________________________________ |
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|
| [...]
a charming new piece by Dobrinka
Tabakova... |
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Paul Driver about What
strikes the Clocke...?, Dec 2003 / The
Sunday Times |
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| [...]
refined, expressively suggestive
gestures. Dobrinka Tabakova’s What
strikes the Clocke?, adopted a similar
stance… |
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Stephen Pettitt
about What
strikes the Clocke...?, Dec 2003 /
Evening Standard |
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| [...]
the delightful Midnight by Dobrinka
Tabakova, a little gem. |
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Stephen Pritchard
about Midnight, Dec 2003 / The
Observer |
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| Dobrinka Tabakova's Midnight (2003) was
an impressive, short piece that
suggested layering, and Chang's hard
touch for its toccata-like passages was
exactly right. |
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Colin Clarke about
Midnight, Jan 2004 / Seen &
Heard Concert Review |
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|
Dobrinka Tabakova’s Insight- a
work cast in a direct language that
intelligently stretches the string
instruments’ musical tembres |
|
|
Joanne Talbot
about Insight, Oct 2002 / The
Strad |
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John Adams, Jan 2002 / At the workshop of the John’s Earbox
Festival, Barbican, London
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|
[…] extremely original and rare music (The
Accordion)[…] postmodern, in that she
has taken material that has a familiar
ring to it, and then she has put it up
against something completely unique and
original.
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[…] The 22-year-old prodigy already has
scores of compositions to her credit and
her enthralling new work (Insight)
ingeniously juxtaposes reality with a
fantastic, kaleidoscopic sound world. |
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Roger Jones about
Insight, July 2002 / Gloucester
Echo |
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[…] very beautiful music […] |
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| Classic FM Radio, Sofia, May 2003 |
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|
The joyful finale to the Festival came
with the special commission of
Dancing on Cobbled Streets by
Dobrinka Tabakova |
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|
Izvestia, Moscow, Jan 2003 |
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A persuasive performance of Dobrinka
Tabakova’s sonorously endearing
Insight … |
|
|
David Alker about
Insight, Sept 2002 / Musical
Opinion Magazine |
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Prof. Alexander Goehr, Sep 1999, On adjudicating
the GSMD Lutoslawski Prize
|
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|
[…]I can hear a
continuation of Janaček’s
style in Dobrinka Tabakova’s In Focus… |
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