White Balance by Divertissement Chamber Orchestra, Ilya Ioff, Lidia Kovalenko

My encounters with the most interesting composers whose works are presented on this disc occurred exclusively thanks to their music. In a literal sense: despite walking down the same Conservatory corridors with Nastasia Khrustcheva and Anatoly Korolyov, it was only after I had heard and loved their music that I took the initiative to make personal acquaintance with them. I was introduced to the music of Sergey Akhunov by pianist Alexey Goribol during our collaboration on the recording of the album “Victor Hugo’s Blank Page”. Each of the above composers’ approach to the sound of the string orchestra impressed me immensely with its distinctiveness, boldness and innovativeness on the one hand and the masterful use of the obvious merits of string instruments (such as, for example, the proverbial “melodiousness” ) in today’s reality – on the other.

Mutual creative interest resulted in a number of pieces which are very dear to me and, most importantly, never cease to fascinate me no matter how often we include them in our concert programs. The album “White Balance” comprises these very pieces written during the last decade specifically for me and my colleagues, the musicians of the Divertissement Chamber Orchestra. On this album hard “shamanic” rhythms of Nastasia Khrustcheva’s composition “The Book of Grief and Joy” for two violins, strings and piano combine with cosmic shimmering sounds of Anatoly Korolyov’s “White Balance” , the expressive beauty of “Passacaglia” and with the delicate fabric of “Art of Allusions” by Sergey Akhunov. Together they make a certain manifesto of 21st century musicians searching for their own paths inside chamber music – an academic and seemingly comprehensively studied art form. It is our joint quest for the perfect balance between the musical sound and white noise, stillness and impulse, harmony and chaos. I sincerely hope that this quest will never come to an end, the process itself being both captivating and productive.

Ilya Ioff

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