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Chaya Czernowin's The Quiet Wins German Record Critics' Award

Dec. 08, 2016

Chaya Czernowin's <em>The Quiet</em> Wins German Record Critics' Award

Chaya Czernowin’s recent orchestral portrait album, The Quiet, has won the German Record Critics’ Award (Preis Der Deutschen Schallplatten Kritik) for Best Recording in the category of “Contemporary Music”. The album, released on WERGO Records, features premiere recording of several major orchestral works by Czernowin including The Quiet, Zohar Iver and Esh, as well as White Wind Waiting, for guitar and orchestra, and At the fringe of our gaze, for orchestra and concertino group.

Regarding the prize, the Jury of the Preis Der Deutschen Schallplatten Kritik commented:

Since at least the time of Beethoven, it has been imperative to pay close attention any time a composer mentions taking his or her compositional style in a "new direction." Often, the first works composed in this new style do more than just plant seeds for future composition; they are themselves already consummate embodiments of this burgeoning style. So, too, does Israeli-born Chaya Czernowin's new album of orchestral pieces from 2010-2013 reflect an entirely new stylistic direction for the composer. In each of these works, Czernowin explores the edges of stillness, which sounds here in no way soft or empty, and which at times even comes across as somewhat unsettling.

In his review of the album for Gramophone, Liam Cagney calls Czernowin’s works “monumentally minuscule, enormously small” and “an ecology of sounds.” He writes:

Each of the five works presents a sound environment of wisps, susurrations, noises, and the odd pitched note. Key to the music’s success...is Czernowin’s subtle layering of these different instruments and sound types … it’s all quite impressive. 

For more information on Chaya Czernowin, visit schott-music.com.

Chaya Czernowin
The Quiet (The Crescendo Trilogy Part I) (2010)
for large orchestra divided into three groups
4.4.2.2bcl.2.2cbsn-6.4.2.2btbn.1-3perc-str(14.12.10.8.6)
11’

Zohar Iver (blind radiance) (The Crescendo Trilogy Part II) (2011)
for ensemble and orchestra divided into three groups
ensemble: sax – perc-egtr.pno
group I: 3fl(3.pic.).2ob-2tp-20vn
group II: ca.2cl-2hn.2tbn-8va.8vc
group III: bcl.2bsn.cbsn-2hn.btbn.tba-6db-timp.3perc
16’

Esh (Fire) (The Crescendo Trilogy Part III) (2012)
for orchestra with countertenor
solo group: ca.cl.asax
orchestra: 4(4pic).2.0.bcl.barsax.2.cbsn-1.4wagnertb.4.3.btbn.0-4perc-hp.cemb.harm.pno.org-str
10’

White Wind Waiting (2013)
for guitar and orchestra
2.2.3(3.bcl).2-4.2.3(3.btbn).0-3perc-hp.pno-str(12.10.8.6.4)
19’

At the fringe of our gaze (2012-2013)
for orchestra and concertino group
orchestra: 4.4.4.4(4.cbsn)-4.3.3(3.btbn).1-2perc-str
concertino: cl-1perc-pno-vn.va.vc.
21' 

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