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Sofia Gubaidulina: a musical offering

2025-07-11T09:07:00

Gubaidulina © Peter Hundert - DG2222

Gavin Dixon examines the spiritual, visionary string works of the Russian–Tatar composer Sofia Gubaidulina, who died earlier this year

Back in the 1980s, Western audiences were introduced to the music of Sofia Gubaidulina through her imposing, expressive and deeply spiritual violin concerto Offertorium (1980, rev. 1986). The work takes the ‘royal theme’ from Bach’s Musical Offering and fractures it into single notes which are distributed among solo instruments around the orchestra – bassoon, trumpet, horn, flute. When the violin enters, it is with guttural slides – soon imitated in the orchestral strings – and incessant alternating figures, presented against ethereal woodwind clusters and gentle percussion effects…

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