Offertorium

In Sofia Gubaidulina’s Offertorium, her first violin concerto and international breakthrough piece, Bach, Anton Webern and the God of Christianity form the backbone of a deeply spiritual composition. Gubaidulina quotes, dissects and eventually reassembles the main theme from Bach’s The Musical Offering, BWV 1079, moulding fluidly shifting spheres of varying tone colours and textures over the 35-minute piece. Gubaidulina's stylistic point of departure is Webern’s pointillism, in which complex musical statements are assembled in a non-linear way. Cast in three continuous sections, Offertorium (the word denotes the ritualistic placement of bread and wine on the altar) opens with the main theme distributed among several instruments; when the soloist comes in at the end, the theme undergoes a series of transformations, until little of it remains. As the variations continue in virtuosic fashion, strident exclamations from the large ensemble create blistering swathes of sound. The cadenzas crackle with intensity, demanding utmost precision from the soloist, who negotiates mercurial twists that range from abrasive jabs on the low string to vertiginous swirls that reach the highest register. The contrasting final section reworks the main theme into a moving chorale, underpinned by a descending harp motif and serene whispering from clarinet and flute. Near the end, a feeling of spiritual ecstasy accompanies the arrival of the main theme, which has now taken on a different character. Offertorium was dedicated to Gidon Kremer, who gave the premiere in 1981 and took it on tour, introducing Gubaidulina to the world.