The Messenger

In The Messenger, we hear a voice from another world: distant, ethereal, and timeless. Silvestrov composed the piece in 1996, following the sudden death of his wife, Larissa Bondarenko. It was inspired by the Russian philosopher Yakov Druskin, who wrote of a messenger linking this world with the world beyond. In Silvestrov’s score, the message is an imagined piano work in the style of Mozart, and the messenger, according to the composer, is “perhaps Larissa herself, perhaps some distant muse speaking in the language of the late 18th century.” Phrases seem to crystallise in the nebulous soundscape and then dissolve into glimmering shades and colours. The pianist is instructed to keep the lid of the instrument closed and to play with a “light touch” throughout. The score exists in two versions, one for solo piano and one for piano, synthesiser and string orchestra. In the orchestral version, the synthesiser is heard at the beginning and the end, a gentle sighing effect that represents the messenger’s arrival and departure.