Giya Kancheli

about

Giya Kancheli (გია ყანჩელი), (10 August 1935 – 2 October 2019) was a Georgian composer. He was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, but resided in Belgium. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kancheli lived in Western Europe: first in Berlin, and from 1995 in Antwerp, where he became composer-in-residence for the Royal Flemish Philharmonic. He died in his home city of Tbilisi, aged 84. Kancheli arguably Georgia's best-known cultural export. His music is very communicative and immediate and often has a spiritual quality, which leads some to compare him (not always helpfully) to composers such as Allan Pettersson, Arvo Pärt and John Tavener. There are several instances of folk and religious inspiration in his music, notably in the opening to the Third Symphony or his more recent work Magnum Ignotum, but the effect of Georgian folk elements on his style is in spirit rather than substance, should not be overemphasised. In his symphonies, his musical language typically consists of very slow, haunting scraps of minor-mode melody against long, subdued, anguished string discords, occasionally punctuated with 'battle scenes' involving martial brass and percussion. His music post-1990 has become more refined and generally more subdued and nostalgic in character. Some commentators talk about his music in cinematic terms; one can find equivalents of dissolve (in his ubiquitous blurred tonal transitions), zoom (such as the long crescendo a third of the way into the Sixth Symphony),

top songs

albums

Giya Kancheli: Miniatures for Violin and Piano

Motherland

Midwinter Spring: Kancheli - Pärt - Vasks

Music For Film And Theatre

Kancheli, G.: Simi / Mourned by the Wind

Caris Mere

Giya Kancheli: Themes From The Songbook

Echoes of Time

Abii Ne Viderem

Kancheli: 33 Miniatures

Kancheli: Symphonies Nos. 1, 4 and 5

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Kancheli: A Little Daneliade, Valse Boston, 18 Miniatures & Largo & Allegro

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