Love and Loss Rudersdal Chamber Players

• Dmitri Smirnov (1948 - 2020): Abel Op. 65 (1991):
• 1 Smirnov: Abel Op. 65 (1991) 13:20
• to be or not to be... (2018-19):
• 2 Smirnov: to be or not to be... (2018-19) 15:11
• Elena Firsova (b. 1950): Winter:
• 3 Firsova: Winter 02:23
• Spring:
• 4 Firsova: Spring 05:11
• Summer:
• 5 Firsova: Summer 01:46
• Autumn:
• 6 Firsova: Autumn 06:48
• Quartet for the Time of Grief op. 209 (2023):
• 7 Firsova: Quartet for the Time of Grief op. 209 (2023) 10:22
• Total Runtime 55:01

Info for Love and Loss

Elena Firsova and Dmitri Smirnov formed an extraordinary composing couple who spent almost half a century of creative life together as wife and husband. They met and fell in love while studying at the Moscow Conservatoire, and from the start, they shared a passion for the arts and the world around them. As young composers, Smirnov and Firsova's music was heard in "unofficial" concerts outside the USSR, away from the judgmental ears of the Union of Soviet Composers. Despite this, they still ran afoul of officialdom and were denounced as members of The Seven, a group of non-conforming composers that included Denisov, Firsova, Smirnov, and Gubaidulina, at the 6th Congress of the Union of Soviet Composers. Ironically, this rebuke only served to generate more foreign interest in the composing husband-and-wife team. When Smirnov died in 2020, at the start of the COVID pandemic, he left behind not only a prolific musical legacy (200 opus numbers), but also poetry, artworks in various media, and several books, including Song from Underground, one of the most important chronicles of later Soviet music.

OVER THE ABYSS by Christine Pryn (condensed): Eastern European music from the 20th century has captivated me for as long as I can remember. It speaks with intensity, urgency, and truth, unflinching, often uncomfortable. The idea for Rudersdal Chamber Players was born from that music.

After a 2017 visit to Rudersdal Sommerkoncerter, Lera Auerbach and Rafael DeStella planted the seed. We live in peace and privilege, in a country where democracy and freedom are easily taken for granted. In contrast, composers behind the Iron Curtain faced fear, censorship, and silence. There was little room to challenge the system, to question, to rebel. And yet, their musical education was second to none.

Elena Firsova once told me they had to submit a fugue every week. Composing wasn’t a pastime, it was a necessity for survival of the spirit, that urgency is audible. The music is serious, deep, and often harrowing. It pulls you to the edge, over the abyss, and holds you there. You can’t walk away from it unchanged. There is no Danish “hygge” in this world. No easy comfort.

In 2019, we began collaborating with Firsova and Dmitri Smirnov. They wrote piano quartets for us, works of great craft and emotional power. They were warm, humble, devoted to each other and to music. It felt like stepping into a deeper tradition, still pulsing with life.

Then came the pandemic. I was walking in the woods when Elena messaged me, Dmitri was dying. Soon after, condolences appeared on Facebook. The surreal met the tragic in real time.

We had hoped for more music from him. But we are deeply grateful for the one masterpiece he gave us. Elena remains, one of the last voices of that generation. Her work links us to Schnittke, Gubaidulina, Denisov, a line unbroken. Her and Dmitri’s music joins necessity with transcendence.

To play it is to witness history, and to feel its heartbeat. It gives meaning. It reminds us why we play at all. It stares into the abyss, and sings.

Rudersdal Chamber Players:
Jonas Frølund, clarinet
Christine Pryn, violin
Marie Stockmarr Becker, viola
John Ehde, cello
Manuel Esperilla, piano

Rudersdal Chamber Players:
Praised for their flawless, outstanding and convincing playing, Rudersdal Chamber Players have performed throughout Denmark and in Sweden, Norway, Germany, Poland and Russia (before the war) at venues such as the prestigious Louisiana Concert Hall and the Sound Ways Festival. Future engagements include tours in the USA and Canada.

In September 2022 they released their world premiere recording of Poul Ruders’ chamber music and got brilliant reviews internationally including 5 stars in BBC Music Magazine and Fanfare Magazine.

Rudersdal Chamber Players is ensemble in residence at the Rudersdal Sommerkoncerter, a summer festival in a desirable area a little north of Copenhagen.

The base of the ensemble is a piano quartet, but they perform in various settings including clarinet quintet, flute quartet, piano trio, string trio and string quartet.

Rudersdal Chamber Players perform a wide repertoire that ranges from classics by Mozart, Brahms and Dvorak to contemporary music. They have collaborated with important composers such as Giya Kancheli, Elena Firsova and Poul Ruders and premiered works from Denmark, Sweden, USA, Ireland, Poland and Russia.

A particular focus for Rudersdal Chamber Players is music by lesser-known composers including female composers from the romantic era such as Amanda Maier-Röntgen and Mel Bonis.

Rudersdal Chamber Players regularly collaborate with visual artists, scientists, poets and historians on interdisciplinary projects focusing on topics like the Iron Curtain, the Apocalypse, astronomy, or mythology.

Rudersdal Chamber Players was founded in 2017 by violinist Christine Pryn at the request of the internationally acclaimed composer Lera Auerbach and her husband, Rafael DeStella. Lera was composer in residence at Rudersdal Sommerkoncerter, and they thought it would be an advantage for the festival to have an ensemble of dedicated musicians who could perform in various combinations. In 2018, Rudersdal Chamber Players gave their first concert and have since been a sought-after ensemble, performing around 30 concerts annually.

Booklet for Love and Loss