for orchestra
folded linen
2020
Commissioned in 2020 through a program initiated by Yuri Bashmet and the Russian Concert Agency.
The work was premiered and later broadcast on Russian federal television in 2024 — well after its completion and beyond the composer’s control —with the All-Russian Youth Symphony Orchestra under Alexey Rubin.
The title gives the impression of some hand-crafted fabric folded and left to rest, like a still-life. The desire to work with music as a sculpture put into a timeframe led to this choice of a very fragile fabric that requires concentration and only gives air rather than real matter, an environment instead of a narrative.
The work was premiered and later broadcast on Russian federal television in 2024 — well after its completion and beyond the composer’s control —with the All-Russian Youth Symphony Orchestra under Alexey Rubin.
The title gives the impression of some hand-crafted fabric folded and left to rest, like a still-life. The desire to work with music as a sculpture put into a timeframe led to this choice of a very fragile fabric that requires concentration and only gives air rather than real matter, an environment instead of a narrative.
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reviews
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The most radical impression was made by the world premiere of Oleg Krokhalev’s Folded Linen, in which the symphonic orchestra, working with sonorities from triple piano and softer, creates the illusion of a ‘concentrated sounding silence.’ For this unique auditory experience, the Perm–Moscow composer was rewarded with a storm of applause.
— Musical Life Magazine
— Musical Life Magazine
And here there was literally a cultural shock. Have you ever heard a piece built on a single note? Well, Oleg Krokhalev did exactly that. No, no, you don’t understand — he really wrote a piece on one harmony. And he was paid for it, as far as one can tell. Incredible.
— Newsmusic.ru
— Newsmusic.ru