Janos Gereben:

>Kancheli, from the Part-Schnittke-Gubaidulina "school" of musical
>neo-mysticism (or substitute your own terminology), has written some
>very enjoyable works - film scores, short concert pieces in which just
>the "atmosphere" is sufficient.  Think of him, however faint that praise
>may be, as Debussy without melody or colors.  Great for 10 minutes, not so
>much for a half an hour.

Kancheli's Fourth and Sixth symphonies are fairly long but convincing
works, at least from my perspective!  And there is also Lament and Simi,
two beautiful works that are far from being "short"...

I shall add that - in the works mentioned above - Kancheli's sound world
has little in common with Debussy's.  He has a voice of his own, full
of original colors and melodies...  Kancheli is not one of my favorite
composers (I find some of his music too repetitive), but I think that
*some* of is longer works deserve praise!

Daniel Beland