OASIA

“In former times I had an opportunity to travel to Central Asia and to the Far East. And I was always amazed by a very special feeling of space and energy, which I experienced there. Not less I was influenced by crossing of culture, which co-existed together. One of my favorite poets - futurist Velimir Khelebnikov - more than one hundred yeras ago wrote a poem called 'O, Asia'. He used to travel a lot; in Iran they called him 'a white dervish'.
'Oasia' received a double sense: 'oasis' and 'Asia'. 'Oasia' consists of 7 movements. I have chozen this number not accidentally. According to George Miller this 'Magic Number'symbolized unity on universe.
The first movement: Universal trills, emergence of sounding space
The second movement: a sort of incantation, a certain 'shamanism'. As if shaman would rotate around himself. Starting with the 1st violin it captivates the whole quartet.
The third movement: These 11 bars were unexpected for myself. This is allusion to the fragment of the slow movement of the 9th symphony by Dmitri Shostakovich - a modest hommage to his future jubilee.
The fourth movement: Here I united intentionally 2 patterns of two ancient cultures: from old synagogue liturgy and from old Slavonic 'znamenny raspev'.
The fifth movement: a return to shaman's ritual. All the four instruments are used here as one simultaneous instrument.
The sixth movement: Here appears the idea of time, idea of a pendulum, which exists in many of m,y works. 'Space' and 'time' co-exist; I could feel that, almost physically while my travelling in deserted of Far East.
The seventh movement: The quartet is divided in two duets. I return here to the ancient type of orientalism.
I afforded myself to quote (in the viola part) an old tune of inhabitants of the Arctic. In 'Oasia' I wanted to express the common spirit of ancient musical cultures, so that to write them in organic whole.
The last three beats of bell in the very end emphasize the spiritual character of this work.”
(Alexander Raskatov)