1.anon.: A Galyarde	5:33
2.Purcell: Chacone in G Minor, ZT. 680	5:20
3.Dowland: Melancholy Galliard	4:35
4.Bull, J: Galiarda		3:54
5.anon.: The Short Mesure off My Lady Wynkfylds Rownde	3:26
6.Purcell: Suite in G Major, Z. 660		5:04
7.Byrd: My Lady Nevell's Ground		8:07
8.Purcell: Ground in C minor, ZD221		4:47
9.Bull, J: In Nomine	4:46
10.Dowland: Mrs. Vauxes Gigge, P. 57	2:28
11.Purcell: Abdelazer, Z. 570: II. Rondo	8:17
12.anon.: My Lady Careys Dompe		5:23
13.Dowland: The Right Honourable The Lord Viscount Lisle His Galliard, P. 38	6:38
14.Purcell: An Evening Hymn, Z. 193 (arr. Anton Batagov)	11:19 
    
Anton Batagov - piano

The Russian composer, pianist and electronic musician, Anton Batagov, graduated from the Gnessin School and the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. He was prize-winner at the International Tchaikovsky Competition (1986) and other competitions.

Anton Batagov introduced the music by John Cage, Morton Feldman, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass to Russian audiences. His discographical debut was a recording of Olivier Messiaen's Vingt regards sur l'Enfant Jesus for Melodiya. From 1989 to 1996 he was one of the leaders and organizers of the Alternativa, the annual international new music festival in Moscow.

Heralded as “one of the most significant and unusual figures of Russian contemporary music” (Newsweek, Russian edition, 1997) and "a Russian Terry Riley" (Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, 2008), Anton Batagov is one of the most influential Russian composers and performers of our time. The post-Cagean philosophy of Batagov's projects eliminates any boundaries between "performance" and "composition" by viewing all existing musical practices - from ancient rituals to rock and pop culture and advanced computer technologies - as potential elements of performance and composition. The well-known American musicologist Richard Kostelanetz characterized Batagov's 1993 piano recording of J.S. Bach’s The Art of the Fugue (BWV 1080) as "the most stunning interpretation of Bach since Glenn Gould."

The post-minimalist language of Batagov’s compositions is rooted in the harmonic and rhythmic patterns of Russian church bells, Old Believer chants, and folk songs seamlessly mixed with the spirit of Western minimalism, the dynamic pulse of the early Soviet avant-garde, and the unfading scent of rock music. His works feature a unique sense of large-scale architecture and textured emotionalism.

Anton Batagov's discography includes over 30 CD releases. He is the author of several movie soundtracks, and the number one composer of original music for Russian television. Since 1997, he has composed over 3,000 tunes for the major Russian TV channels.

In 1997 Anton Batagov stopped performing live, and since then, he has been focusing on studio recordings. Most of his works written since the late 1990's are deeply influenced by Buddhist philosophy and practice. He has written a number of major works based on a keystone Buddhist texts chanted by Tibetan lamas as well as several large-scale instrumental compositions inspired by Buddhist teachings.

In 2009 Anton Batagov received the prestigious national Steppenwolf Award in the Best Music category.

In 2009, after 12 years of self-imposed exile from concert activities, Batagov returned to live performances, and immediately confirmed his status as a legendary performer. ---bach-cantatas.com

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1 	At the Grave of Sergei Rachmaninoff (Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, NY) 	8:29
2 	Letter from Sergei Rachmaninoff to Simeon ten Holt 	7:58
3 	Letter from Sergei Rachmaninoff to Peter Gabriel 	5:39
4 	Letter from Sergei Rachmaninoff to Arvo Part 	12:37
5 	Letter from Sergei Rachmaninoff to Ludovico Einaudi 	5:58
6 	Letter from Sergei Rachmaninoff to Philip Glass 	11:04
7 	Letter from Sergei Rachmaninoff to Wim Mertens and Niccolo Paganini 	5:28
8 	Letter from Sergei Rachmaninoff to Brian Eno 	7:47
9 	Letter from Sergei Rachmaninoff to Vladimir Martynov 	8:07
10 	At the Grave of Sergei Rachmaninoff. Postlude 	5:38

Anton Batagov – piano

In October 2012 I visited Rachmaninoff’s grave. He is buried at Kensico Cemetery in the hamlet of Valhalla, half an hour’s ride from New York City. The cemetery is surrounded by picturesque mountains, well-tended houses, manicured lawns, and idyllic lakes and streams. Rachmaninoff is buried among actors, writers, politicians, military personnel, and business people, together with “ordinary mortals” from all over the world – Americans, Russians, Estonians, Chinese people… A great musician who heard the universe as a powerful, boundless space resounding with the sounds of bells at once both tragic and triumphant, Rachmaninoff left Russia and became a part of a completely different world… As I stood at his grave, I found this space resonating within me. When I returned home, I began writing a piano cycle.

In this cycle, Rachmaninoff writes letters to postmodern composers. Rachmaninoff himself was an anti-modernist. He was not a revolutionary, was never “ahead of his time,” and was unafraid of looking old-fashioned. At first glance, it would seem that he bore no influence on late 20th/early 21st century composers. Nonetheless, his invisible, magical presence can in fact be heard in the music of some composers, including so-called “contemporary classical” composers and rock musicians. Likewise, when I hear Rachmaninoff’s endless melodies that evolve from a very short motive of literally two or three notes, the word “minimalism” all but rolls off my tongue. However, these connections are so subtle and not readily apparent that I wouldn’t want to deaden them by invoking musicological terms.

Rachmaninoff thus speaks to the composers that would come after him. Among composers of his time, he did not find a receptive audience – unsurprising, perhaps, given the avant-garde experiments consuming the musical world at the time. The generation that followed Rachmaninoff essentially continued along the avant-garde path. However, Rachmaninoff looked even further ahead, taking sight of those with whom he desired to speak heart-to-heart.

We have long been accustomed to the fact that both early music and classical music are used as the building materials for new compositions. Time runs quickly, and we are already at the next turn of the spiral. Music written only a short while ago becomes itself material for today’s meditation. In this process, there are no quotations; there are only stylistic journeys in a time machine. The turns of this spiral resonate with one another, and we listen to the sounds they make. ---Anton Batagov, discogs.com

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