Alexandrov was only able to finish two of the projected
Visions, a cycle of seven pieces; when he composed them in 1979 he was already in his ninety-first year – they eventually appeared posthumously in 1988. Aimlessly repeated polymodal figurations, sudden hymnic flights and pale chains of chords merge here in a disturbing late style that, though standing completely outside other developments in the history of music, possesses without doubt great visionary power. That Alexandrov was able, at such a great age and after decades of artistic stagnation, to draw inspiration from such secretly slumbering sources, is astonishing evidence of his musical greatness which he had obscured and almost destroyed through a multitude of educational pieces, children’s songs, naïve folksong arrangements and light film music.
from notes by Christoph Flamm © 2002
English: Roland Smithers
