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        BAKURADZE IS ONE of Georgia's most important and recognized living composers. He suggests a cultural musical exchange between Norway and Georgia would be interesting.I met Teimuraz first in 2004 in a party in Tbilisi. I knew nothing about him, but everybody's attention was aimed towards him. And he talked and talked. I suspected him for doing all his listening alone in his chambers. Even my

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interpreter forgot mypresence, so I was left alone wondering why this man managed to fascinate his audience around the table. The answer came in 2006 when I met him again in a different party. Then I got a lecture in the composers merits, and even managed to understand what he was talking about.

Fame and money means nothing.
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Bakuradze is one of the very few composers that is regarded as absolutely true to his art and values. He has always put his art in front, and the fact that he during the communist era never compromised him self or composed "popular" music says a lot about him. Conductor Nika Memanishvili says this about him: "You know Teimuraz is, as I see it, Georgia's most important composer now, but he is not that kind of person that exposes himself and uses media and publicity to promote his works. That's not just him!"

His concerts are special events...
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His concerts are among the most important artistic events in Tbilisis music world. And not only in Tbilisi. He frequently travel to Germany and Israel with his compositions. His concerts are special musical events which expresses Teimuraz's view of the world. He is a man of principles and with an un compromised philosophy surrounding his work.

..and his lectures are free of charge.
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Teimuraz gives lectures in modern music and musical epoques, even if he is not one of the staff at the Conservatory. His pupils attends his lectures with great pleasure. They are one of a kind happenings which broadens the mind. His lectures consists of 3 parts: The first part is short and is shaped as a social conversation. The second part brings forward the historical and philosophical aspect of the composer / theme, and the third part was listening to the music.

Cultural exchange.
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"I know about Arne Nordheim. Very interesting music"
Teimuraz smiles, and speaks about things unknown for a common soul like me. Then he finishes, and my interpreter manage to catch up with him again and refers: "He wants to have a cultural exchange with Norway. in music". Lets do it, I applaud, still wondering about the man that gets everybody to listen; both to his music and his words.

Central works
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Stage: Praeludium (happening, 2, after Vazha-Pshavela), solo vv, orch, tape, 1974, Tbilisi, 17 April 1977

Vocal-orch: Lyric verses (cant., after Sh. Rustaveli: Vepkhis tkaosani [The Knight in the Tigerskin]), solo vv, chorus, ens, 1963; John Reed (orat, after G. Tabidze), solo v, chorus, orch, 1970; Sym.-cant. (after D. Agmashenebeli), chorus, orch, 1971.

Chbr: Sextet, cl, perc, str qt, 1963; Dialogues, cl, bn, vc, 1968; Str Qt ‘Pshauri Natirilebi’ (after G. Tabidze), 1970; Mtsukhri [Vespers], str, 1978; Two Books for Qnt, pf qnt, 1992 [after anon. 9th-century Georgian author and Bible: Ecclesiastes]

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Teimuraz loved Norwegian Fårikål.

Georgian Composer Teimuraz Bakuradze
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(b Kutaisi, 17 April 1943). In 1967 Bakuradze completed his musical education at the Tbilisi State Conservatory studying composition with Andria Balanchivadze. He lives and works in Tbilisi, composing on a freelance basis. Because of the originality and independence of his approach Bakuradze occupies a special place in Georgian music: having rejected prevailing norms and official aesthetic criteria from the start, he was the first Georgian composer to be interested in experimental instrumental theatre, ‘happenings’ and also the radical reinterpretation of traditional genres. His style is marked by the use of an array of techniques ranging from atonality and serialism to collage, minimalism, musique concrète along with aleatory and sonoristic methods. Most of his pieces contain extra-musical elements: some scores bear witness to his interest in mystical philosophy and Christian symbolism, which is organically combined with provocative wit and a touch of surrealism. In his first significant compositions (dating from the early 1970s), such as the String Quartet and Praeludium for soloists, orchestra and tape, instrumentalists are faced with problems concerning freely dramatic characterization, while he seeks to re-orientate the role of the listener who is obliged to participate in the performance process. By means of spatial arrangement of musicians, he has achieved acoustical effects which belie minimum numbers of performers. Later works – such as the Vespers and Two Books for Quintet – are characterized by further stylistic developments which lend greater depth and conceptuality, and incorporate static and meditative elements in addition to tonal episodes of a nostalgic nature. This minimalist, though highly expressive, music is defined by particular temporal relations, and is repetitive in not only thematic, but also textural, timbral, dynamic and rhythmical terms. The repeated elements are always of the utmost simplicity; the task of this sound-meditation is to transform the psyche of the listener, to propel him towards a state of ‘abstract consciousness’. Such penetration into the unconscious is of particular significance to Bakuradze, who is one of the most radical representatives of post-avant-garde music and the leader of the young generation of Georgian composers.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
N. Mamisashvili: ‘Pshauri Natirilebi’, Sabchota Khelovneba (1975), no.1, pp.69–71 [on Bakuradze's String Quartet]
E. Sanadze: ‘Teimuraz Bakuradze’, Muzïka republik Zakavkaz'ya, ed. G. Orjonikidze (Tbilisi,1975), 152–5

© Oxford University Press 2006, LEAH DOLIDZE