There is always a spritual dimension to Sofia Gubaidulina’s work, and the violin concerto Dialog: Ich und Du is no exception. The booklet note points out the overt reference to Martin Buber’s book of that name, first published in 1923, dealing with the concept of dialogue as a spiritual vision of the world. The dialogue is of course between soloist and orchestra, or, frequently more exactly, between soloist and groups of instruments from the orchestra, but the structure is unexpectedly fragmented, a sequence of short sections of tremendous intensity, often with bursts of apocalyptic fury (such as the vicious hammering at the end of the fifth section). This does not take away from the music’s sense of cumulative, brooding power, however; Gubaidulina never loses sight of the overarching structure, the melodic line that holds the dialogues together. Repin is astounding, the Gewandhaus attentive to every nuance.

‘Apocalyptic’ is also, of course, the word one would expect to be using of a work entitled The Wrath of God, and the snarling brass of its opening suggests in a very literal way the Day of Judgement. It strikes me that this work, in spite of its fury and frustration, is more colourful than the violin concerto; it searches out instrumental combinations with wonderful imagination, perhaps because it is freed from the domination of (or interaction with) the soloist. At any rate, there is plenty to intrigue the ear here, as well as to engage the heart.

Colour is an essential element, too, of The Light of the End, dating from 2003. I have always found it to be one of the composer’s most impressive scores, bodying forth as it does the light suggested in its title. No Beethovenian blackness here, but a hugely imaginative evocation of a future spiritual state that makes joyful use of instrumental resources and, notably, different tuning systems (the natural overtone row as opposed to conventional tuning). The Gewandhaus play not only with phenomenal precision but with what appears to be utter enjoyment, and Andris Nelsons is the guiding spirit in what is surely, listened to in order, one of the most remarkable musical and spiritual journeys ever conceived, by a composer whose personal modesty would never lead you guess that she commands the forces of the Apocalypse. A magnificent achievement.