Sofia Gubaidulina is dead. Her music was religious – and yet successful

Romantic, meditative, apocalyptic and tender: Nobody has composed the horrors of the world with greater urgency than Sofia Gubaidulina. An obituary.

When Gidon Kremer no longer returned to the Soviet Union in 1980, but remained in the west, he very soon triumphed unusual violinists in every respect with the premiere of the violin concert of a composer that had so far hardly been known in this west. This in turn became famous well over the classic circles – and subsequently played a lot. With “Offertorium”, Sofia Gubaidulina, born on Volga in 1931, achieved a rarity, namely a classic that is still liked to perform by violinists and is just as happy to be heard by the audience.