Program
Devil's Radio (2014) by Bates (b. 1977).
Concerto No. 2 for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 61 (1932-33) by Szymanowski (1882-1937).
Concerto for Orchestra (1950-54) by Lutoslawski (1913-94).
The program for tonight was another eclectic one (for me, anyway). Prior to today I had three encounters with Szymanokski's music, his Violin Concerto No. 1 (twice) and his very short opera King Roger. All three left me scratching my head. Back in 2012 we heard Witold Lutoslawski's "Musique funebre" performed by the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra. While I have no recollection of that, my blog entry on the piece was positive. Mason Bates's opera "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" has found its way onto the Metropolitan Opera stage, my previous experience is with his piano concerto (written for Trifonov) and the symphonic work "Anthology of Fantastic Zoology." My reviews of those pieces were on the "meh" side.
Devil's Radio has a simple premise based on an old Southern saying "Rumor is the Devil's radio." What was initially conceived as a piano etude morphed into a work for a large orchestra when an Idaho symphony orchestra commissioned the work. Interestingly no electronic instrument is used in the large ensemble, but the music calls for a large array of percussion instruments.
Given the description provided by the composer, the music made sense as a devil's tribute to himself. The phrase "... when thunderous hits in the low brass suggest a Goliath-sized figure throwing his weight around" evokes Fasolt and Fafner. The devil as described in this music is neither sinister nor scary, though.
Bates came on stage after the performance of his work.
Josefowicz is well-known for performing contemporary violin pieces. If not contemporary, at least obscure. Tonight's violin concerto belongs in the latter category. My view on Szymannowski's first violin concerto isn't favorable (I take credit for the remark "better" doesn't mean "good"). Szymanowski counted on his violinist friend Pawel Kochanski for the solo part, and indeed the cadenza is attributed to Kochanski completely. My initial reaction was "this time it is different," unfortunately after about 10 minutes (the piece is about 20 minutes long) I started to scratch my head; while that assessment is better than the first concerto, it is disappointing nonetheless. The remark "better doesn't mean good" again comes to mind. Even as a virtuoso showcase, the piece is limited to double and triple stops, and notes played high on the fingerboard. And speed, of course. (I am sure there are occasional harmonics, pizzicatos, and other demanding maneuvers.) Not that they don't require skills of the highest caliber, but they do sound repetitive after a while. For encore she played another virtuoso piece that Google couldn't identify. I suspect it's a modern composition highlighting her capabilities. It felt like more of the same, though.
From the little I know about her, Josefowicz seems to exclusively perform modern violin pieces, many written specifically for her. We often wonder how virtuoso musicians would sound when they play more "traditional" pieces, and I wonder if Josefowicz will ever get to that point. This was my third encounter with her, the serious look on her face I noticed before has turned into a pained expression - I never saw her month closed the times I looked.
Her violin didn't project that well (we were in Row P), and didn't have the brilliance of a Stradivarius or the warmth of a Guarnerius. A web search indicated that she plays a 2013 instrument which in her opinion matches her playing style.
The three movements of the concerto are played without pause, and they are (1) Moderato molto tranquillo - Andante sostenuto; Cadenza; (2) Allegramente molto energico; and (3) Andantino molto tranquillo.
After performance the encore. Many of the stripes on the dress were reflections of the lights, thus they moved as Josefowicz moved. Clever, or distracting? Or should I even be commenting on this?
To me the major difference between a Concerto for Orchestra and a Symphony is the former provides specific passages for the different sections, and in some cases for the principals of the different sections. By that measure this composition by Witold Lutoslawski certainly falls into the former category. An uninitiated listener (i.e., someone who hasn't read the Program Notes) will probably mistake the work for a symphony.
The section "The Work at a Glance" could well have been mistaken for that of a symphony. Nonetheless, it provided a useful guide during the performance. I will incorporate some of the material in this blog entry. The motif provided for the first movement (Intrada: Allegro maestoso) was easy enough to grasp; it is a folk melody from the Mazovia region. The motif is successively stated by different instruments in the ensemble. The end of the movement is marked by "many solo instruments overlap[ping] with the folk theme ..." Thereby a concerto for orchestra.
The second movement (Capriccio notturno e arioso; Vivace) is in the form a scherzo, with the Arioso serving as the trio. The return of the scherzo was very brief.
The eight-measure bass line that anchors the last movement (Passacaglia, toccata e corale) was easy to pick up when the passacaglia first commenced; it got lost as the line got repeated 18 times. (And I also lost count.) The ending of symphony was described thus: "It expands, through sequential repetitions, into six parts, by the brasses, then, by the strings, into 14 independent lines covering five octaves. Probably all true, but for this initiated listener it simply sounded more chaotic. Which is okay.
Robertson went over to acknowledge the bassists. They repeated the 8-measure passacaglia theme 18 times, amongst other duties.
The price indicated at the top isn't a typo. A couple of weeks ago I got an offer from NY Phil for $20 tickets. Even with that promotion, there were quite a few empty seats tonight. It looks like there will be few empty seats for Tuesday's performance.
The next two series will be Salonen conducting works by Debussy, Boulez, and Bartok. BOGO tickets were on offer, so I bought tickets to both concerts. I wonder how I will react to Boulez, even at 50% off.
The originally programmed conductor was Marta Gardolinska in her NY Phil debut. Robertson stepped in when she withdrew for health reasons, that's quite unfortunate. I don't know how these conductors work, Robertson looked like he knew what he was doing, even when he had to deal with the 14 independent lines at the end.
The concert was short (7:30 pm start, ended at 9:15 pm), but the timing was such that we didn't have to hurry to catch our train back to South Amboy. Penn Station was very busy tonight.
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