David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center. Orchestra (Seat Y103, $75).
Malkki, Francesconi, and Josefowicz after the New York premiere of Duende.
Program
Duende: The Dark Notes for violin and orchestra (2013) by Luca Francesconi (b. 1956).
Metamorphosen, A Study for 23 Solo Strings (1945) by R. Strauss (1864-1949).
La Valse (1919-20) by Ravel (1875-1937).
This is another of those eclectic programs that leave me scratching my head afterwards. Today I encountered a new composer, new music, and a soloist I first (and last) saw over 10 years ago. So something could be said about all that, but, alas, not much more.
The composer states that the Duende is historically the demon of flamenco, so one can reasonably expect a composition so titled would be dark, with references to the flamenco. While references to the flamenco could be clear (to people familiar with it), I assume the demon can be described in various ways. In this case, the best description of the piece would be "it's quite a demon to play." At 26 minutes, it's a long stretch of technical challenges for the violinist. The work consists of five movements played without pause. Tempo markings are provided for each movement, not that one can tell the different between 89 and 88 quarter notes to the minute.
I came away thinking the composer knows only a limited range of violin techniques, although he made best use of that knowledge in his composition. Quoting from the Program Notes: "The soloist oscillates between prolonged flights in the extreme high register, in complex rhythmic patterns, and the instrument's chthonic nether regions, ... At the center, in a movement dedicated to Nicolae Neacsu ..., is a tribute to the Roma origins of flamenco ..." Words and facts to impress: the word "chthonic" means "of the underworld," and I had always thought the flamenco originated in Southern Spain. Indeed the music started with the soloist playing at the top (high end) of the fingerboard, and there were passages in the lower registers. I couldn't tell where the rhythmic challenges were, nor where flamenco references were brought in.
Josefowicz met the challenges brilliantly, and she looked intense all the way. The composition was dedicated to her and Malkki, and they performed it first 10 years ago, but Josefowicz had the music in front of her, and there were many frequent page turns involved. I felt great relief that no strings were broken, and the music didn't fall off the stand. I noticed the concertmaster also had some challenging passages, although not relentlessly as the soloist had to get through. Perhaps other principals had similar difficult passages as well, I didn't notice.
Her violin was surprising weak against the full orchestra, I often had to strain to pick out the solo line. To be fair, the composer threw in many instruments, including the accordion, which I couldn't pick out.
This was our second encounter with Josefowicz; she performed with Salonen his violin concerto last time. One of those days I can perhaps enjoy a more standard violin repertoire piece from her. Looking at the concert listing at her website, Stravinsky and Schoenberg are as traditional as she gets.
The soloist worked with (against?) a large orchestra.
The Program Notes describes Metamorphosen as "an agonized cry from the heart, a dark report from a dark time." I read the Notes before the concert, and didn't get that at all. Indeed the body of the article doesn't support this thesis. Words and phrases such as "upward-thrusting," "richly harmonized," and "eloquent melody" are not usually associated with darkness or pain, and I certainly didn't feel that from the performance. It felt more like an exercise in complexity; indeed I was trying to decipher how complex the composition was, not that I can make out 23 lines at the same time. (Well, we saw a Wagner score with 29 lines.)
The 23 strings are 10 violins, 5 violas, 5 cellos, and 3 basses.
On the several occasions I heard Ravel's La Valse I was told it was supposed to describe a dystopian world by having a waltz discombobulate into despair. (One exception was a Philadelphia Orchestra performance.) The music does devolve, but chaos doesn't necessarily translate to despair, and this piece has never done it for me.
The Program Notes contains the same blurb I read in 2016 about Mi-Si-La as possibly representing Misia Sert, and the vowels A and E are Ravel's signature. Therefore there was a romantic link between the two. I still couldn't hear it, and remark that Shostakovich's DSCH is a lot clearer. When I referenced this in 2016, I wondered how many more papers would come out of such discoveries. Not much progress has been made, if today's notes are any indication.
Malkki and Huang shaking hands at the conclusion of Ravel's La Valse.
All three pieces on this afternoon's program (started at 2 pm) were supposed to be dark, as befits a Finnish conductor. I certainly didn't walk away feeling depressed, not that it is necessarily a good thing. It is entirely possible, of course, that a better understanding of the music would result in a better appreciation of what the composers are trying to say (isn't that always true?). I suppose a few listeners would grasp the "darkness" of Duende on first hearing.
The last NY Phil concert was quite long; today's was one of the shortest. The pieces are 26, 26, and 14 minutes.
We were to stay in Hoboken for a few days to look after the grandchildren, so we drove up to Hoboken in the morning, took the bus to Port Authority, and returned to Hoboken.