Through A Glass, Darkly
Philip Glass' new work, Violin Concerto No 2, may be called "The American Four Seasons" but try as I might, I really couldn't hear anything like Vivaldi tonight at Roy Thompson Hall, where the work was played for only the third time since it was premiered there on Wednesday, December 9th.
Despite the distraction of the title, the piece in question is georgeously complex and darkly soul-stirring. It evokes flight and pursuit, a labyrinth with no centre, discord and intrigue, and when it is finished you want it to begin all over again. A good deal of the credit must go to Robert McDuffie, the solo violinist for whom the piece was composed: his vigorous yet thoughtful performance was the perfect anchor for the strings section and synthesizer, conducted by TSO music director Peter Oundjian.
Structurally though, the piece is hobbled by the cadenza, which comprises the prelude as well as the three "songs" that appear between the four movements of the main piece. In Glass' own words:
Perhaps because of their stand-alone nature, these solo sections, though testimony to McDuffie's undoubted skill, seem to bring the momentum of the concerto as a whole to a screeching halt. During the first song, as McDuffie valiantly sawed away, a cellist looked at his watch, a mini-epidemic of coughing and sneezing broke out in the audience, and another cellist looked out as if to say, "What? Haven't you people heard of Halls?" When this piece is released on CD, it would be intriguing to listen to it without the songs, and see how different the energy of that Concerto No 2 Redux might feel.
Beethoven's Symphony No 6 in F Major, "Pastoral" was the appetizer for the evening. Romantic and richly evocative of the countryside Beethoven loved so much, it is, as John Terauds noted in the Toronto Star, more counterpoint than counterpart to the Glass piece, which made it quite an intriguing symphonic palate-cleanser.
Despite the distraction of the title, the piece in question is georgeously complex and darkly soul-stirring. It evokes flight and pursuit, a labyrinth with no centre, discord and intrigue, and when it is finished you want it to begin all over again. A good deal of the credit must go to Robert McDuffie, the solo violinist for whom the piece was composed: his vigorous yet thoughtful performance was the perfect anchor for the strings section and synthesizer, conducted by TSO music director Peter Oundjian.
Structurally though, the piece is hobbled by the cadenza, which comprises the prelude as well as the three "songs" that appear between the four movements of the main piece. In Glass' own words:
"... I would only add that, instead of the usual cadenza, I provided a number of solo pieces for Bobby - thinking that they could be played together as separate concert music when abstracted from the whole work."
Perhaps because of their stand-alone nature, these solo sections, though testimony to McDuffie's undoubted skill, seem to bring the momentum of the concerto as a whole to a screeching halt. During the first song, as McDuffie valiantly sawed away, a cellist looked at his watch, a mini-epidemic of coughing and sneezing broke out in the audience, and another cellist looked out as if to say, "What? Haven't you people heard of Halls?" When this piece is released on CD, it would be intriguing to listen to it without the songs, and see how different the energy of that Concerto No 2 Redux might feel.
Beethoven's Symphony No 6 in F Major, "Pastoral" was the appetizer for the evening. Romantic and richly evocative of the countryside Beethoven loved so much, it is, as John Terauds noted in the Toronto Star, more counterpoint than counterpart to the Glass piece, which made it quite an intriguing symphonic palate-cleanser.
4 comments:
Did you go on Sat or Sun? I was there on Sat... wasn't a fan of Glass' piece, but always a fan of Beethoven.
I went on Saturday... Where were you seated? I quite liked the Glass piece once I stopped trying to listen for Vivaldi.
I was in the choir section, top left area -- opposite those people that the conductor pointed to as they were walking in late.
lol, random coincidence! I was in the left parterre, right behind a group of high school kids clearly there on a field trip, and clearly not that into the music.
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