Thomas Adés - Violin Concerto - Concentric Paths - I Rings, II Paths

Violin Concerto (2005)
I Rings 4.02
II Paths 10.45
III Rounds 5.20

Adès names the three movements [of the violin concerto] "Rings," "Paths," and "Rounds."

"Rings" unfolds as a series of restless rustlings and punctuations—an impatient perpetuum mobile against a wavering background of harmonically shifting sands or, as the composer describes it, "sheets of unstable harmony in different orbits." The in medias res gesture of the opening recalls similar gestures ranging from Mendelssohn to Berg and even Ligeti in their violin concertos. The violin's predominantly high perch is a characteristic of this concerto's soundscape, although its origin might be traced to the otherworldly, high-wire coloratura Adès assigns to his soprano Ariel in The Tempest (stratospheric textures also figure significantly in the recent orchestral work Tevot). Against the restlessly shifting background, the effect is at times of an uneasy, slow-motion fall through gravity-less space. Toward the end, the intermittent sharp attacks from percussion and brass become more threatening and bring the movement to a sudden halt.

"Paths" alludes to the gravely gripping lament of a Baroque chaconne through the repetitions of its opening sequence. But its feeling is far removed from any Baroque stateliness. Adès describes the movement as involving "two large, and very many small, independent cycles, which overlap and clash, sometimes violently, in their motion towards resolution." He expertly plays off extremities of texture as well to generate the movement's seismic, grinding, relentless energy. The slow tempo only heightens an underlying sense of foreboding. When its keenings successively overlap with the ensemble in the center of "Paths," the soloist acquires an intensified expressive urgency and eloquence. By the end, the violin has been subdued to bare, throaty murmurings in its lowest range.

- Thomas May

Art: Cecily Brown

"Confessions of a Window Cleaner"

Category:

Music

[andreanoce85]

Masterpiece!