Finnish conductor-composer Esa-Pekka Salonen has found a compelling middle ground in his creative work between tonality and atonality, structure and atmosphere. Two great examples are on display in a new album featuring violinist Leila Josefowicz.
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
Deutsche Grammophon has released a short disc — 49 minutes in total — that packs an outsize musical punch. On it are Salonen’s 2009 four-movement Violin Concerto and 2010 orchestral tone poem Nyx, written a year later.
The concerto is dispatched with implacable verve by the indomitable Leila Josefowicz, who we have been lucky enough to witness live, thanks to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Salonen himself conducts the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra on the album.
The most striking aspect about Salonen’s compositions is how they can seamlessly go from intimate to explosive and back again in a space of just a few minutes.
The music in the Violin Concerto sits teetering precariously over a chasm of gaudiness — something like the deliberately dramatic pounding of an epic Hollywood soundtrack. Even the final movement, Adieu, bursts with bombnastic instrumental voices and timpani.
The dynamic sweep sounds more organic in Nyx, thanks to its longer scope and more introverted feel (the title comes from the Ancient Greek goddess of night).
Here is new music for those who value a symphony orchestra as well as an overall sense of order and structure in their listening.
You’ll find all the album details here.
Here is Salonen explaining Nyx a bit for the Los Angeles Philharmonic (where he is conductor laureate). They performed the piece last weekend:
John Terauds
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
