May 1, 2019

  • Tianwa Yang Continues Traversing Rihm's Violin Music

     

    Rihm: Music for Violin & Orchestra, Volume 2
    Tianwa Yang, violin. Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz/Darrell Ang
    Naxos 8.573667
    Total Time:  76:24
    Recording:   ****/****
    Performance: ****/****

    Lat year marked the first release of Tianwa Yang’s survey of violin music by composer Wolfgang Rihm (b. 1952).  That album introduced listeners to three creative periods of the composer’s style.  Here we get a chance to hear one of the composer’s most fascinating works from the 1990s and two more contemporary pieces.  These latter are essentially the sole choice on disc so they would make this album recommendable for Rihm completists at least

    Anne-Sophie Mutter premiered Gesungene Zeit (1991-92) and subsequently recorded it for Deutsche Grammophon with the Berg Violin Concerto.  It remains a touchstone for both of these works.  Rihm’s piece has become one of his more popular performed works.  The work begins in nothingness with the solo violin slowly emerging from quiet string ideas and moving into its upper register.  As this arching line continues, the orchestral texture begins to subtly grow adding harmonic support that intensifies as the piece continues.  The close, dissonant qualities have the sense of diffusion about them that allows the soloist to move through them as they shift slowly.  One can begin to discern specific fragments that are used to help bring connections to the piece as it unfolds.  Most striking is the way the work has this sense of stillness even when the line feels like it is moving forward.  The music becomes more agitated at its center with other instrumental colors appearing until a percussion entry moves us to a more visceral, and dramatic interplay of fits and starts.  All dissipates though as we return to where we began.  Her performance overall is a bit longer than Mutter’s original release.

    Lichtes Spiel (2009) was also premiered by Mutter and is a slightly shorter work for violin and chamber orchestra.  As the title suggests, Rihm here explores a sense of transparency and “lightness”.  Here the violin line has a semi-Romantic quality that is a stark contrast to the more diffuse approach of the earlier piece on the release.  Here, the gestures seem to be recalling a past of ideas seen through the haze of Rihm’s more advance harmonic dissonance.  It is a rather striking piece with the orchestra seeming to be rooted in contemporary orchestral discourse while the soloist floats around it almost disconnected in a wistful way.  The piece sometimes feels more finely attuned to atonal writing but with these bursts of romanticism that seem somewhat out of place.  Overall, though the music has this quite engaging quality that is perhaps among Rihm’s more accessible works with its different episodes creating a variety of moods and even some rather musically-humorous moments.

    The final work on the album, Coll’arco (2007-2008) is an indication of the primary method of playing for the soloist (bowed).  It is a fitting companion to the previous work as it demonstrates how Rihm is exploring these ideas of drama and intricate writing.  The piece is among his longer concertante works running around 30 minutes in length.  Motives and gestures in the work are used to help unify the larger structure as they become referenced and further developed.  The soloist is stretched to their virtuosic limits as well which suggests this may also become more popular as time goes on.  In many respects, this piece is more like a single-movement concerto in the traditional sense.  The first listen allows one to consider this most while subsequent listens will reveal some of the larger ways Rihm is structuring the music.  Fortunately, the performance here will encourage frequent returns.

    Tianwa Yang manages to draw out an often stunning lyrical quality in these pieces.  Her tone quality, so important in this sort of music, really adds another level of beauty to a piece that requires a different virtuosic approach, one that requires intense concentration and centered tone.  Her performance of Gesungene Zeit is striking and quite engaging with the orchestra proving to serve the music well.  The other two works here help demonstrate her interpretive approaches while building towards more traditional virtuosic writing.  Her approaches here move beautifully as Rihm’s music shifts in tone or requires subtle shifts in articulation.  The orchestra handles this music excellently.  The sound sometimes brings the violin a bit far forward, but that is a small issue when the performances are so engaging.  Perhaps this is the volume for those just beginning to explore Rihm’s music should start.