Dun: Violin Concertos
Eldborg Hemsing, violin.
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra/Tan Dun
BIS 2398
Total Time: 62:37
Recording: ****/****
Performance: ****/****
Tan Dun (b. 1957; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Hero) practically exploded upon the film and concert scenes at the beginning of the 21st Century. His music explores combinations of Western and Eastern musical aesthetics. A key component in his work is this concept of “ritual” which connect to his work with the Peking Opera and Chinese theatrical style. A number of his works also reimagine Western masterpieces and musical forms. The two violin concertos on this release are more recent works that focus on exploring contemporary musical popular forms as well as this concept of ritual. The performances here are by the young Norwegian virtuoso Eldbjorg Hemsing for whom the “Fire Ritual” concerto was composed. The recordings were made shortly after their premieres in 2018.
Written for violinist Cho-Liang Lin in 2009, the Violin Concerto “Rhapsody and Fantasia” has been reimagined a bit. The revision here was completed in 2018. It is a blend of some of the composer’s previous music as well. The opening section, “Rock the Violin in Rhapsody”, utilizes a motivic idea to provide a basic material for the piece. This is set against rock drum set beats in the framing “Hip-Hop” sections. At the center of the movement is a more lyrical idea that also comes from his earlier Love Concerto. The second portion of the work explores his more theatrical side. Its subtitle, “A Dream Out of Peking Opera”, refers to its 1994 concerto which is the source for this material. As the opening had a more Western percussion section, the second portion incorporates Asian percussion and bent pitch material to reference Asian scales. The violin moves across often sparse textures that punctuate with a variety of atonal harmonic lines. It adds a bit more dissonance to the music and an almost random quality as the ideas are developed. Here too, Dun focuses on small motivic ideas both melodic and rhythmic which are then varied and explored in a quite fascinating work. Hemsing has gorgeous tone that serves as a bridge between Dun’s various textures in the orchestra and the audience. It is as if she provides the listener the entry point into Dun’s musical universe.
Dun’s latest concerto, composed for Hemsing, is the Fire Ritual Violin Concerto. The piece’s subtitle, “A music ritual for the Victims of War”, gives us a bit of a clue into the way the piece connects with Dun’s concepts of ritual. In a more vivid way, Dun places the soloist as the link between the orchestra and another ensemble of wind players. The latter are placed out in the audience. The conductor then becomes the ritual “Shaman” leader (speaking various brief mantras) with violinist serving as the “Prophet”. The ensemble groups represent “Mankind: and “Mother Nature” according to the composer. On another level, Dun uses the solfegge note “Re” on a deeper conceptual scale whose prefix is also connected to meaning “again”. Thus the piece’s ritualistic aspects intend to create pointed moments to return, restart, and resurrect. The ritual here invites the calling of souls to return and then leads to a rebirth of all victims of war which allow them to relive and love once again. The antiphonal dialogue between the ensembles is a rather interesting device and Dun takes this ancient Western concept blended with the royal court music of the Tan Dynasty. There are also some larger dramatic aspects that are likely lost without a visual medium as where the instruments are and the various effects that are created provide another level of intensity that can only be slightly captured. The work is cast in five movements. The first opens with percussion and clapping sounds referencing Chinese theater music. This is in contrast to intense brass writing that has an almost jazzy syncopated feel. The violin is required to bend pitches and slide as it explores a wide range. Here, Hemsing’s performance is stunning with the way the music is so carefully shaped and in the way her tone maintains an amazing consistency. The second movement opens with a more Chinese-like folk melody on violin with musical gestures that build on those of the opening. A rather ghostly feel appears in the central movement which has some quite chilling writing as if the spirits themselves are floating about. The fourth movement brings us to more lyrical and Western-style orchestral writing. The shift is effective dramatically and includes an extended cadenza. Finally, a richly-lyrical solo line appears that is like a final commentary of hope in a truly fascinating concerto.
It does help that BIS has created this super audio surround sound environment to experience at least the Fire Ritual’s aspects of spatial distance in the piece. The Oslo Philharmonic really captures Dun’s style well, no doubt aided by the presence of the composer as conductor here. Hemsing’s performances are really the key here to encourage repeated exploration of this amazing music.
Dun: Violin Concertos
Eldborg Hemsing, violin.
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra/Tan Dun
BIS 2398
Total Time: 62:37
Recording: ****/****
Performance: ****/****
Tan Dun (b. 1957; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Hero) practically exploded upon the film and concert scenes at the beginning of the 21st Century. His music explores combinations of Western and Eastern musical aesthetics. A key component in his work is this concept of “ritual” which connect to his work with the Peking Opera and Chinese theatrical style. A number of his works also reimagine Western masterpieces and musical forms. The two violin concertos on this release are more recent works that focus on exploring contemporary musical popular forms as well as this concept of ritual. The performances here are by the young Norwegian virtuoso Eldbjorg Hemsing for whom the “Fire Ritual” concerto was composed. The recordings were made shortly after their premieres in 2018.
Written for violinist Cho-Liang Lin in 2009, the Violin Concerto “Rhapsody and Fantasia” has been reimagined a bit. The revision here was completed in 2018. It is a blend of some of the composer’s previous music as well. The opening section, “Rock the Violin in Rhapsody”, utilizes a motivic idea to provide a basic material for the piece. This is set against rock drum set beats in the framing “Hip-Hop” sections. At the center of the movement is a more lyrical idea that also comes from his earlier Love Concerto. The second portion of the work explores his more theatrical side. Its subtitle, “A Dream Out of Peking Opera”, refers to its 1994 concerto which is the source for this material. As the opening had a more Western percussion section, the second portion incorporates Asian percussion and bent pitch material to reference Asian scales. The violin moves across often sparse textures that punctuate with a variety of atonal harmonic lines. It adds a bit more dissonance to the music and an almost random quality as the ideas are developed. Here too, Dun focuses on small motivic ideas both melodic and rhythmic which are then varied and explored in a quite fascinating work. Hemsing has gorgeous tone that serves as a bridge between Dun’s various textures in the orchestra and the audience. It is as if she provides the listener the entry point into Dun’s musical universe.
Dun’s latest concert, composed for Hemsing, is the Fire Ritual Violin Concerto. The piece’s subtitle, “A music ritual for the Victims of War”, gives us a bit of a clue into the way the piece connects with Dun’s concepts of ritual. In a more vivid way, Dun places the soloist as the link between the orchestra and another ensemble of wind players. The latter are placed out in the audience. The conductor then becomes the ritual “Shaman” leader (speaking various brief mantras) with violinist serving as the “Prophet”. The ensemble groups represent “Mankind: and “Mother Nature” according to the composer. On another level, Dun uses the solfegge note “Re” on a deeper conceptual scale whose prefix is also connected to meaning “again”. Thus the piece’s ritualistic aspects intend to create pointed moments to return, restart, and resurrect. The ritual here invites the calling of souls to return and then leads to a rebirth of all victims of war which allow them to relive and love once again. The antiphonal dialogue between the ensembles is a rather interesting device and Dun takes this ancient Western concept blended with the royal court music of the Tan Dynasty. There are also some larger dramatic aspects that are likely lost without a visual medium as where the instruments are and the various effects that are created provide another level of intensity that can only be slightly captured. The work is cast in five movements. The first opens with percussion and clapping sounds referencing Chinese theater music. This is in contrast to intense brass writing that has an almost jazzy syncopated feel. The violin is required to bend pitches and slide as it explores a wide range. Here, Hemsing’s performance is stunning with the way the music is so carefully shaped and in the way her tone maintains an amazing consistency. The second movement opens with a more Chinese-like folk melody on violin with musical gestures that build on those of the opening. A rather ghostly feel appears in the central movement which has some quite chilling writing as if the spirits themselves are floating about. The fourth movement brings us to more lyrical and Western-style orchestral writing. The shift is effective dramatically and includes an extended cadenza. Finally, a richly-lyrical solo line appears that is like a final commentary of hope in a truly fascinating concerto.
It does help that BIS has created this super audio surround sound environment to experience at least the Fire Ritual’s aspects of spatial distance in the piece. The Oslo Philharmonic really captures Dun’s style well, no doubt aided by the presence of the composer as conductor here. Hemsing’s performances are really the key here to encourage repeated exploration of this amazing music.
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