Jennifer Higdon has been listed among composers writing in the so-called “neo-romantic” style. However her Violin Concerto goes beyond this as she evolves a “transcendental tonality” that challenges but doesn’t bewilder the attentive listener. This sort of “sweet” modernism inevitably brings to mind the Berg concerto, but Higdon’s is a strongly original work that speaks in the language of our time.
The main theme appears as if composed out of points of bright light that gradually coalesce into musical lines. The violin soars up and down the scale before shifting to a Bartók-like second subject, and the music becomes more terse and tense. Jazzy rhythms interject at various points before the movement deconstructs to the glittering fragments of its beginning. The long slow movement is a chaconne whose delicate, angular modality reminds of Roy Harris, while the brief finale ends the work in a blaze of bracing motor-rhythmic energy.
The concerto was composed especially for Hilary Hahn, who takes to it with dazzling, confident virtuosity. The piece is not easy to know fully at first, but Hahn’s beautiful, persuasive playing makes you eager to become better acquainted.
The key of D major bridges the chasm between the brand new Hidgon and the more than century-old Tchaikovsky. (Indeed, the abrupt juxtaposition points up the predominately classical nature of Tchaikovsky’s writing.) Hahn had not performed the work since she learned it as a student, and in preparing it for performance years later, she says she was able to make “new decisions” about it. Her highly individual reading reveals the artistic growth fostered in part by the challenge of mastering works such as the Higdon and the Schoenberg concertos. The result is a remarkably original and strongly compelling rendition.
Hahn’s intuitive phrasing and overall rich, vibrant tone keeps us listening anew. Heifetz comes to mind, although Hahn eschews his urgent speed and imposing showmanship. The first movement has a noble quality reinforced by Vasily Petrenko’s idiomatic and impassioned conducting–so much so that Beethoven emerges as a founding model for this concerto. The Canzonetta is tender and touching without becoming cloying, while in the finale Hahn demonstrates how to convey the music’s power and joy without resorting to breakneck speed. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic plays magnificently for Petrenko, and the live recording does the orchestra and soloist–and the occasion–full justice. This release is a must acquisition for anyone interested in new music, and for all lovers of great violin playing. [10/14/2010]
