 |
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Violin Concerto and Rituals. Concerto performed by Saarbrucken Radio Symphony Orchestra; Pamela Frank, violin; Michael Stern, conductor; Rituals performed by Nexus and the IRIS Chamber Orchestra. (Naxos 8.559268)
Before Ellen Taaffe Zwilich broke ground by becoming the first woman to earn a doctorate in composition from Juilliard (in 1975), and the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize in music (in 1983, for her Symphony No. 1), she was a violinist. From 1965 to '72 she was an active freelancer around New York and played in the American Symphony Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski. Despite those credentials, it wasn't until 1998 that she got around to writing her first Violin Concerto, which Carnegie Hall commissioned. The work was written for Pamela Frank, a Juilliard Pre-College alumna, and in this, the premiere recording, listeners are reminded of why it deserves a place in the modern canon.
Highly Romantic in nature, the concerto is less an athletic showpiece than a demonstration of the violin's lyrical qualities. Especially strong is its middle movement, a brooding meditation on the first few notes of Bach's great Chaconne in D Minor. The brilliantly orchestrated outer movements suggest the influences of Berg and Sibelius, though not in a knowing, postmodernist way. Listen to the close of the first movement with its shimmering, unapologetic major chord.
The CD also features a very different kind of concerto: the 2003 Rituals for percussion ensemble and orchestra. Commissioned by the Canadian percussion ensemble Nexus and the IRIS Chamber Orchestra, the piece makes full use of the percussion quintet's exotic timbres and ritualistic associations, from the gongs and bells of "Remembrances" to the Bernstein-like dance rhythms in "Ambulation" to the war-like drum battle of "Contests." In all, the CD showcases one of today's most versatile composers at the peak of her game.
Joyce Yang, Silver Medalist. Twelfth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (Harmonia Mundi 907405)
Speaking of contests, the silver medal at the 2005 Van Cliburn Competition, held over two weeks in May and June, went to current Juilliard student Joyce Yang. Remarkably, this was the first international piano competition for the South Korea native, and at age 19, she was also the youngest participant. The award included $20,000 in cash, concert management for three years, and this Harmonia Mundi recording.
Yang, a second-year bachelor's degree student of Yoheved Kaplinsky, has been performing professionally since she was 13, when she appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and she has been a mainstay at Juilliard since entering the Pre-College Division in 1997. She was an audience favorite at the Van Cliburn, with a bubbly personality that often came through in her spirited performances. (In addition to the silver medal, she was given the Steven De Groote Memorial Award for best performance of chamber music and a Beverly Taylor Smith Award for best performance of a new work.)
This recording features her solo recital of works by J.S. Bach, D. Scarlatti, Carl Vine, and Liszt. Her interpretations are not always note-perfect but they are often interesting, even unpredictable (in the best sense of the word). Highlights include a tastefully shaded account of the French Overture from Book II of Bach's Clavier Übung, a flamboyant traversal of Liszt's Reminiscences de Don Juan, and Scarlatti's Sonata in D Major, K. 492, played with a feather-like touch. Yang handles the thorny rhythmic complexities in Austrian composer Carl Vine's two-movement Sonata No. 1 (1990) with aplomb.
While competitions will continue to be hotly debated, this recording suggests that Yang has the artistry and individual character that are the keys to a sustainable career—perhaps more than any list of accolades can provide.
Brian Wise is a producer at WNYC radio and writes about music for The New York Times, Time Out New York, Opera News, and other publications. |
