Programme: Maria Puusaari – Road Movies
10.11.2021 at 7 pm
Maria Puusaari, violin
Sonja Fräki, piano
Lucy Abrams-Husso, clarinet
Igor Stravinsky: Dithyrambe from the piece Duo Concertante
Bernd Alois Zimmermann: Sonate für Violine
- Praeludium
- Rhapsodie
- Toccata
Witold Lutosławski: Partita
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Episodes for Violin and Piano
- Arioso
- Vivace
Augusta Read Thomas: Dancing Helix Rituals
John Adams: Road Movies
Exploration to the Edge of the Sound by Leading – My Perspective on Artistic Research
My doctoral concert series At the Edge of the Sound – Violin as the Medium for Composers’s Expression consists of solo violin works and chamber music composed after the Second World War. I want to find out by playing, reading and writing, what has happened in the violin music of this particular era and how these works are related to their composition time. My goal is to remove the imaginary boundaries of “new music” closer to today. Decades old works of music might sound as “new music” in the ears of the audience, even though the time period of over seventy years includes a vast variety of compositional styles.
Within the concert series I can offer only a very small scratch on the surface of the rich and versatile musical treasures of the era. New commissions from Jukka Koskinen, Jouni Hirvelä, Maija Hynninen, Jarkko Hartikainen and Veli Kujala make an important part of my concert series. As a performer, I have participated in their composing processes from the beginning.
- The Heritage of Dodecaphony
- The Melting Pot of Darmstadt
- On the Wawes of Sounds
- From Neoclassicism to Neoromanticism
- Commemoration of the Postmodern
Various developments and isms of music in the late 20th century are represented by, for example, serialism and post-serialism, postmodernism, spectral music, neoclassicism, neoromantics, aleatorics, stochastic music, minimalism, and the use of extended playing techniques and electronics. The historical, social, political, ethical, and aesthetic contents or intertextual references of works relate them not only to their compositional time, but also to a larger historical entity. The composers of a concert series are also often as role models or in teacher-student relationship with each other. Through this, interesting developments and personal aesthetic solutions are highlighted. There are different eras and styles in the production of composers: the solo and chamber music production of an individual composer can represent a very different style of composition than, for example, his most famous orchestral works.
With the help of the works in my concert series, I explore leading, that is multimodal bodily interaction and communication between musicians. “Leading” in this context refers to directing or conducting a music ensemble with physical indications while playing an instrument. My first research article “Leading” as a mode of interaction and communication in contemporary music performance-practice, published in Trio magazine in July 2021, was concentrated on leading in chamber music ensembles. In my concert Darmstadt Smelter, leading also played a key role, as the different chamber music ensembles and works required a variety of leading methods and skills. I am currently finalizing my second research article, in which I explore how leading and a leader’s attitude can be consciously used in the performance-practice of a solo work.
Road Movies – from Neoclassicism to Neo-romanticism
The two main lines of 20th century musical development are typically described as the tension between the aesthetics and musical solutions of Arnold Schönberg (1874-1951) and Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971). The twelve-note system developed by Schönberg formed one way out of tonal music that had reached its chromatic climax. Stravinsky’s stylistic periods are usually divided into three major periodes, although the prolific composer’s expression also allows for more detailed divisions. Stravinsky built his reputation on the ballets Fire Bird, Petrushka and Sacre de Printemps of the so- called Russian period. After that he sought inspiration from the ideals of Classicism, shaping them
into a new bitter-sounding outfit. Stravinsky’s Neoclassical phase began with the ballet Pulcinella, completed in 1919, and culminated in the 1951 opera Rake’s Progress. In his late period, Stravinsky also sought something new through the twelve-tone system, that he used in its most complete form in the oratorio Threni.
My musical exploration has progressed into the footsteps of the Neoclassical musical heritage and the reactions that followed. Like the twelve-note system, Neoclassicism emerged in the early 20th century to find a way out of the aesthetics of romanticism. In neoclassicism, inspiration was sought especially from baroque, but also from jazz music. The goal was the objectivity and even irony of the expression.
The topic cannot be discussed without mentioning the enormous musical legacy of Igor Stravinsky, who started Neoclassicism. Instead of Stravinsky’s inherent beating rhythm, I have chosen lyrical Dithyrambe as the mood tuner. It is the fifth and last movement of Duo concertante for violin and piano, composed in 1932. Getting to know virtuoso violinist Samuel Dushkin and the intricacies of his violin technique inspired Stravinsky to compose the violin concerto and Duo concertante in the early 1930s. The latter work was created for the needs of a joint concert tour of the artists. It is the only work originally composed for violin and piano by Stravinsky, other violin-piano works are arrangements of ballets, for example. Stravinsky found the combination of percussive piano and lyrical violin awkward. Therefore, Duo concertante was also Stravinsky’s research project of how to combine two different instrumental sounds. Stravinsky’s interest in Francesco Petrarca’s poetry and ancient pastorals served as the inspiration for the work, down to the names of the movements. The last movement, Dithyrambe, leads thoughts to ancient Greece: dithyrambes were sung to Dionysus, the God of wine, fertility, tragic art, and ecstasy.
The end of World War II also liberated the composition and performance of music. Hence, music that the Nazis condemned as “degenarate art” also returned to concert repertoire. Founded in 1946, the Darmstadt summer courses in the state of Hesse in Germany were part of a wave of liberalization and internationalization. During the first years of Darmstadt summer courses, the concert programs included works by Arnold Schönberg, Igor Stravinsky, and Paul Hindemith, among others, and in an atmosphere of liberation, it was possible and “permissible” to be inspired by both Schönberg and Stravinsky. Bernd Alois Zimmermann (1918-1970) also ended up in the magic circle of Darmstadt in 1948, fusing a huge amount of influences into his personal compositional language, ranging from Neoclassicism through free atonality and the twelve-tone system to serialism. The total serialism of the “Darmstadt School” in the 1950’s did not limit Zimmermann. To secure his economy, he also composed film and commercial music, which was not generally acceptable among the society of artists. Zimmermann used jazz allusions and African American spirituals in many of his works, such as the violin concerto (1950) and the trumpet concerto Nobody knows de trouble I see (1956). His citation technique anticipated later postmodernist compositional methods. In the late 1950s, Zimmermann developed so-called Klangkomposition, in which he combined the fields of tonal colors and sounds. The deeply depressed composer took his life in 1970.
The three-part solo violin sonata from 1951 is based on a twelve tone row, which is varied in each part. The names of the parts – Praeludium, Rhapsodie and Toccata – take the thoughts to Johann Sebastian Bach’s solo violin sonatas and partitas, to which Zimmermann also consciously refers with the B-A-C-H melody in Toccata. The work presents the full expressive potential of violin, ranging from delicate lyricism to oppressive expression and wild virtuosity, comparable to solo violon sonatas of Eugène Ysaÿ’s (1858-1931). Despite the dodecaphony, I see Zimmermann himself as a transition and mediator between the aesthetics represented by Schönberg and Stravinsky, and at the same time as an example of how composers explore different paths in their compositions, eventually creating their own syntheses and new trends.
Witold Lutosławski (1913-1994) created his own musical expression by combining folk music themes, a twelve-tone system, serialism and aleatorics, as well as preserving elements of traditional harmony and melody. Before World War II, Lutosławski’s style represented neoclassicism, often with a touch of folk music. During the German occupation of World War II, Polish cultural life was severely curtailed, and Lutosławski was able to support himself mainly as a café musician. Life was hardly made even after the war: the first symphony, premiered in 1948, was condemned by the Communist regime as “formalist,” which knew a ban on performances of Lutosławski’s more avant- garde works. For this reason, he had to support himself by composing for example children’s songs and music for film and theatre. In the 1950s, the atmosphere eased, and the Orchestra Concerto, based on folk music themes, was even awarded in 1955. Towards the 1960s, Lutosławski moved through the twelve tone system and serialism to aleatorics and visual notation, that allowed more freedom to interpreters. Rhythmically free and independently performed episodes in the score require musicians to listen each others and communicate bodily.
The five-part Partita for Violin and Piano (1984) is divided into three main movements, which are divided by short freely formable interludes. As a source of inspiration, Lutosławski cites the rhythmic tradition of 18th century pre-classical piano music. The main movements follow the structure of the classical sonata. The first movement is lively Allegro Giusto, the third movement slow and singing Largo, and the fifth movement agile Presto. The harmonic and melodic material of Partita is related to Third Symphony and Chain 1 for orchestra. The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra commissioned Partita for violinist Pinchas Zuckermann and pianist Marc Neikrug, who premiered the work in 1985. Lutosławski later adapted a version of the work for violin and orchestra, premiered by Anne-Sophie Mutter in 1990.
I have often wondered how the violin virtuoso tradition of the Romantic period could be filtered into modern times. One answer is given by the American neo-romanticist Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (1939-), a professor at the University of Florida and the first female composer to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize. At the beginning of her career, Taaffe Zwilich composed atonal music, but since her production in the 1980s, she has been considered as a representative of neo-romanticism. In addition to five symphonies, several orchestral compositions, and concerts, Zwilich’s production includes a wealth of chamber music, such as Episodes for Violin and Piano (2003) heard today. The work is dedicated to violinist Itzhak Perlmann, whose artist character, singing sound and unmistakable technique inspire Zwilich’s compositional work. The two-movement Episodes is basically a tonal work. The first movement of Arioso is a singing violin aria, in which both the deep-voiced G-string register and the radiating upper register of E-string are used to characterize the melodies. The Vivace movement relies on the central gimmicks of virtuoso tradition, from left-hand pizzicatos to soaring jumps and accented, ever-accelerating rhythms.
Augusta Read Thomas (1964), an American, was an obvious choice when looking for composers for this concert following the traces of neoclassicism, since for her, Stravinsky’s early ballet scores in particular are an important source of study and inspiration. The embodied and dancing characteristic of Read Thomas’s works is probably the result of the composer’s composition method, which includes singing, dancing, moving, and conducting the work during the composing process. Read Thomas has said that she understands her work through dance and as suitable for dancing. Thus, Dancing Helix Rituals (2006) dedicated to the Verdehr Trio can be performed both as a piece of music or with dancers. The composer describes Dancing Helix Rituals as a series of dance variations between jazz and classical music, with jazz role models such as Thelonius Monk, John Coltrane, Art Tatum and Miles Davis progressing organically with classical role models, Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, Edgar Varèse, Luciano Berio, and Pierre Boulez. Carefully marked nuances, detailed performance annotations, and verbal descriptions of separate episodes form a ritual dance that feels spontaneous in the mutual power field of the players. As with dancing, also
when playing Dancing Helix Rituals, musicians need to find a common bodily pulse. In this case, leading emerges from the body’s natural playing movements and becomes a part of the playing technique. In this trio playing for the first time, a common pulse was easily found and playing feels extremely natural and easy even in heavily accented unisono episodes. Such ease is not always self- evident, and therefore finding a rhythmically proficient new chamber music partner is always a great luck.
Born in 1947, John Adams is one of the most performed living composers, whose orchestral works such as Harmonielehre and Absolute Jest or operas such as Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer belong regularly to the repertoire of orchestras and opera houses around the world, often conducted by the composer himself.
In the 1990s, Adams’ attention shifted from the massive orchestral field techniques to more intimate chamber music, revealing a more melodic side of his compositions. Completed in 1995, Road Movies follows the three-movement form structure of a classical sonata. Typical for Adams, movement is an important starting point for a composition. As its name implies, Road Movies is a journey into different musical landscapes. In the fast-paced first movement, the travel starts from familiar landscapes in a relaxed groove with rondo-like sequencing. In the meditative second movement, one reaches a lonely wilderness. The G-string is retuned by a major second to the F- tone, which changes the resonance of the whole instrument. The experience of alienation is also deeply embodied. The left hand realization of a musical line, driven by years of work in the left- hand musculature and trajectories, now produces quite foreign sounds. Searching for right tones and positions on the fingerboard feels like an uncertain groping on slippery ice. In the third movement, the normal tuning is returned and it is time to jump aboard on the passionate perpetuum mobile. The name of the movement is “40% Swing,”. The name has its roots in the way the swing is played: the second and fourth notes of four-note clusters are played with accents, i.e. a little late. And now it goes scary hard, as the tempo set with the MIDI sequencer produces a dizzyingly bumpy go, where you really don’t look at the scenery but try to get home safely. With such a fast ride, leading is no longer possible, as any extra body movement must be minimized. It is necessary to enter a semi-automatic state where the body feels the rhythm and knows what to play. The other player can no longer be listened to in too much detail, but only as a rhythmic background to be matched with. The third movement is like the turbocharged relative of the Perpetuum Mobile movement in Maurice Ravel’s violin sonata. As Ravel was inspired by 1920s Parisian American musicians, Adams names the energetic performances of Benny Goodman Orchestra and the surprising ragtimes of Charles Ives as his historical references and sources of inspiration.