RECORDING OF THE MONTH
Thomas ADÈS (b. 1971)
Tevot (2007) [22:10]
Violin Concerto ‘Concentric Paths’ (2005) [19:59]
Three Studies from Couperin (2006) [13:03]
Overture, Waltz and Finale from Powder Her Face (2007) [10:59]
Berliner Philharmoniker/Sir Simon Rattle (Tevot); Anthony Marwood (violin)
(Concerto); Chamber Orchestra of Europe/Thomas Adès (Concerto, Studies);
National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain/Paul Daniel (Powder Her Face)
rec. 1 and 3 November 2007, Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany (Tevot); 22 April
2007, Barbican Hall, London, UK (Concerto, Studies); 17 April 2009, Town Hall,
Leeds, UK (Powder Her Face). DDD
EMI CLASSICS 4 57813 2 [66:43]
This is a remarkable and important disc that should cement Thomas Adès’ reputation
as a leading composer of his generation and one of the main forces on the compositional
scene today. If the quality of the works recorded here is sustained throughout
his career, he may well be regarded as one of the century’s great composers.
I have listened many times to an earlier EMI disc of the composer’s works,
including the much-discussed Asyla, and immediately recognized an individual
voice. However, I cannot honestly say that I really liked any of the pieces
on that disc. I found them all very clever and extremely well orchestrated,
but they left me cold. The works on the current CD, on the other hand, leave
me with the opposite impression. They indeed sound like the Adès of
before - no mistaking that - but they have a depth and immediate appeal lacking
in the earlier pieces, for all their originality.
Tevot, as Tom Service notes in the CD booklet, is a Hebrew word meaning
both the Biblical ark and musical bars. Adès himself, as quoted in the
booklet, describes the piece as the earth as a “spaceship that carries
us through the chaos of space in safety … the idea of the ship of the
world.” Tevot is in one long movement, unlike the four-part Asyla.
It grabs the listener right from the beginning with its high strings and woodwinds
above a chasm with the lowest instruments at the bottom - rather like Janáček’s
employment of the orchestra. It is scored for a huge orchestra of 5 flutes
(including piccolos and bass flute), 5 oboes (including English horn and bass
oboe), 5 clarinets (including E-flat and A clarinets and contrabass clarinet),
4 bassoons, contrabassoon, 8 horns, 5 trumpets, 3 trombones, 2 tubas, timpani,
a whole battery of percussion (including log drum and tuned anvils among other
exotica), and the usual strings. As the work progresses from its rather static
beginning it becomes lively and even violent before calming and quieting down.
The music is very colorful; some have called it cinematic. Unlike much music
for the cinema, however, it needs no film to accompany it. It stands entirely
on its own and has much more substance than most film music. It is very communicative
and its frequent lyricism is memorable. It then builds towards its spectacular
conclusion, with the brass and percussion ending the work in a blaze of sunlight.
At about the 20-minute mark the brilliant trumpets with high swirling strings
reminded me of a similar passage in the second movement of Janáček’s Sinfonietta.
Indeed, I would not at all be surprised if Janáček were a major
influence on Adès, as the latter frequently programs Janáček’s
piano works in his recitals. At any rate, Tevot deserves all success
and should be featured on orchestral programs whenever resources allow. It
almost goes without saying that this performance by the Berlin Philharmonic
under Rattle is all one could ask for.
The second work on the disc, the Violin Concerto, also deserves frequent exposure.
While not as spectacular as Tevot, it also makes an immediate and positive
impression. It is divided into the usual three movements, but each movement
has a title: Rings (1), Paths (2), and Rounds (3). Here
the influence would seem to be Ligeti, at least as far as the first movement
is concerned. The violin’s high-lying figuration in conjunction with
the accompanying winds produces a kind of perpetuum mobile that reminded me
of the first movement of Ligeti’s Violin Concerto. Both outer movements
are circular in motion, whereas the second and longest movement is linear -
thus reflecting the titles Adès has provided. The second movement begins
as a chaconne and ends some ten minutes later, longer than the other movements
combined. It is also the most traditional in a violinistic sense and at times
projects a romanticism typical of the great violin concertos of the past. The
finale balances the first movement nicely and ends the work in capricious style
with a rhythmic pulse that is nigh irresistible. Adès composed the concerto
for a classical-size orchestra and these same forces, unlike the large orchestra
he used for Tevot. Marwood and company are not only authoritative, but
also convince the listener of the approachability and even beauty of the score.
The remaining pieces on the CD, if not of the same caliber as Tevot and
the Violin Concerto, are nonetheless enjoyable. The suite Adès arranged
from his first opera, Powder Her Face, is a lot of fun with its sleazy
references to the dance music of the 1930s. I especially liked the waltz, which
sounds to me like an off-kilter version of Prokofiev’s Dance with
Mandolins from his Romeo and Juliet ballet. The Studies are more
than just arrangements of Couperin’s music. As Tom Service notes, Adès
takes nothing away from the originals but adds to them. Each of the three studies
has the same number of bars, harmonies, and rhythms of Couperin’s but
is viewed as if through a twenty-first century time-warp. Again performances
by Britain’s National Youth Orchestra in the Powder Her Face selections
and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in the Studies are excellent.
If someone needed convincing of the viability of contemporary music, I cannot
think of any better place to start than this disc. There is so much being written
today that sounds like recycled music of the past century or earlier, or dumbed-down
to appeal to so-called crossover audiences. It is refreshing to encounter something
original with substance that contains a broad appeal. The only thing one might
improve upon in this recording is the sound, which is a bit on the hard, dry
side. Yet, one can get a good appreciation for the intricacies of the orchestration.
Better this than a wash of reverberation that would bury them. A stunning disc!
Leslie Wright