Philip GLASS (b. 1937)
Violin Concerto No.2 The American Four Seasons [40:14]
Robert McDuffie (violin)
London Philharmonic Orchestra/Marin Alsop
rec. live, 17 April 2010, Royal Festival Hall, London. DDD
ORANGE MOUNTAIN MUSIC OMM0072 [40:14]
No contemporary composer has penetrated the popular consciousness quite as
Philip Glass has; something that still rankles with much of the new music
establishment. Mention his name in the wrong company and you're as likely
to get a snort of derision as anything and there are times when the most long-suffering
of Glass fans might be inclined to agree. The more discerning Glass followers
are well used to the mechanisms of the Glass lottery, which might be defined
as a frustrating lack of quality control from the creator of one of the most
instantly recognisable and bewitching voices in modern music. Now Glass returns
to the violin concerto, a form he last tackled in 1987. The good news is that
the Glass is alright; the bad is that the ship's taken a direct hit from one
of its own.
Certainly, this new violin concerto, subtitled The American Four Seasons
would not exist without Robert McDuffie, the American violinist who asked
for the kind of 'Rock and Roll' Glass 'that turned David Bowie on'. McDuffie
was responsible for the inspired inclusion of harpsichord and synthesiser
into the concerto's instrumentation, a request that does indeed bring Glass’s
music closer to his late ’seventies heyday of Einstein on the Beach
and Koyaanisqatsi.
But it's McDuffie who proves to be the largest barrier to success in this
recording, taken live from the work's European premiere in 2010. I heard McDuffie
play Glass's First Violin Concerto in the same hall last June and was alarmed
by the quality of his playing; an inconsistent and wiry tone coupled with
shaky intonation gave the impression that he was uncomfortable in music one
might reasonably assume he was very familiar with. The same is true here,
and if ever a performance worked against a new piece of music, surely this
is it.
Glass's new concerto consists of a prologue, four substantial movements and
three interludes for solo violin titled 'songs'. Which movement corresponds
to which season isn't revealed and judging by interviews with Glass, McDuffie
and conductor Marin Alsop, no one agrees on an interpretation. Letting performers
and audiences decide for themselves is a nice idea, though in reality there's
not much to indicate which season might be represented; these four movements
are, after all, mainly four different shades of Glass.
Not everything in the Concerto works but this is music which grows in appeal
with repeated hearings. Movement II seems initially to be a familiar concoction
of stock Glass moves, but as it grows it becomes an affecting and delicate
waltz. The best is saved for last; Movement IV, a zany toe-tapping slice of
American gothic, recalls the best scores of Danny Elfman in making the greatest
use of the harpsichord and synthesiser.
I'm sure that Glass's violin writing doesn't fall under the fingers with great
ease; the arpeggiated oscillations of the First Concerto throw up some awkward
passages that don't sit too well on the instrument. Even so, McDuffie can't
sustain the unaccompanied passages or give them any kind of shape. He's very
ably assisted by Alsop and the London Philharmonic, but ultimately, he's simply
not good enough and I doubt the orchestra would have booked him had he not
come attached to this prestigious project. It is to be hoped that this appealing
work will be re-visited and re-recorded by more able soloists, but I fear
that McDuffie’s performance may dissuade interested parties from lingering
over this recording for long.
Andrew Morris
An appealing new concerto let down by a poor performance from its dedicatee.