(Barbican)
Diana Tishchenko & José Gallardo
Published – 10.01.2023
The music in today’s concert takes us on a journey from turmoil to reflection, clarity and hope for what comes next:
The meaning of a sonata has shape-shifted over time – the word itself comes from the Latin ‘sonare’, which is literally ‘to sound’, meaning that a sonata in its original context can refer to anything ‘sounded’ by instruments. In more recent iterations, ‘recent’ in this instance meaning the last several hundred years, the word has been used more specifically to refer to a form of compositional expression. That form has wiggled its way into much of the symphonic writing we know and love, and is satisfying, according to Leonard Bernstein, because of its architecture. In all its re-inventions and variations, the sonata is nourishing to us as listeners because of the way it balances and contrasts.
Johann Sebastian Bach’s sonatas and partitas for solo violin, six works essential to the repertoire, follow a Sonata da chiesa structure: a 17th-century invention of four movements, that very much fulfils Bernstein’s idea of satisfaction through structure. The ‘Andante’ from the second sonata featured on today’s programme sits as the third movement, and offers a lyrical, haunting melody atop a deliberate and unbroken bass line. There is great virtuosity in the seemingly simple melodic material.
This extract from Bach’s Sonata No 2 is complemented by Turkish composer Fazıl Say’s deeply moving second sonata, titled Mount Ida. Composed in 2019, the three-movement work is named for the ‘great tragedy in nature that occurred at Mount Ida, in Turkey, where hundreds of thousands of animals and trees were destroyed,’ Say told The Violin Channel in 2020, speaking of the 195,000 trees removed to make way for a prospective gold mine. The three movements, which deal with decimation, devastation and ultimately, hope, are in turn heart-wrenching and epic, desolate and somehow buoyant, as Say’s music explores the possibility attached to the Turkish people’s resistance to the destruction of the natural world.
Vasco Mendonça, a Portugese composer equally interested in the architecture of music and the idea of exploring contemporary issues through composition, was commissioned to write his work a box of darkness with a bird in its heart by the European Concert Hall Organisation, who named violinist Diana Tishchenko as one of their six Rising Stars for the 2022/2023 season. Hearing Tishchenko play made Mendonça jump at the opportunity to write for her: ‘she has a rich sound and makes the instrument resonate,’ he says, a fact clear to him despite being forced to begin his compositional process over Zoom due to the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent restrictions. In writing for a solo instrument, there are natural restrictions set in your way, but parameters of this nature can, through the right lens, become great gifts. Mendonça approached the instrument orchestrally, exploring the natural resonances and quite simply, exploiting (as J S Bach did) the fact that the violin can play more than one note at once. In this work, he explores the violin’s sound world through double-stops and open strings, delving into concepts of continuity, reflection, and abstraction.
When commissioned to write the piece in 2020, around the time of the presidential election in the United States, Mendonça had just discovered the American poet Terrance Hayes, whose work sparked something immediately: ‘I felt in his poetry that he was capturing the essence of the dreadful moment we were living in, in a more accurate way than any news bulletin or political report. Through the personal, the abstract, he was telling us something more truthful.’
The phrase ‘I make you a box of darkness with a bird in its heart’ from Hayes’ poem American Sonnet for My Past and Future Assassin said something beyond just the political to Mendonça: ‘he was also reflecting very deeply on what language means.’ This type of reflection felt like a homecoming to the composer: ‘music is, in itself, a very abstract language. A self-reflective language.’
Finally, we end as we begin: an arresting melody and a haunting exploration of lyricism and emotional extremes. A short, virtuosic work, Maxim Shalygin’s KAYA, written in 2019 for the Nederlands Vioolconcours, creates a complex and immersive sound world from which it takes a moment to emerge. A Ukrainian-Dutch composer, Shalygin says that ‘being shocked by music is about pain turning into beauty and getting under your skin, taking away your breath.’ And it is this sentiment that all of the pieces today reach for – that irresistible and utterly human urge to go just a little further, a little deeper, in the hope of arriving at some kind of magnificence.
The Long Climb to the Podium,
Limelight Magazine
Published – 06.09.2024
(Articles & Program Notes)
ECHO Rising Stars: Mathis Stier,
Barbican
Published – 04.04.2024
(Journal)
ECHO Rising Stars: Sonoro Quartet,
Barbican
Published – 12.02.2024
(Journal)
ECHO Rising Stars: Aris Quartett,
Barbican
Published – 21.01.2024
(Journal)
Rehearsal Magazine: The Archive,
Rehearsal Magazine
Published – 18.12.2023
(Articles & Program Notes)
On Mothers and Daughters,
Melbourne Recital Centre & Rubiks Collective
Published – 23.08.2023
(Journal)
Review: The Horror of the Avant-Garde(s),
Limelight Magazine
Published – 21.08.2023
(Journal)
Cristina Gomez Godoy,
Barbican
Published – 10.03.2023
(Journal)
Diana Tishchenko & José Gallardo,
Barbican
Published – 10.01.2023
(Articles & Program Notes)
Recent Reviews: August/September,
Limelight Magazine
Published – 07.09.2022
(Journal)
Of Frogs,
Kath Papas Productions
Published – 07.09.2022
(Journal)
Recent Reviews: June/July,
Limelight Magazine
Published – 15.07.2022
(Journal)
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Published – 16.06.2022
(Articles & Program Notes)
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Published – 09.06.2022
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Recent Reviews: April/May,
Limelight Magazine
Published – 23.05.2022
(Journal)
I Vespri Siciliani,
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Published – 19.05.2022
(Articles & Program Notes)
Verdi & Prokofiev,
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Published – 19.05.2022
(Articles & Program Notes)
A Collection
Published – 23.03.2022
(Journal)
Crying at Night
Published – 27.08.2021
(Journal)
Jam Tomorrow
Published – 18.07.2021
(Journal)
Rumaan Alam’s Current Enthusiasms
Published – 18.06.2021
(Journal)
A Musician’s Day
Published – 23.05.2021
(Journal)
Creating the Dream Team,
Musica Viva
Published – 20.05.2021
(Interviews)
There are Fairies,
Canberra Symphony Orchestra
Published – 26.04.2021
(Articles & Program Notes)
Konstantin Shamray,
Musica Viva
Published – 14.04.2021
(Interviews)
The Meaning of Alleluja,
Bach Akademie Australia
Published – 26.03.2021
(Articles & Program Notes)
Doing The Work
Published – 07.03.2021
(Journal)
Diana Doherty and Emma Jardine,
Musica Viva
Published – 20.02.2021
(Interviews)
Welcoming the New Year
Published – 07.01.2021
(Journal)
On hard times, for my friends.
Published – 10.08.2020
(Journal)
Luisa Miller,
Intermusica
Published – 22.07.2020
(Interviews)
Singing Violetta,
Intermusica
Published – 22.07.2020
(Interviews)
On Wondering
Published – 29.04.2020
(Journal)
A Couple Quick Things
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(Journal)
Staying Hopeful
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(Journal)
Hard Time Reminders
Published – 16.03.2020
(Journal)
Noted, Recently
Published – 05.03.2020
(Journal)
Through Winter, To Spring
Published – 04.03.2020
(Journal)
Poems for Summer
Published – 05.01.2020
(Journal)
Nevermind Review,
The Age
Published – 17.11.2019
(Articles & Program Notes)
Seraphim Trio Review,
The Age
Published – 17.11.2019
(Articles & Program Notes)
Stalin’s Piano Review,
The Age
Published – 17.11.2019
(Articles & Program Notes)
Australian Brandenburg Orchestra Review,
The Age
Published – 17.11.2019
(Articles & Program Notes)
Horsely & Williams Duo Review,
The Age
Published – 17.11.2019
(Articles & Program Notes)
Lina Andonovska Review,
The Age
Published – 17.11.2019
(Articles & Program Notes)
Brian Cox & MSO,
The Age
Published – 17.11.2019
(Articles & Program Notes)
Arcadia Winds Review,
The Age
Published – 17.11.2019
(Articles & Program Notes)
Nevermind Pre-Concert Talk,
Musica Viva
Published – 22.10.2019
(Articles & Program Notes)
Nicole Car in Recital,
Melbourne Recital Centre
Published – 09.08.2019
(Articles & Program Notes)
Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto,
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Published – 03.07.2019
(Articles & Program Notes)
Verdi’s Requiem,
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Published – 19.05.2019
(Articles & Program Notes)
Requiem Blog,
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Published – 20.03.2019
(Articles & Program Notes)
New Year, New Words
Published – 20.01.2019
(Journal)
How To Be Perfect
Published – 06.01.2019
(Journal)
The Year, Gone
Published – 30.12.2018
(Journal)
Relationship to Work
Published – 03.12.2018
(Journal)
French Classics,
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Published – 28.11.2018
(Articles & Program Notes)
Everything is Waiting
Published – 15.11.2018
(Journal)
In September, Things That Are New
Published – 29.09.2018
(Journal)
Make the Ordinary Come Alive
Published – 03.09.2018
(Journal)
New Music,
Darmstädter Ferienkurse
Published – 12.08.2018
(Articles & Program Notes)
Notes on Love
Published – 06.07.2018
(Journal)
Remember This Feeling
Published – 05.06.2018
(Journal)
Words in Mind
Published – 18.05.2018
(Journal)
Away From Home
Published – 16.05.2018
(Journal)
The Blank Page
Published – 14.05.2018
(Journal)
On Music and Friendship,
Orchestra Victoria
Published – 03.05.2018
(Articles & Program Notes)
Musical Directions
Published – 24.12.2017
(Journal)
Learning to Sing,
Rehearsal Magazine
Published – 17.12.2017
(Articles & Program Notes)
Behind-the-scenes of The Merry Widow,
Senza Sord
Published – 03.12.2017
(Interviews)
Musical Quirks,
Musica Viva
Published – 06.10.2017
(Articles & Program Notes)
Beauty and Tragedy,
Orchestra Victoria
Published – 24.07.2017
(Articles & Program Notes)
Eighth Blackbird,
The Music
Published – 23.02.2017
(Articles & Program Notes)
Schubert’s Swan Song
Published – 23.09.2016
(Articles & Program Notes)
Songmakers Australia,
Limelight Magazine
Published – 12.04.2016
(Interviews)
On Women in Music,
Ensemble Goldentree
Published – 05.03.2016
(Articles & Program Notes)
Grandma’s Hands,
Hundreds and Thousands
Published – 29.11.2014
(Articles & Program Notes)