Isidora Žebeljan (1967 - 2020): Three Curious Loves (Tri cudne ljubavi), concerto for violin and chamber orchestra (2017)
Isidora Žebeljan
born 27 Sep. 1967 in Belgrade, Serbia
died: 29 Sep. 2020 in Belgrade, Serbia
First performance:
Entschede, 24 Aug 2017
Daniel Rowland (violin),
Stift Festival Orchestra,
conducted by David Cohen
Recording:
On Youtube you can find the video recording of the premiere.
Isidora Zebeljan (1967-2020) came from Belgrade and was one of the best-known Serbian composers in Europe. Despite her premature death, she remains an insider's tip for contemporary music
that communicates itself directly to the listener without compromise. Her music breathes a Balkan folklore artfully interwoven with contemporary music and lives from a virtuosically colourful and
rhythmically diverse pulsating orchestration. She became internationally known beyond her borders with her operas: "Zora D." (premiered in 2003 by David Pountney and Nicola Raab in Amsterdam and
at the Vienna Chamber Opera), "A Marathon Family" (premiered at the Begrenzer Festspiele in 2008) and "Simon, the Foundling" (premiered in 2015 in Gelsenkirchen). Three years before her
early death after a long illness, she wrote the violin concerto "Three curious loves" for Daniel Rowland. The three loves mentioned in the title - as Isidora Zebeljan explained in an interview
after the premiere of the violin concerto - are mysterious and secretive loves. It takes "calmness", "strength" and "lucidity" to find these mysterious loves step by step, hidden behind seven
valleys and seven mountains like in a fairy tale.
Listen to it on Youtube here!
Above the faltering plucking of a double bass, a melody of the violin quietly unfolds, floating above the nothingness, telling dreamlike stories and enchanting in its sad and beautiful
unanimity.
Only after a while does the orchestra join in. It interrupts this calm mood and suddenly brings surprising rhythmic impulses and completely different timbres. The violin awakens from its
melancholy mood, hesitantly joins in, is invited to dance, and takes the lead, leading the way in changing, often only hinted at dance rhythms, letting the orchestra explode rhythmically for a
moment until the music slowly falters. A mysterious rhythm starts in silence and rises again to wild exuberant expressiveness. Once again, the violin drives the action forward until all momentum
suddenly stops.
Listening Guide:
Spherical sounds of the strings spread out a mysterious carpet of sound, on top of which the solo violin unfolds freely, seemingly improvising, even with jazz-like violin slurs. Individual wind
instruments contribute rhythms; a clarinet and bassoon solo pose questions.
Then a violent outburst by the violinist, the orchestra again becomes highly agitated, timpani and percussion interfere violently. The violin plays its solos in ever new attempts, as it were to
the death, as if a wild-eyed gipsy band were driving it on.
Then a horn call interrupts all exuberance, woodwinds and then the whole orchestra answer. Like a reminder from other worlds, the horn repeats its call, the violin answers softly, with much
glissando and vibrato, as if seeking its melody again. The orchestral winds mingle rhythmically with her voice. The violin goes on its journey again and continues to tell its story, the orchestra
participates colourfully and shines in many colours.
The music gets more and more into motion, the violin traverses the most diverse soundscapes. An enigmatic duo of violin and piano stands out. The orchestra constantly changes colour. One follows
the violin through a fairytale world of seven valleys and seven mountains. Ever new rhythmic impulses give the colourful sounds new intensity. In great excitement, the violin storms ahead in all
its heights and depths.
Finally, the strings start a kind of final spurt, quietly and becoming louder and louder rhythmically. Winds join in, flute glissandi and the free and wildly increasing violin drive and almost
cause a wild Gipsy music to explode, until everything breaks off shortly before the climax. The violin muses quietly once more, then a heavy orchestral beat. The end.