Esteban Benzecry: Concerto para Violino (2006 - 2008)
Esteban Benzecry
born as an Argentinean April 13, 1970 in Lisbon (Portugal)
First performance
05 Dec. 2009 in Paris by
Nemanja Radulović
Recordings:
2019 by Xavier Inchausti on CD (Naxos).
2016 live by Nemanja Radulović on Youtube
2022 live by Alejandro Aldana on Youtube
Esteban Benzecry's violin concerto, lasting just under half an hour, delights with its own musically original sound world. A sonorous sound of its own that captivates, together with
rhythmically effective elements, contributes to the spontaneous success of this violin concerto. Benzecry's sound world is a mixture of elements of contemporary European music of the 20th century
with Latin American folklore, tonally and rhythmically fascinatingly multiculturally united and bringing forth something new. It is also the search of a Latin American for pre-colonial
traditions, as can be found, for example, in the Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera, who is better known in our country. Esteban Benzecry is himself at home in both worlds, Latin America and
Europe, he grew up in Argentina, began artistically with painting, then studied composition and meanwhile lives in Paris, France. For a better listening, the following quotes by Esteban Benzecry
from an interview can help:
"In addition to my interest in the folk music of our continent, I have been influenced by my fondness for the colors of the orchestral palette of French music, from the Impressionists through
Dutilleux and Messiaen to the current spectral music from which I learned many of the orchestral effects so commonly used today, and my brief exposure to electroacoustic music during my student
days in Paris, which, although I did not venture in that direction, enriched me greatly by opening my ears in search of other sounds, albeit with the symphony orchestra, which is my favorite
instrument. "
And:
"My main influences in terms of the effect of my orchestral coloring are: my painterly past, I had a training as a plastic artist and that somehow left as a characteristic of my music the fact that it is very visual and varied in colors, it's like I'm painting with my music, like I'm constructing soundscapes."
His violin concerto did not originate as a concerto, but from three individual pieces, which Benzecry then developed into a "violin concerto with three autobiographical evocations" in the
years 2006 - 2008. Benzecry writes on his homepage about it:
"The first movement "Evocation d'un rêve" was written during my stay at the Casa de Velázquez in Madrid, where I was composer in residence from 2004 to 2006.
In this work you will find small motifs reminiscent of Spanish music, especially the cante jondo and the music of the tablaos, but in the context of a contemporary orchestration. The whole
forms a kind of "imaginary folklore" mixed with dream forests where birds live that do not exist. The use of the violin is extremely virtuosic and expressive, trying to exploit all the resources
of the instrument. This movement was premiered in 2006 as an independent work by the Pasdeloup Orchestra with Nemanja Radulovic as soloist at the Théâtre Mogador. Due to its great success, I was
commissioned to write two more movements to complement the format of the traditional concerto for violin and orchestra."
"In the second movement, "Evocation d'un tango," I also evoke a part of my Argentine origin, my city Buenos Aires, where I have spent most of my life....
In "Evocation d'un monde perdu" I develop melodies and rhythms of South American folklore roots such as baguala, carnavalito ("little carnival", folk dance from northern Argentina), malambo
(ballroom dance for men, originally from central and northern Argentina. It is a rhythmic memory: the man imitates the gallop of a horse), traces of a pre-Columbian world little known and
lost."
The work is dedicated to Nemanja Radulovic, Benoît Duteurtre and the Orchestre Pasdeloup!
Listen here!
Listening guide:
I. Evocation of a dream
A flute, clarinet, then supplemented with oboe sound, immediately create an atmosphere of loneliness and simultaneous enchantment. The composer Esteban Benzecry himself gives insight into the
meaning and musical content of this introduction:
"The work begins with a brief tutti introduction in crescendo and diminuendo, accompanied by a baguala rhythm (a song from northern Argentina that is a howl, a plaintive protest).
The man (or woman) cries out his/her loneliness or protests against his/her fate, against his/her circumstances. Musically, it is a kind of passacaglia, in which the strings imitate the charango
(an indigenous instrument made from an animal body like a small guitar) with pizzicato arpeggios, and the timpani and great caisse lead this rhythm throughout the first section of the work."
Then the solo violin enters in recitative-like rebelliousness. Benzecry adds: "In this first section I play with the lyrical possibilities of the violin, with resonance effects in an
orchestration in which the woodwinds imitate the soloist's singing, as if they were "quenas" (flutes of the natives of northern Argentina) echoing ... in the mountains of the Andes." The violin's
singing is extremely imaginative, with echoes of a kind of imaginary folklore and dreamlike exploitation of the violinistic possibilities.
After a rhythmic interlude by the orchestra comes a section marked by clusters in the orchestra, with alternately lyrical or desperately rebellious sounds from the orchestra and the solo violin
exposing itself. Slowly, this dream sound finally fades out in a long solo cadenza by the violin.
The final section of this evocation, which conjures up a kind of dream world, "is a kind of toccata in which I explore the virtuoso possibilities of the violin with a moto perpetuo that is
interspersed with various soundscapes in which folkloric rhythms of malambo and carnavalito can be found."
Timpani beats mark the conclusion.
II. Evocation of a tango
In the second movement, a tango is evoked. Over a muffled accompaniment, the violin rises to an imaginary tango. The composer recalls his Argentinean origins. The composer himself also formulated
an aural aid for this movement:
"At the beginning, the rhythms and melodies intertwine in a vision of quotations from tangos not yet written, with a cadential, melancholy step in a foggy atmosphere.
In the middle section of this movement, the violin shows itself in a very passionate melody, to then begin a game with the harp and celesta, which form a small minimalist cell in a very tight
canon, while the violin plays in the low register, to finally end in the melodic atmosphere of the beginning of the movement."
Muffled timpani beats conclude this imaginary tango.
III. Evocation of a lost world
In the third evocation, Benzecry conjures up an ancient pre-Columbian world. Darkly expanding brass sounds form the opening. The same muffled timpani beats from the close of the second movement
are present again and rhythmically permeate the entire movement. A cello melody, continued by the horns, leads upward. A flute over violin flutters chirps an enigmatic call, the clarinet and
flutes imitating strange mythical bird calls.
Pizzicato, the violin begins, taking over the rhythm of the timpani before launching into a melodious chant. The upward motion of the cellos accompanies the violin's playing. The rhythm remains
present, then with its rhythmic pizzicati the violin itself interrupts its folkloric melancholic singing, which can evoke an evocation of a world of memory in the Proustian sense.
Eerie and massive sounds from deep regions of the orchestra influence the violin part, which first flees into shimmering arpeggios, then stops, only to escape this dark atmosphere after all and
rise into a brighter world marked by the "bird calls".
But everything remains undecided, the spreading wind sounds, wild chains of flutes finally drive the violin to a kind of wild toccata. Now the rhythm of the accompaniment changes as well, the
violin riding ahead in wild ride, the orchestra with it. Strange melodic fragments accompany this fantastic ride in the meantime, which rushes through a rhythmic, uncanny dream world and rushes
on ever more breathlessly until the last timpani beats.