Jörg Widmann: Violin Concerto (2007)
Jörg Widmann
born on 19 June 1973 in Munich
Violin Concerto (2007)
Premiere: 17 September 2007 in Essen by Christian Tetzlaff, violin
Violin Concerto No. 2 (2018)
Premiere: 31 August 2018 in Tokyo by Carolin Widmann, violin
Violin Concerto no. 1 (2007)
Jörg Widmann's first violin concerto is not divided into movements in its continuous search for beauty, but leads in an arc through the most diverse existential states of a longing psyche,
both that of the violinist and that of the attentive listener.
Already in the solo-played opening melody of the violin, all the parameters of the concerto are already contained in compressed form, something that one cannot consciously hear, but
which is revealed by the composer. Likewise, Sibelius's 7th Symphony was the model for the sound world of this concerto, which means that motivically everything is always connected to
everything else and the harmonies rub between dissonances and major harmonies in search of beauty. The violin part also contains memories of the important violin concertos of the 20th
century, from Berg to Hartmann and Shostakovich to Petterson. But let us hear ourselves through this concerto in our own way.
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Listening Companion:
A kind of "infinite melody" of the solo violin opens the concerto on the G string, drunk with beauty and rapturous, as the instruction says.
Finally, the orchestra joins the violin's rapturous song from the depths of the double basses; from now on, the violin solo must pass through all further sound events and must prove itself in
ever new sound environments. Immediately, the violin's singing becomes more intense and grows into a phase full of double stops.
A short, violent start of the violin, a quiet run upwards, the violin wants to continue singing, a flute melodiously joins in, later horn sounds and various wind voices.
The dense sound event finally drives the violin to a short solo cadenza.
The orchestra reacts to this and echoes quietly, but the violin continues to sing. The orchestral sounds form a persistent sound space. Restlessness grips the expressive singing of the violin,
which then ascends to the highest registers.
For a moment, high flutes take over the sound of the violin. Spiccato passages of the violin stand out.
And the violin continues to sing, without interruption through all the sound spaces (similar to Allan Petterson's violin concerto), underpinned by orchestral harmonies that open up sound spaces
into great depths and expanses. Short resting phase.
As the orchestral voices become increasingly intense and louder, the violin resists their pressure, fleeing again and again into the highest registers until it becomes too much and the violin
snaps out of it in wild high-pitched convulsions, so to speak. Violent outburst also from the orchestra. The subsequent calming down in the orchestra also has an eerie effect.
Then everything seems to die down in the fading celesta and xylophone beats, only the violin can no longer find peace.
The twitches in the extreme heights continue to have an effect, even if the violin's situation calms down again somewhat emotionally.
Only when the orchestral accompaniment rises to cold heights does a dull mass of sound also drive the violin back into the highest registers, ever more threatening, the violin reacting ever more
desperately. The orchestral sounds become denser and more insistent, more decisive, the violin, in its ups and downs, has trouble with them.
The mood becomes more and more tired. You think you hear major chords in the orchestra, but everything sinks in.
Quiet flickering in the orchestra, quiet glowing, only slowly does the orchestral accompaniment fill up again.
Distant sounds, flutes play in between, and from a low register the melody of the violin rises again. Faint and uncertain.
Once again the sounds fade away.
Complete silence.
As the orchestral voices become increasingly intense and louder, the violin resists their pressure, fleeing again and again into the highest registers until it becomes too much and the violin
snaps out of it in wild high-pitched convulsions, so to speak. Violent outburst also from the orchestra. The subsequent calming down in the orchestra also has an eerie effect.
Dann ein plötzlicher Schlag von Geige und Orchester, grosse Hektik entsteht, auch in der Geige.
Erst mit der Zeit findet die Geige wieder zu ihrem melodiösen Spiel, immer bedrängt von seltenen Orchesterklängen. Die dichten Klänge steigern sich, Hektik der Geige, dann erhebt über reichem
Klangteppich auch die Flöte ihre Stimme, die Geige antwortet in höchster Lage und schöpft Kraft, steigert sich in heftige Doppelgriffe hinein, aber es bleiben die bedrängenden
Orchesterklang-räume, denen die Geige immer wieder in Extremlagen ausweicht.
Schliesslich interveniert das Orchester entschieden mit ein paar massiven heftigen Schlägen, die Geige kommt aus ihrer Extremlage hinunter, auch das Orchester beruhigt sich, man hört eine
Hornpassage, die mit der Geige dialogisiert. Verstummende Orchesterklänge, das Orchester zieht sich zurück, das Geigensolo wird immer zerbrechlicher.
Ein eisiger hoher Klang der Geige beendet diese lange Reise im und durch den «Sog der Klänge» (vgl. Buchtitel von Martin Fein zu Gesprächen mit Jörg Widmann ). Bedrängte und erkämpfte Schönheit,
die Unruhe wird auch nach dem Hören weiterbestehen, aber existentiell vertiefter.
Viiolin Concerto no. 2 (2018)
The following introduction to the content of Jörg Widmann's Second Violin Concerto is by the composer himself and can be found on the Schott-Verlag homepage (www.schott-music.com):
"The violin concerto is a "sacred" genre. It is also a genre to which one entrusts the most personal things. Especially since this violin concerto is dedicated to my sister. The vocal instrument
violin as a carrier of the most diverse human emotions."
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I. Una Ricerca
"The 1st movement "Una ricerca" is a search of the violin for itself, for its own voice. A search for sounds, gestures, figures, contexts. The orchestra responds only sporadically, but with the sounds and figures that will then determine the following movements. This 1st movement, at about 5 minutes, is just as long or short as the concluding 3rd movement." (Jörg Widmann)
II.Romanze
"I have entitled the central and by far the most extensive movement "Romance". In this movement, a widely ramified emotional cosmos is spanned, it is a journey into the interior. A wide variety of emotional zones are traversed, song-like, tender sounds are juxtaposed with noisy and bruitistic outbursts. But the violin always remains the narrator." (Jörg Widmann)
III. Mobile
"Here, the movement patterns of the preceding movements are catapulted into an incessant high-speed movement and driven to extremes. The gesture, however, remains light almost throughout.
Compositionally, it is a permanent playful variation of a strictly limited tonal material and gestural vocabulary throughout all three movements, despite the variety of sound and colour. The
invention itself, the timbres, the harmonics: this has always been important to me, ever since I was able to think musically. But the focus on reduction and form is new. It would probably not
have come about in this way without my second involvement with the genre of the violin concerto." (Jörg Widmann)