United States Colorado Music Festival 2024 [2] – Various: Takács Quartet (Edward Dusinberre, Harumi Rhodes [violins], Richard O’Neill [viola], András Fejér [cello]), Colorado Festival Orchestra / Peter Oundjian (director). Chautauqua Auditorium, Boulder, Colorado, 19.7.2024. (DS)
Florence Price – ‘Adoration’
Gabriela Lena Frank – Kachkaniraqmi
Joan Tower – Concerto for Orchestra
‘We are like fuzz on each other’s clothing. . . She expresses what’s in my heart’. Those were the endearing words of Harumi Rhodes, violinist in the Takács Quartet, about composer Gabriela Lena Frank as they introduced her Colorado Music Festival’s world premiere, Kachkaniraqmi. Rhodes’s earnest words about friendship and collaboration highlighted the deep commitment that both the Takács Quartet and Frank felt towards presenting the new composition. It was impossible for listeners not to be drawn in.
Music director Peter Oundjian has developed a performance scene with an international reputation. His programming brings together partnerships of genuine inspiration that connect an audience with both musicians and composers. Under his wing, delightful moments, like the one above, occur.
Kachkaniraqmi provided a unique artistic experience at the festival in its setting at Chautauqua Auditorium, nestled at the foot of Boulder Mountain. Frank’s unparalleled work drew from numerous wells of inspiration, met musical challenges head on and immediately proved to be a favorite. It is a concerto grosso written for string quartet set within a string orchestra, but Frank breathed fresh life into the format, showing exactly how it can be both intricate and coherent. Each member of the Takács Quartet held the role of section leader as well as quartet soloist, and music flowed through the orchestra and shifted smoothly in and out of the quartet’s solo passages. Frank’s understanding of how to weigh each voice is a testament to her rank as a twenty-first-century composer.
Under the baton of Oundjian and the exceptional leadership of the Takács Quartet members, every part fit together perfectly. One was never at risk of losing a sense of how musical layers and the array of textures came together.
Kachkaniraqmi means ‘I still exist’ in the indigenous Quechua language of Frank’s Peruvian forebears. It is structured in four movements, and Frank pulled from a toolkit of myriad motifs that included dotted rhythmic patterns, trilled turns, strong yet often subtle tremolo passages, and a core driving force of punctuating pizzicatos which left me feeling the work’s pulse long after the concert.
Frank’s style shares a musical landscape that superbly blends into a deeper consciousness. Regardless of the cultural or musical understanding a listener may bring to the piece, Frank’s ability to tap into both the personal and the collective consciousness sets the stage to experience her cultural material rather than simply witness it as an outsider. Kachkaniraqmi is unifying, and Frank’s message, as I interpreted it, is an important one: through the existence of each one of us is the existence of us all.
Thus is born the aesthetic beauty of Kachkaniraqmi: jarringly emotional at times, sweetly shy and powerfully confident. The movements unfold in connection to the natural elements of Frank’s Peruvian background – the Andean mountain grandeur, the winds at a high altitude, the sounds of running water – all of which mirrored my hike that afternoon in the towering Rockies. The Chautauqua Auditorium proved to be the ideal setting for this world premiere.
Of course, a composition also relies on the interpretation of those performing it. The Takács Quartet performed Kachkaniraqmi with a palpable dedication that was a privilege to behold. Richard O’Neill on viola established a firm but supple foundation to the piece. First violinist Edward Dusinberre revealed snippets of a remarkably soulful monologue, and cellist András Fejér stitched together the expressive mood the quartet consistently captures. Rhodes on violin bared her soul with an effortless richness of tone and texture. They all played with their well-known generosity of artistic expression.
Although not announced as such, the concert showcased women composers. Oundjian opened the program with a miniature work, ‘Adoration’ by Florence Price. Despite its shortness, Oundjian revealed the piece’s depth. Price, who in recent years has gained the revival she deserved long ago, imbued the few minutes of music with a sense of observant wisdom. Both conductor and orchestra showed their stellar command of melodic lyricism.
After the intermission, we had the privilege of not only hearing Joan Tower’s 1991 composition, Concerto for Orchestra, but also experiencing the glee she brings to a stage. In the pre-performance chat, Oundjian charismatically put her on the spot to chat about the changes and suggestion she made at rehearsal. Her bursts of laughter during this friendly banter put the audience at ease and in just the right casual mood to listen to twentieth-century music. Oundjian and Tower – two behemoth role models of new music – showed us the energy and youthful joy that exists around classical music.
Concerto for Orchestra is one of those pieces that takes on very different adventurous qualities when heard live versus a recording. Tower is a wizard, and a quintessential New York composer. From start to finish, the work is about tempo, rumbling momentum, New York imagery (with nods towards West Side Story), communication, competition and joyful fright – like that of a teenager thrilled to ride a roller coaster or a seasoned New York subway rider quick to jump on board.
One must hold on tightly because Tower’s composition moves through the sections of the orchestra with exhilaration. Percussionists pick up, hit and shake every instrument imaginable. The brass section – who took a bow to thundering applause – wowed with breath acrobatics in power-packed passages. And even when a ponderous moment slowed the orchestra in its tracks, the momentum inevitably picked up again.
Concerto for Orchestra glows and glimmers just like New York, just like Joan Tower, and it is a reminder of all that music can offer. That is what this concert deftly revealed – when the listening is good, life is too. The Colorado Music Festival and music director Peter Oundjian made sure of that.
Daniele Sahr