By Lawrence Toppman
Patrons arrived with lips turned blue by the sudden savagery of a January wind. Soloist Jennifer Koh stood on the Knight Theater podium, her bright blue hair shining like a cheerful beacon. And Missy Mazzoli’s Violin Concerto, commissioned for Koh in 2021 – she alone has the right to perform it through February 2 of this year – had a bluesy tinge throughout, whether in the mournful or uplifting sections.
Folks who thirsted for melodies had to wait for the last piece of the night, a suite from Aaron Copland’s ballet “Billy the Kid.” Neither Samuel Barber’s Second Essay for Orchestra nor Jennifer Higdon’s suite from her opera “Cold Mountain” provided tunes worth speaking of.
But while Mazzoli didn’t make melody her goal, she ran through so many moods in her concerto that she consistently aroused my interest. I didn’t take the title “Procession” or the titles of the five linked movements too seriously, except as a vague indicator of diverse emotions. But from the first loud orchestral groan, which underpinned Koh’s swirling solos, I felt connected.
This isn’t a traditional concerto for violin and orchestra or even one for violin against orchestra, as the great fiddler Bronislaw Huberman described Brahms’ concerto. (“The violin wins,” he added.) Instead, it’s a piece where the two go their own ways and occasionally intersect.
The soloist plays almost constantly, which requires the focused tone, ceaseless commitment and intensity Koh provided. Meanwhile, the orchestra makes sounds that are spooky or scurrying or mysterious or occasionally bluntly forceful. They come together at last for a section of yearning (“Ascension”) before an oddly abrupt finale. Somehow, this combination works.
The Charlotte Symphony Orchestra (CSO) wisely programmed the two pieces by less familiar composers before the intermission, perhaps to prevent people from leaving at the break. The concert started with Higdon’s suite, which this orchestra co-commissioned. Every Higdon piece I’ve heard has been colorful, mostly restless and surging, and unmemorably derivative in slower sections; this conformed to that forgettable pattern. (Are these really the highlights from a full-length opera? Oy vey.)
Barber’s three essays are much alike: cleverly orchestrated, frequently full of rousing gestures that don’t add up to much emotionally, hinting at melodies without fulfilling our expectations. Guest conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya shone brightly here, drawing beautiful sonorities and controlling the ebb and flow of Barber’s music with perfect judgment. (Despite her Russian name and birth, she has lived in the United States since she was 9.)
She handled Copland’s “Billy” suite equally well. The orchestra let her down with anemic playing during the beginning on the open prairie, but the players kicked into a higher gear when Billy got to town to work his mischief. From there to the exultant ending, Yankovskaya and the CSO found all the pathos and violence in Copland’s first great ballet.
P.S. Talking about unconventional violin concertos reminds me that the much-anticipated Regina Carter concert scheduled for Feb. 9-10 has been postponed, due to an injury. The CSO hopes to bring her in a future season and will perform “The Music of Elton John” in her place.
Pictured: Jennifer Koh by Juergen Frank