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| Photo: Culiner Productions |
The program opened with Menachem Wiesenberg’s “Entrapped Bird” (1998) a
setting of three poems by Yair Hurwitz for voice, piano, violin and clarinet
(or oboe). The poems, from the poet’s last volume, all deal with his impending
death. The entrapped bird is a metaphor of the poet’s soul as imprisoned in his
sick body, waiting, in a sense, to be freed. In the composer’s own words: “I
have tried to portray this dark and very painful atmosphere in my music, using
a chromatic and expressive musical language.” Amit Dolberg (piano), Noam Lelior
Gal (violin) and Roy Cohen (clarinet) gave personal expression to the work’s
fragile, filigree textures, its reflective, intimate nature and to its many
splendid solo sections. Dalia Besprozvany, with her delicate, articulate and
understated singing, added subtle meaning to this mood piece.
We then heard “Scattergories” for flute, clarinet, bassoon, piano, violin,
‘cello and double bass by Omer Barash (b.1995). The ensemble was directed by
young conductor Tom Karni. As its title implies, the work opened with a
series of small gestures, punctuated by chords, then developing into a
shifting, active screen texture, its fabric consisting of individual
utterances. With much independent expression on the part of the players, the
work moves through various moods and instrumental effects, on to a dialogue
carried out in parallel semitones, then to a drone; the scattered chords
continue to appear. The work tails off in a low repetitive note on the piano,
taking time to fade away. A student at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and
Dance, Omer Barash is pursuing his MMus degree in Composition under Prof. Ari
Ben-Shabetai and his BMus in piano under Prof. Eitan Globerson. He was in
attendance at the concert.
Premiered at the event was Yonatan Ron’s “Klaustrum” for string trio, composed
end of 2015-January 2016. It was performed by Marco Fusi-violin, Moshe
Aharonov-viola and Yoni Gotlibovich-’cello. The composer explains the agenda of
his work as written at a time he was involved in "large-scale gradual
transitions" within musical textures. The piece “starts with a cluster of
a very strong Middle Eastern identity, from which I continue to develop the
very same pitch material until it slowly reaches a point at which it explodes.”
A piece composed as an almost uninterrupted continuum, it presents repetitions
each embodying some slight variation; there are delicate “insect” textures,
intense unison passages, glissando motifs and sections of flageolets
interrupted by sudden outbursts, etc. The composer refers to each musical idea
as “begging to emancipate itself”, to finally be freed by the end of the work.
In finely balanced collaboration, the players gave the work a reading that was
dedicated, sensitive and transparent. The composer, who was present at the
concert, is presently a student at the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague.
We then heard “In Carne ed Ossa”, a quintet by Michele Sanna (Italy). This
was the work that won the 2018 Matan Givol Competition for Composers. Amit
Dolberg spoke of the competition, now in its third year, as a fitting way to
remember violinist Matan Givol, who had been a member of the Meitar
Ensemble. "In Carne ed Ossa" (In Flesh and Bone) was chosen out
of 60 scores that were submitted to the competition from 24 countries. A work
of lively, sometimes frenetic gestures, of intensity, of pared-down
otherworldly moments, of timbral variety and some effects, its soundscape is
characterized by the intermittent, shadowy use of a soft mallet striking the
strings of the piano (Simone Walther). The piano also features in several of
the work’s lyrical moments. Conducted by Ilan Volkov, the performance, profound
and reflective, gave splendid expression to Sanna’s gripping and soul-searching
score.
Following the intermission, Maestro Ilan Volkov conducted Italian composer
Fausto Romitelli’s “Professor Bad Trip, Lessons I,II,III”, a work scored for
eight players and electronics. The “Professor Bad Trip” cycle (1998—2000),
blending distorted colorations of acoustic- and electric instruments as well as
accessories, such as the mirliton and harmonica, was inspired by Henri
Michaux’s writings under the influence of psychedelic drugs and by the comic
artist Gianluca Lerici a.k.a. Professor Bad Trip and his psychedelic cartoons.
The three separate movements recreate a hallucinatory sound world in which
post-spectralism blends with psychedelia. The unique style that Romitelli
developed is characterized by drones, glissandi and amplification with
distortion, the combination of these elements resulting in highly expressive
content of both great eloquence and violent sonic utterances of considerable
formal complexity. Lesson I, doused with electric guitar, offering a rich
timbral mix, is an exciting piece. Percussionist Lior Eldad’s skill and competence
shone throughout. The music eventually becomes calm and the instrumentalists
gradually exit, leaving only electronic “airport” sounds to bring the piece to
an end. Lesson II is at times no less intense than its predecessor (its potency
and rhythmic vehemence are endorsed by electric guitar-Nadav Lev and bass
guitar-Dennis Sobolev); the piece also offers a virtuosic and poignant ‘cello
solo (Yoni Gotlibovich), some breathy effects and eerie moments of spacey high
string flageolet sounds, then to die down cushioned in a velvety screen of
sound coloured by the knell of a haunting gong. Lesson III, bristling with
effects and repetitions, sometimes referring to a kind of “tonal centre”,
presents trippy sensations as well as stark, buzzy electronic sounds and
strident guitar sounds. Flautist Roy Amotz moves from piccolo to flute to
mirliton (a small, nasal-sounding instrument, its sound produced by a
vibrating membrane) and back again. “Professor Bad Trip”, with its taste for
the deformed and the artificial, for rock and electro-acoustic treatment of
sound, certainly takes the listener along for the dare-devil ride, and an
invigorating, shocking and spectacular trip it certainly was, too!
Drawing a large crowd, the Tel Aviv concert was a celebration of fascinating
music and very fine, dedicated and discerning performance on the part of the
musicians.
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| Dalia Besprozvany (Culiner Productions) |
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