 |
| Hugo Ticciati & O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra |
The Fires of Love: Lera Auerbach, Janacek, Osvaldo Golijov, Mahler; Hugo Ticciati & O/Modernt Chamber Orchestra; Wigmore Hall
Reviewed 28 April 2026
One of O/Modernt's usual freewheeling programmes juxtaposing Golijov's klezmer inspired clarinet with Mahler giving with speaking intensity, Lera Auerbach remarkable dialogue with Pergolesi and Janacek's intimate confessions writ large
Hugo Ticciati and O/Modernt's concert at Wigmore Hall on Tuesday 28 April 2026 was the final one of their residency. Entitled The Fires of Love the programme was supposed to feature the performance of a new commission featuring Iranian vocalist Haleh Seyfizadeh, but she has been unable to travel from Iran. The war thus spreading its tentacles to even the hallowed halls of Wigmore Street. Rather oddly, given the political circumstances, Hugo Ticciati replaced the planned work with Osvaldo Golijov's 1994 work, The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind where Jewish klezmer clarinet is the focus. Around this, the other works in the programme considered different types of love with Lera Auerbach's Sogno di Stabat Mater (2005), Janacek's String Quartet No. 2 'Intimate Letters' (1928) and Mahler's Adagietto from Symphony No. 5 (1901-2).
We began with Auerbach's Sogno di Stabat Mater for solo violin and viola (Hugo Ticciati and Sascha Bota), strings and vibraphone (Elsa Bradley). Auerbach wrote the work for Gidon Kremer, and it is a shorter version of Auerbach's Dialogues on Stabate Mater. The work takes fragments of Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, with the solo vocal lines transferred to violin and viola, and weaves them together with Auerbach's own pondering to create a dialogue where the pain of the mother's suffering is to the fore.
The result was a work where Pergolesi's music often hovered tantalisingly in the background with sections that seemed neo-Baroque, the original below the surface, almost but not quite there. Yet other passages stretched the material with remarkable ferocity and violence. Central the performance was the intense playing of the solo duo, whether emulating Pergolesi, giving us a rather modern take on the Baroque original or displaying violence with intensity and vividness. The more violent and ferocious episodes off-set the poise and restraint of Pergolesi's original to create a thoughtful dialogue. We ended with Pergolesi except the music wandered off and evaporated.
Following this we turned to Janacek's very secular and remarkable passion for Kamila Stosslova inspired by the 700 letters he wrote her. Janacek composed the quartet in 1928, the year of his death, some eleven years after meeting her and the work represents an outpouring of his unequal passion. It was premiered after his death. We heard it in a transcription for string orchestra made by Hugo Ticciati which wove the four solo string quartet lines into full string orchestra textures. The result expanded the rich sound world and sonic range but perhaps lost something of the edginess and urgency that a string quartet would have brought. This was intimacy writ large, the moments for solo quartet set off by vivid ensemble comments.
The first movement began with a strong, passionate sound emphasising the contrast with the almost conversational interactions of the solo quartet, giving us a sense of dialogue. The performance did indeed carry us away. The simplicity and plangency of the solo quartet's extended opening section to the second movement again contrasted with the vibrant textures of the tutti strings. This was something that kept recurring in this movement, moments of extreme urgency and moments of transparency, the emotions turning on a pin. The haunted opening of the third movement's fragments of melody built into folk-inspired and dramatic moments, urgent intensity contrasting with lyricism. The final movement was vivid indeed with strong rhythms and a big string sound, yet also intimate solo quartet contributions leading to contrasts of scale and dynamics. The work seemed to gain in vibrant intensity and lose in immediacy and urgency. The overall result was a tour de force of performance from the orchestra but not my idea way to hear this piece.
After the interval the string ensemble was joined by solo clarinettist, Christoffer Sundqvist. Golijov wrote The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind for clarinet and string quartet, but created a version for clarinet and string orchestra (the two are evidently not interchangeable). The title refers to the kabbalist Isaac the Blind, but the musical inspiration is klezmer. Golijov's programme note referred to the different movements speaking in different languages - Aramaic, Yiddish and Hebrew. But to an outsider there was a common thread of the keening of the klezmer-inspired clarinet part. Sundqvist in fact played four clarinets, an E flat, a bass clarinet and two other more 'regular' ones. The work flowed seamlessly, despite Golijov's references to different movements, with sustained pause points for the strings to enable the clarinettist to change instruments. It was a long (over-long?) work and I have nothing but admiration for Sundqvist's bravura and highly involved performance.
The strings began in hesitant style with low, intimate notes from the clarinet which gradually came to the fore leading to the first movement proper with fast, rhythmic strings and urgent, plangent clarinet contributions. This was a vivid sound-world indeed. As the clarinet writing became more melodic there were lots of bent notes and the sounds took on a distinctly Eastern European, perhaps even Eastern Mediterranean feel. The opening movement and the concluding one had a sense of a keening clarinet over more mobile strings, yet the central movement featured a catchy, uptempo dance that was pure klezmer and positively carried us away. Yet Golijov never let the music settle for long, and the dance was constantly interrupted and disrupted. The overall feel of the entire piece was one of disruption and unsettlement. The clarinet's mellow keening of the final movement did not preclude some more bravura moments and the ending combining sustained bass clarinet notes with string atmospherics until the music seemingly evaporated.
For the final work in the programme the strings were joined by harpist Lise Vandermissen for Mahler's Adagietto which he wrote as a love song to Alma. Here we did not get the lush string tone of larger, plush orchestras but instead a focused and speaking intensity. The use of so many solo lines each shaped strongly brought out links to Strauss' Metamorphosen and the overall result was intimate and immediate.
The blog is free, but I'd be delighted if you were to show your appreciation by buying me a coffee.
Elsewhere on this blog
- Transatlantic vision: American conductor Irene Messoloras on working with her British choir, Meridian, on their latest disc Finding Light - interview
- Still handsome: Hansung Yoo, Robyn Allegra Parton & Liparit Avetisyan in Verdi's Rigoletto at Covent Garden - opera review
- America's 250th, 50 years since Britten's death, Miles Davis's centenary, anniversaries for Weber's Oberon & Varèse's Amériques: BBC Proms 2026 - feature
- A delightful jeu d'esprit: a strong cast has great fun with Peter Tranchell's 1950s operetta Twice a Kiss - opera review
- The piece that made me fall in love with song: mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston on Schumann's Dichterliebe - interview
- MOURN: A vividly theatrical mix of Eastern folk traditions & 17th century Italian music from Alkanna Graeca & Figure - music theatre review
- Beautifully wrought & intensely serious: Kitty Whately & Julius Drake explore the songs of Madeleine Dring - record review
- Home
No comments:
Post a Comment