WILLEM JETHS Symphony no. 1 | Recorder Concerto Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra Edo de Waart | Markus Stenz conductor Karin Strobos mezzo soprano Erik Bosgraaf recorder 1 WILLEM JETHS Symphony no. 1 | Recorder Concerto Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra Edo de Waart | Markus Stenz conductor Karin Strobos mezzo soprano Erik Bosgraaf recorder WILLEM JETHS (b. 1959) A cyclic symphony Willem Jeths (1959) has written a symphony. At last, you might almost say. Symphony no. 1 for orchestra and mezzo soprano (2012) He already had an opera, three string quartets, thirteen solo concertos and World Premiere NTR ZaterdagMatinee 13-04-2013 a large number of orchestral and chamber music works to his name, but he [1] Unbegrenzt 5:18 waited a long time before attempting the most important genre of the orchestral [2] Wie ein Kondukt 12:42 repertoire. In fact it is not a traditional symphony in the classical-romantic [3] Metanoia 11:59 sense, but rather a piece with four movements themed around the cycle of life, [4] Selige Sehnsucht 7:33 death and transformation. [5] Recorder Concerto (2014) 20:00 In retrospect, the first step towards the symphony was the successful premiere of World Premiere NTR ZaterdagMatinee 20-12-2014 his orchestral work Scale – Le tombeau de Mahler with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra at the end of 2010. Even while he was composing it, Jeths felt that Scale needed to be part of a larger whole. In 2012 he wrote the orchestral total time 57:38 work Metanoia, in which he linked material from Scale to new ideas. The content of Metanoia connects seamlessly to its predecessor. Whereas Scale (literally, ‘stairs’) was about the stairs human beings must climb during their earthly existence, Metanoia (literally, ‘that which is beyond thinking and understanding’) begins immediately after we reach the final step, when our mortal existence is exchanged for timeless eternity. At the heart of the symphony are thoroughly revised versions of the two pieces: Scale as the second movement, with a Mahlerian title, Wie ein Kondukt [Like a funeral procession], and Metanoia as the third movement. To surround this dramatic instrumental diptych, Jeths composed two vocal movements of a more philosophical character. In Goethe’s voluminous collection of poems West-östlicher Divan from 1814-1819 he found two poems that 4 5 revolve around the cyclic dimension of existence. In the opening movement, Midway in Metanoia is an unusual chord borrowed by Jeths from Alban Berg. he incorporated two stanzas from the poem Unbegrenzt [Uncircumscribed] The Austrian composer was walking on the beach in Zandvoort in 1914 when and in the final movement, the entire poem Selige Sehnsucht [Blessed Yearning]. he heard an unusual harmony at the exact moment that he saw the sun break And so the symphony begins and ends with Goethe; not only does it have a through the clouds. This gave him an overpowering sense of God. Willem Jeths cyclic theme, but also a cyclic form. The piece, just under 45 minutes in length, uses the same chord in an attempt to capture the idea of God in sound, so that in fact consists of one single build-up of tension in which we see that its musical the emotional context and the musical material here, too, merge to form a unity. and its philosophical aspects are all interconnected. But what is the philosophical tenor of the symphony as a whole? In the poem Not only the dramaturgy, but also the musical elaboration show wide-ranging to the final movement, Selige Sehnsucht, we hear a moralising message. correspondences of form to content. The pure symmetrical form of the first The music follows the text exactly, reaching a climax on the words Bist du movement, for example, arises directly from Goethe’s crucial line Anfang und Schmetterling verbrannt. Although it is tempting to associate the butterfly Ende immer fort dasselbe [Beginning and ending forever the same], a sentence (Schmetterling) with the concept of transformation on analogy with its that Jeths situates precisely in the middle of the first movement. The soloist metamorphosis from a caterpillar, Willem Jeths stresses the fact that the has rhythmic freedom in how she presents these momentous words, and the symbolism here leads straight to human beings: ‘According to Goethe, orchestra leaves her entirely free to do so. This is followed by the exact mirror the butterfly simply must fly towards the light if it is to give meaning to its image of what went before. Here Jeths had to work with extreme precision to existence, with the inherent danger of being burned by the sun; human ensure that whatever had first been presented from left to right would also beings in their turn must emerge from their cocoon and become beings sound convincing when presented from right to left. The meaning of Goethe’s who are willing to devote their life to the highest achievable goal.’ poem is expressed in this extremely strict structure. Drama and philosophy are interwoven in the symphony. Willem Jeths is Another example is the kinship in the tonal material of the second and third pleased that he had the chance to produce a complete composition of several movements, in concord with the narrative. Scale dies out in the plaintive movements on life, death and transformation. He speaks passionately about this Phrygian mode, only to transform at the beginning of Metanoia by a small-scale subject, but refuses to make autobiographical references: ‘It is not my wish to manipulation (two steps lower) into a more ‘objective’ series of notes derived reveal myself in my music. When I compose, I search associatively for archetypical from the whole-tone scale. moments that many people will recognise. It is this shared experience that I truly 6 7 want to celebrate with as many listeners as possible. Music makes it possible to as the clarinet concerto Yellow Darkness (2005), Meme (2007) for two violas and abstract intense experiences.’ orchestra and the Triple Concerto (2011). There is also recognition in a musical sense, because in three of the four He explains his obvious predilection for the genre as stemming from his movements Jeths works with a ‘Fernorchester’ – like his kindred spirit Mahler, fascination for timbre and instrumentation: ‘An essential aspect of my music is to whom Jeths referred directly in Scale and in earlier works. This offstage the quest for new tonal colours. This means a soloist can effectively be a source ensemble, which in the symphony consists of six trumpet players and one tenor of ignition, a prism through which I can, as it were, project the orchestral sound. drum, symbolises the remembrance of the past and the presentiment of a future. At the same time, of course, a solo instrument also adds its own unique shading to the overall palette. I try quite deliberately to use this tonal characteristic as an In the main orchestra, the alto saxophone has a prominent role as the alter ego extension to the other instruments, so that the sound is constantly heard from a of the voice, particularly in the fourth movement. Jeths chose this instrument novel perspective.’ not only because of its particular colour, but also for the natural sound of saxophonist Ties Mellema. He also likes the directness and the unpolished In his Bandoneon Concerto (2001) and the Flugelhorn Concerto (2002), character of the instrument. Another surprise comes from the percussion section, Jeths has already explored the very extremes of this couleur ajoutée by where reinforcement comes in the form of steel drums. But the most important deliberately setting out to highlight some of the less commonplace solo colouration is obviously found in the voice itself: Jeths tailored both vocal instruments. Yet the composer still had some reservations when Erik Bosgraaf movements to the sensitive vocal qualities of mezzo-soprano Karin Strobos. asked him to compose a new recorder concerto. The thin sound, the limited range of barely two octaves, all set against the mighty machinery of a symphony Michel Khalifa orchestra; it seemed to him to be asking for trouble, above all in relation to the question of balance. For a child’s spirit When we consider the art of writing concertos, Willem Jeths is undoubtedly a And what was it that finally convinced him to take the plunge? ‘I thought it would musician who has the experience that is required. No fewer than thirteen such be fantastic to write a piece especially for Erik. He’s a musical thoroughbred, works have now flowed from his pen. They include his first violin concerto Glenz, who can get around the physical difficulties of his instrument in magical ways. which finally marked his breakthrough in 1993, as well as more recent works such In his hands, notes turn into something ephemeral – into pure music.’ Another 8 9 helping factor was the close collaboration between composer and soloist: Or else in the tempestuous central passage, where the soloist wrings screaming ‘Erik came over to my place a few times to play things through. He also played top Cs from the instrument above nervous scale passages in the orchestra and a a number of different recorders to me. These included a sixteenth century chromaticism that becomes increasingly tortured. There are also some contrasting renaissance recorder by Silvestro Ganassi. That instrument is more powerful than moments of calm contemplation, such as the delicate solo cadenza, the more common baroque variant, so I composed my concerto specifically for accompanied ‘molto fragile’ by gently vibrating crystal glasses. Or the the Ganassi recorder.’ purified resignation of the slowly evanescent closing measures. As the composition progressed, Jeths was increasingly captivated by what Jeths: ‘For me, the close of the concerto is about transformation.