1 Austin Simonds 12-12-18 Music 26915 Categorical Treatment of the Soloist in the First Movement of Thomas Ades’ Violin Concerto “Concentric Paths” Thomas Ades has certainly established himself as one of the more important composers of the 21st century. He has established his career not only as a composer, but also as an active conductor and pianist. Ades was born in London, England in 1971. He studied composition with British composer Robert Saxton at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Other notable teachers include Alexander Goeher, Robin Holloway, as well as Gyorgy Kurtag. Ades’ portfolio consists of an impressive three operas, a piano concerto, his critically acclaimed Asyla for large orchestra, as well as a violin concerto, and many more works ranging from chamber to solo compositions. Ades gained much attention from the premiere of his symphonic piece mentioned above, Asyla. In response to Asyla, Christopher Fox pointed out the “instrumental writing is often allied with extra-musical subject matter which also has surrealist resonances.”1 The third movement of Asyla, “Ecstacio” notably takes its basis off of electronic dance music, a common cultural occurrence prevalent in the U.K. during the 1990’s, around the same time as when it was composed (1997). This extra-musical element can be found in many of his other works, including his Violin Concerto “Concentric Paths”. The three movements; I. Rings, II. Paths, and III. Rounds form “the largest of the circular patterns on which Adès bases the concerto, which 1 Fox, Christopher. “Tempestuous Times: the Recent Music of Thomas Adès.” The Musical Times, vol. 145, no. 1888 (Autumn 2004): 43 2 bears the subtitle Concentric Paths.”2 The work was jointly commissioned by the Berliner Festpiele and the Los Angeles Philharmonic and received the world premiere by violinist Anthony Marwood in Berlin in 2005. Much of the research that has been done regarding Ades’ violin concerto discusses his rhythmic irregularities or his cyclical harmonic material that embeds tonal nonfunctioning progressions. For that reason, I will stay away from focusing too much on the harmonic structure and focus on exploring his treatment of the soloist against the ensemble, and how he manipulates the texture of the material to develop his material from section to section. For the purpose of this paper, I will look at the first movement, titled “Rings,” and attempt to make a connection in the intricate writing he employs between soloist and orchestra. I would argue, he is very much compositionally self-aware of the traditional concerto norms, and the historical expectations a concerto is accompanied with, especially in the 21st century, yet, I am also aiming to discover what pattern or methods he is using to manipulate the texture, in ways that are very much original to Ades and a vast departure from the traditional sense of the word ‘concerto’. This paper will be structured in three general sections; form, texture, and relationships between soloist and ensemble. The first section will be a brief analysis and breakdown of the various sections among the movement, where specific transitions occur, and major developmental moments throughout the movement. The next section will be an overview of the sections previously established and how the texture and orchestration evolve from section to section. The final portion will be a close examination of the specific interactions between the soloist and the orchestra in relation to the sectional changes, texture changes, etc. and attempt to 2 Thomas May, ADÈS: Violin Concerto (Concentric Paths), Opus 23, program notes, performed by Los Angeles Philharmonic (February 2006), accessed on 10/01/11, http://www.laphil.com/philpedia/piecedetail.cfm?id=1801. 3 connect a pattern across the movement. In this final comparative portion, I will briefly be drawing upon norms found in Mendelsohn’s Violin Concerto, due to (1. its label as a staple in concerto repertoire, (2. It was composed during the common practice period following traditional roles and norms, as a point of comparison. My hope is this will elucidate the techniques Ades employs and will provide a clear picture of where he follows such norms, and where he deviates and how. The overall structure of the first movement can be described as an ABA form. When we zoom in upon each of the main sections, the piece can be further subdivided into smaller sections with different ‘themes.’ Beginning with the ‘A’ section, the very opening gesture of the piece begins with an oscillating dyad in the solo violin consisting of an artificial harmonic D-G. This material develops and is unraveled to become the material for the rest of the movement. We will label this opening first statement, subsection a or theme 1. Section ‘a’ lasts from measure 1- 20. At measure 21, or rehearsal mark 2, there is a clear cut from the material and shift in orchestration. This section will be the second theme in the exposition and, for our purposes be labeled ‘b’ or theme 2. Section b occurs from measures 21 - 37. Following section b, there is a 7- bar transition that leads us into the B section, or development. Transition 1 occurs from measure 38 – 44 and is noticeably very directional and goal oriented. The soloist switches from the high register to sixteen notes, yet this time the harmonic material is different, along with the brass and winds providing harmonic accompaniment that has a sense of tension needing to resolve. In addition, the thematic material changes briefly straying from theme 2, but doesn’t last long enough to warrant its own full section label. The second big section, or B, begins in measure 45 with the main material that encapsulates the developmental section. The violinist moves from the fluid sixteenth note figures 4 to long, and lyrical phrases while the orchestra takes on the arpeggiating figures. I will label this as theme 3, or section c due to the new material introduced in the soloist, as well as the harmonic inversions that occur in the orchestral accompaniment. Measures 45 – 61 make up section c and carry us to the next transitional moment at measure 62. Measure 62 – 75 serve as a “connector”3 or bridge to the final subsection of B. Again, as the previous transition, the momentum Ades creates warrants a real sense of direction. This is especially noticeable in the soloists increasing rhythmic speed and the building of the orchestration leading to measure 76. Measure 62 is characterized by the busy orchestration which juxtaposes the soloist’s high melodic line. The soloist’s line rhythmically speeds up through measure 76 with quarter note triplets that transform into eighth note triplets, and then finally sixteen notes. This last subsection is constructed with a combination of theme 1 from the introduction and theme 2 simultaneously occurring between the soloist and ensemble. This final subsection in B prepares the listener for the full return in measure 85 with a nod to the artificial harmonic oscillation at the beginning. This quote moves away briefly as the piccolos repeat theme 1 before arriving to the actual recapitulation of theme 1 in measure 85. The recapitulation begins in measure 85 with the soloist returning to a dyad oscillation F# - B, and then moving back to G-D. The orchestration and material briefly suggest an identical return to the beginning, yet Ades does not present the listener with an exact repetition, rather the arpeggiations are inverted and the orchestration quickly moves toward a different goal. Within larger section A, this brief hint at the beginning will be labeled ‘a`’, Rather than moving to theme 2 as the beginning does, the material moves to a smaller subsection that prepares the piece for its 3 Belkin, Alan. “Musical Composition Craft and Art.” Yale University Press, 2018, pp. 115-130. 5 close. This smaller subsection can be thought of as another transitional moment riddled with heavy orchestration and a build in intensity from measure 109 – 114. Finally, we reach the Coda in measure 115. The Coda is marked by its sharp attacks and the first percussive accents we hear in the piece as well as the sweeping solo part that covers the full register of the instrument. Figure 1. Formal Structure of “I. Rings” A B A` Theme 1- Theme 2- Trans. 1 Theme 3 – Trans. – Theme 1`/Theme2` Theme 1`- Trans. 3 - Coda a – b - trans. 1 - c – trans. 2 – a`/c` - a`` - trans. 3 - Coda mm: 1 – 20, 21 – 37, 38 - 44 45 – 61, 62 – 75, 76 – 84 85 – 108, 109 – 114, 115 - 121 One of the main features of this movement is the consistency in which Ades employs the arpeggiating figures between the soloist and ensemble. In section ‘a,’ we see the soloist is accompanied with sustained notes in the winds and harmonics in the strings. For the opening 12- bars, the soloist arpeggiates the main motive while the orchestra is sustaining certain harmonic notes in fragmented entrances. This creates an effect that the soloist is ‘triggering,’ or causing these sustains to occur. This develops into the dove-tailing found in the strings in measure 13, and then in the winds four bars following. While the soloist is continually revolving and moving through his running figures, the winds and strings slowly get busier and busier, dove-tailing similar gestures, but never exactly align with the soloist. Theme 2 marks a slight contrast, as now 6 the soloist moves to his melodic theme, and the orchestra is now fully running through the rings, with the sixteenth note figures oscillating and weaving between the winds and strings against the soloist. There are several small moments in this subsection I would like to briefly point out.