Tomas Svoboda
Tomas Svoboda’s new opus is opus 197, to be exact: Vortex for Orchestra. It’s quite a piece, very elegantly crafted, full of energy and vibrant textures, and it’s really something of a concerto for orchestra. Tomas Svoboda is clearly at the height of his powers these days (was he ever anything but thus?) and Vortex is something of a magnum opus for him, I think. Having had the experience of recording his Overture for a Season, Symphony No.1 and the Marimba Concerto with James DePriest, as well as performing his String Quartet No.2, it’s clear that his musical style is continuing to evolve and grow in both intensity and depth.
The basic form of the piece seems to be based more on tempo relationships than on thematic materials, though there is a good deal of development of the themes that Svoboda presents. After an opening Allegro in 6/8 time, which feels somewhere between a barcarolle and a tarantella to me, features slithering eighth notes, most strikingly in the horns, which then percolate through the strings, fading out to reveal a striking Lento recitativo for solo cello. This section then leads to a scherzo-like Allegro that features five-note mottos that pitter patter through the strings, and then in a stunningly effective passage for the two flutes. It’s about this time that one realizes that the threads of the initial 6/8 motives are being interwoven with the scherzo elements, and gradually the slithering grows more and more aggressive in the lower strings, then fading and gaining speed at the same time, leading into a high marimba note which opens the ensuing Andante. Here Svoboda starts to use the basic element of a carefully controlled accelerando, moving from a quarter-note pulse, to half-notes, to whole-notes, which then become quarter-notes once again. It’s a very effective (but difficult to achieve) method of building momentum in a very precisely controlled way, and it demands as much virtuosity and control from the conductor as from the orchestra. The final coda is a series of 14 of these evolutions (vortices, if one permits) that lead to a devastating and powerful ending with the percussion and brass. What a great piece!
I sincerely hope that you come down to the Schnitz for this great concert, which is really going to be a highlight of the season. From the autumnal, burnished tones of Brahms’ Third Symphony, to the spectacular pianism of Freddy Kempf and Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto, to this world premiere from the dean of Northwest composers, Tomas Svoboda, it will be a brilliant evening.