Andrew Clements 

Jörg Widmann: Violin Concerto; Antiphon; Insel der Sirenen – review

Christian Tetzlaff's astonishingly vivid account of the violin concert Jörg Widmann composed for him is every bit as good as the piece itself, says Andrew Clements
  
  


It's rare that a new work's performance overshadows the piece itself, but Christian Tetzlaff's account of the violin concerto Jörg Widmann composed for him in 2007 is so astonishingly vivid and secure that Widmann's impressive work at least has to share the spotlight with its dedicatee. With its huge expressive range and chiselled melodic lines, the solo writing hardly pauses for breath for the whole 28 minutes. Tetzlaff makes every second matter; one is carried along on the bleak journey Widmann invents. Berg's concerto is the obvious influence, with textures that seem almost direct quotes, but it's still intensely involving. The concerto is followed by Antiphon, the orchestral piece Widmann composed immediately after it, and which is as discursive and disrupted as its predecessor is sustained and concentrated. Insel der Sirenen is a sample of earlier (1997) Widmann, and strikingly different again, far more Lachenmann-like in its deconstruction of the sounds, though just as wrought.

 

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