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By ANDREW POWELL MUNICH \u2014 George Benjamin<\/a> programmed strongly around his own Duet<\/i> in a welcome conducting engagement Oct. 21 with the Bavarian State Orchestra<\/a>. Alas, doing so overshadowed the\u00a0subtle 2008 composition in its local premiere, even with dedicatee Pierre-Laurent Aimard<\/a> as persuasive soloist.<\/p>\n One of only three works published by Benjamin since 2007<\/a>, Duet<\/i> in the composer\u2019s words is \u201can encounter between two equal partners,\u201d piano and orchestra. Call it not a concerto. Now gently, now forcefully, the 14-minute piece pits harmonic qualities of the solo instrument against \u201clegato capacities\u201d of the strings and winds. In a kind of dare, the composer has fashioned music for \u201ccompatible areas,\u201d dividing \u201cthe piano into \u2026 registers with timbral equivalents in the orchestra.\u201d The harp is prominent. There are no violins. Written with scrupulous attention to dynamics, Duet<\/i> emerges as an eloquent, mostly restrained, balancing act in myriad sonorities gleaned from austere material. It received a careful performance.<\/p>\n The National Theater<\/a> Akademiekonzert<\/i> opened with Ravel\u2019s Rapsodie espagnole<\/i>, written exactly a hundred years earlier. This, it turned out, supplied a related palette of tints and surface effects, and the conductor\u2019s bare, crystalline, somewhat dawdling traversal \u2014 almost a dissection \u2014 made it seem like his property. Fascinating! Next came a clangorous, iridescent reading of Messiaen\u2019s Oiseaux exotiques<\/i> (1956), again with Aimard, supported by tight, bright woodwinds and driven by gleeful interaction between Benjamin and the fluent, unflappable pianist from Lyon.<\/p>\n Duet<\/i> followed after the break, and then came Jan\u00e1\u010dek\u2019s festive Sinfonietta<\/i> (1926). Here the orchestra\u2019s brass section took the chance to sing its own praises, and Benjamin dutifully pointed the various Moravian dance rhythms. The conductor\u2019s meticulous manner seemed to rub off in excellent playing on this night. Aimard himself was on confident, animated form.<\/p>\n Photo \u00a9 Matthew Lloyd<\/p>\n Related posts:
\nPublished: November 2, 2013<\/span><\/p>\n
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