John Harbison: Concertos for String Instruments
BMOP/sound

Among the nearly 300 works John Harbison (b. 1938) has composed are three operas, six symphonies, twelve concerti, a ballet, six string quartets, song cycles, chamber works, and sacred music. It shouldn't therefore come as major surprise that included in that voluminous output are three works that, in his own words, are “outlier concertos, sort of a concerto underground.” The classical repertoire boasts an abundance of violin and piano concerti, whereas the number written for viola and bass viol is comparatively small, in part, Harbison believes, because they're “not often thought of as soloists within the orchestral literature.” This recent edition to BMOP (Boston Modern Orchestra Project) and musical director Gil Rose's exemplary catalogue shows viola and bass viol are just as viable as lead instruments as their familiarly used counterparts.

The superior quality of the concertos, written between 1988 and 2009, is in keeping with the material Harbison has produced throughout his illustrious career. His output has been recognized many times, with the Pulitzer Prize he received for the cantata Flight into Egypt but one of many such acknowledgements. Concertos for String Instruments follows three earlier Harbison recordings on BMOP/sound, the composer rightly observing that Rose “brings to the concertos on this album his trademark clarity and alertness as a conductor.” BMOP and the soloists— Marcus Thompson (viola), Edwin Barker (bass), and the Bruskin sisters (and Claremont Trio members), violinist Emily and cellist Julia—respond it turn by delivering performances that other orchestras will be hard pressed to equal.

Being a violist himself, Harbison's well-equipped to write to the instrument's strengths, a clear indication being that he fashioned the concerto for timbres he deemed most typical of the viola, specifically its tenor and alto voices. In classic concerto manner, the four-movement work encompasses a broad range of moods and dynamics, from the melismatic mysteries of the opening and nimble-footed playfulness of the short “Allegro brillante” to the lyricism of the “Andante” and the high-spiritedness of the finale. Harbison's no serialist, of course, but chromatic moments emerge in the serpentine first movement that call to mind Berg's violin concerto. Regardless, the composer's writing serves both soloist and orchestra magnificently, the former given material that amplifies Thompson's expressivity and the textures accorded the latter showing BMOP's best side.

If concertos for viol and bass viol are uncommon, ones for two instrumental soloists are even rarer. When writing his Double Concerto for Violin, Violoncello, and Orchestra, Harbison had Mahler's Seventh Symphony in mind for the simple reason that it was intended for a program that included his predecessor's work. In truth, connections between the two don't leap out, though Harbison's title for the central adagio, “Notturno,” recalls Mahler's use of two “Nachtmusik” movements. Both composers also include unusual instrumentation in the works, the former celesta, harp, and mallet instruments, the latter mandolin, guitar, and glockenspiel. Signposting the opening movement's tender, tremulous tone, Harbison opens his with the soloists each playing alone and unaccompanied, violin first, then cello; tension grows once the orchestra appears, the aura of uncertainty and suspense from the strings and horns more evoking Bernard Herrmann than Mahler. A similar quality informs the oft-plaintive “Notturno” when the restrained, atmospheric backdrop allows ample space for the soloists to demonstrate their considerable artistry in voicing unison and alternating lines. In stark contrast to the opening movements, the third's a hoe-down that transforms the Bruskins into fiddlers for six robust minutes.

Harbison has a soft spot for the bass viol, given that it shares with the viola the tendency to be overshadowed by the orchestra and is rarely granted the role of soloist. His 2005 Concerto for Bass Viol and Orchestra helps atone for that with a splendid showcase for the Boston Symphony Orchestra's principal bass player, Edwin Barker, in this premiere recording of the three-movement work. Elements of jazz and Bach find their way into the piece, the former audible in the jovial parts of the nostalgia-infused opening “Lamento” and Bach heard in the soloist's movements in the “Cavatina,” but the concerto is perhaps more notable for its expansive design. Each movement ranges widely in mood and style, the bass viol the glue holding the various parts together. Similar to the middle concerto, this closing one caps its opening parts with a high-spirited closer, with “Rondo” a frothy exercise in syncopated swing.

January 2021