Todd Mason: Violin Concerto | Chamber Suite
Ulysses Arts

Astutely pitched as “a violin concerto for the 21st century,” Todd Mason's Violin Concerto (2022) is brought to thrilling realization by soloist Tosca Opdam and the Budapest Scoring Orchestra under Péter Illényi's direction. Complementing the work is the Los Angeles native's Chamber Suite (2020), the result an immensely satisfying release on a number of counts. First, the concerto unfolds without pause for twenty-three minutes and thus becomes for both listeners and performers an exciting and intense experience. Opdam delivers a scintillating reading that will be hard for other violinists to top, and the orchestra performs the score deeply attuned to its nuances, arc, and dynamics. Not only does the Chamber Suite, awarded the top prize in the American String Teachers Association 75th Anniversary Composition Contest in 2022, partner splendidly with the concerto, the two total thirty-eight minutes, concision in this case amplifying magnificently the strengths of each work without taxing the listener's stamina with an overlong release.

Born in 1957, the multiple award-winning Mason earned his Master's degree in composition from The Juilliard School, where his teachers included Elliott Carter and David Diamond. His pieces have been played by numerous chamber and orchestral ensembles, and, if the number of compositions he's recently created and had premiered is a sound indicator, his career is flourishing. Opdam's, too, is thriving. Awarded first prize in the 2011 Oskar Back Violin Competition, the Dutch violinist subsequently performed at the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2018, and, like Mason, acquired her Master's from Juilliard. She coaxes a rich and luminous sound from a Matteo Gofriller violin from 1700, which has been generously loaned to her by a private collector.

One writer placed the violin concerto in the lineage of concertos by Berg and Bartók, yet while the idea is tenable, Mason's is a more immediately accessible affair than theirs. That quality stands it in good stead of being performed widely, as it so deserves. In writing the piece, his goal was to craft a musical adventure that both celebrates virtuosity and engages for its narrative form. In moving from dynamic, technically challenging episodes to ones demanding tender expression, the concerto affords Opdam a remarkable vehicle for demonstrating the full measure of her abilities. A gong, horn glissando, and surging strings introduce the piece, setting the stage for the violinist's entrance. Opdam does so with authority, navigating a path through dense orchestral thickets and waxing rhapsodically as the agitation subsides. In these opening minutes, that aforementioned writer's claim is well-supported by the polytonal character of the music and its brooding, even cryptic aura. That quality of adventure cited by Mason also grows more conspicuous as the soloist becomes ever more expressive and inward-looking. The fluidity of the dialogue enacted between soloist and orchestra is certainly one of the work's strengths; though the former is accorded two cadenzas, Mason opts for balance and constant interaction between the forces, a choice that enhances the work's impact. Even during the cadenzas, subtle shadings of orchestra instruments emerge to maintain the connection until the to-and-fro resumes as intricately as before. Plaintive moments appear that are particularly affecting, but Opdam's playing mesmerizes throughout, whether it involves executing passages of daunting difficulty or giving voice to heartfelt lyricism. That it all takes place without interruption makes it even more compelling.

Mason's Chamber Suite, a reworking of his second string quartet, is formally structured as a three-movement work. The lustrous sound of thirty-two string players is showcased by the material, which frames an adagio-styled central section with spirited movements. Moving seamlessly from tonality to polytonality and packed with chromatic and rhythmic flourishes, the suite is a tad less dynamic than the violin concerto but very much deserving of attention nonetheless. The first movement (“Allegro deciso”) catches the attention instantly with rapid-fire flurries, folk inflections, and polytonal gestures, the combination of which might remind you of Bartók's Divertimento for String Orchestra at one moment or another. The central movement (“Espressivo”) proves absorbing, not for its fast pace, obviously, but for the emotional expressiveness of the writing and the silken, sonorous sound produced by the string players. With its apt “Spirito” marking, the lively third movement accentuates dance-like rhythms, a Bartók influence again audible, to bring the work to a breathless close.

October 2023