Steven Mackey: new violin concerto for Leila Josefowicz
(September 2008)
Steven Mackey’s new violin concerto, Beautiful Passing, is premiered in Manchester by Leila Josefowicz on 24 October.Leila Josefowicz is violin soloist in the premiere on 24 October of Beautiful Passing by American composer Steven Mackey. The new concerto, unveiled at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester by the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Juraj Valcuha, is a co-commission between the BBC and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and the US premiere follows on 14 November with Josefowicz and conductor David Robertson.
Beautiful Passing is cast in two movements separated by a violin cadenza. Steven Mackey’s programme note describes how “the governing metaphor of the concerto has to do with the violin gaining control of its own destiny, competing with, commanding and ultimately letting go of the orchestra. This metaphor arises from my experience, during the composition of the piece, watching my mother gain control of her destiny to the point of predicting the day she would let go, predicting the day of her death. Her last words to me were: “Please tell everyone I had a beautiful passing”.
Mackey writes of his collaboration with his soloist on the new concerto: “When I first heard Leila Josefowicz play I was impressed by her robust virtuosity, her ability to groove hard, and the way she owned every phrase as if she had made it up herself in that moment. Before starting I assumed that I would be composing a bright, colourful and rousing showpiece. However, by the time I started work, I was preoccupied with more nuanced themes and the complex contrasts between singing long lines, brutal objects and flickering textures. The most difficult music that Leila plays is the music that conveys lightness and evanescence rather than the more familiar bravura displays. Leila, as it turns out, is not only a great fiddle player, she is a consummate artist with great interpretive insight and imagination. I am grateful to her for encouraging me to resist gratuitous virtuosity and a flashy ending in favour of a more earnest statement.”
Steven Mackey was born in 1956 to American parents stationed in Frankfurt Germany. His first musical passion was playing the electric guitar in rock bands based in northern California. He later discovered concert music and has composed for orchestras, chamber ensembles, dance and opera. He regularly performs as a solo guitarist in his own works, as well as giving solo and chamber recitals and working as an improvising musician.
Mackey’s worklist includes a number of earlier concertos: Deal (1996) and Tuck and Roll (2000) for electric guitar and orchestra, Banana/Dump Truck (1995) written for cellist Fred Sherry, and Time Release (2005) performed by percussionist Colin Currie in the Netherlands, UK, Sweden, France, USA and Canada. In June this year Manchester played host to a three-day celebration of Mackey’s music, a collaboration between the Psappha ensemble, BBC Philharmonic and the Royal Northern College of Music which included the UK premiere of Banana/Dump Truck.
> Further information on Work: Beautiful Passing
Photo: © Alice Arnold
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