Articles

Dorman's Lost Souls by Michael McCurdy / www.schirmer.com

On November 20, Michael Stern conducts Alon Goldstein and the Kansas City Symphony in the premiere of Avner Dorman's new piano concerto Lost Souls. Referring to the work as a "séance for piano and orchestra," Dorman calls on the ghosts of music's past to weave the three movement concerto.

For Dorman, this work is channeled straight from his relationship with the pianist, Alon Goldstein: "Alon seems like he is from a different era — the way he carries himself, his mannerisms — it seems like he was born and lived in the 19th century," Dorman recalls. He wanted to capture Goldstein's special quality in this new work and took what he could from their relationship and his knowledge of Goldstein's musicianship — Goldstein has performed Dorman's Piano Sonata No. 2 close to forty times. Dorman explains that Goldstein "can go quite crazy during the sonata, but in the end he is a very refined classical pianist, with all of the notes coming out very clear, as if he had predetermined all of the dynamics and articulations — he has very stylized playing. I wrote this concerto to give him those moments, on the one hand, but to also give him the simple melodies, to give him room to bring out his style."

Lost Souls begins quite dramatically: the pianist, in a departure from all other concerti, is not on stage, but is called from beyond by the orchestra's microtonal séance. As the 'soul-oist' emerges, a tense polytonal dialogue begins between the two worlds and Dorman begins to seamlessly echo various musical styles through his own evolved voice, recalling hints of Bach, Art Tatum, Messiaen, Lutoslawski, Ravel, Ligeti, Sweelinck and Gershwin.

Music history's graveyard is a harrowing resource for many composers; for Dorman, the weight of the past is not a burden, but can be embraced in the present through his own art. As with many works by Avner Dorman, Lost Souls brings together his cultural mélange and melds it into a dynamic work that is a combination of his disparate influences — in one moment in Lost Souls, Cuban Bata drums accompany a baroque toccata that in the end sounds as if it were Arabic in its origin.

Perhaps for Dorman, his own soul has found its place in this globalized culture where Art Tatum and Johann Sebastian Bach converse on the Ouija board of the 21st century, and where these souls of the past can be the inspiration for the future.

Concerto has its world premiere with a guest pianist and the Kansas City Symphony by Steve Paul / Kansas City Star

KC Symphony to play concerto's world premiere by Rick Hellman, Editor / The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle Page 1 / Page 2

Short Musical Analysis by the Composer

In three movements performed continuously (attacca).

I. Séance: Ghostly - Allegro - Adagio - Allegro - Presto

II. Twilight: Adagio - Scherzo "Mischieviosso" - Adagio

III. Exorcism - Presto

Timing – 25 minutes

1st movement – closely related to sonata form with a short introduction in the high strings and a concluding coda in the tonality of D. (i) The opening haunting motif (the Séance motif) consists of soft high string slides over an interval of a minor third. It is followed by the soloist’s wild entrance cadenza – a hard landing back from the after life. (ii) The main motif of the exposition is a major second mordent (A-G-A). The exposition explores this motif through various toccata-like sections morphing the simple motif into a variety of different themes. Dramatically, the soloist is struggling with memories of his old favorite repertoire, hence the allusions to great piano concertos of the past (Ravel, Bach, Prokofiev, Lutoslawski, and Ligeti in the first movement). As the exposition progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that the afterlife (the pianist) and our world (the orchestra) cannot fully synchronize and are bound to clash. The clash is followed by an Adagio (first soft, then passionate, and soft again) in which the soloist and orchestra are both expressive but are still disjointed rhythmically. (iii) The opening ‘Séance motif’ signals the beginning of the development which explores various polymetric, polytonal, and polyrhythmic combinations of the various motifs of the movement. (iv) In the recapitulation, the motifs of the entire movement collide more aggressively. The highest point of complexity resolves to four octaves of the note D in the piano and strings. (v) The coda is the catharsis of the first movement resolving its harmonic, rhythmic, and emotional conflict.

2nd movement – in modified Rondo Form: A, B, A’, B’, A’’, C, A&B. The ritornellos (A sections) in the orchestra are of an otherworldly nature alluding to the ‘Séance motif’. The solo (B) sections are very simple and reminiscent of some of the earliest keyboard music we know (like that of the Swedish composer Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck). The solo (B) sections represent the pianist’s ‘return engagement.’ After a short third ritornello (A’’) a mischievous scherzo (with hints of Messiaen) in the piano and some percussion leads back to the ‘Séance motif’, now appearing in the woodwinds and not as ghostly as before. The final ritornello combines the A and B sections in a solemn coda in C major. At the very end of the second movement ‘Séance motif’ appears for the last time summoning the last, and most evil, spirit in the concerto.

3rd movement – in A A B form – is an exorcism scene. The last soul conjured will not leave the stage. The orchestra performs an exorcism ritual (in changing meters but mostly in 13/16 meter) to vanquish it. The piano fights back (now mostly in 7/8 meter) and does not show signs of fatigue. The orchestra splits up and the different sections of the orchestra attempt to exorcise the spirit separately. As the sections join forces again, they finally manage to defeat the demon.

Reviews

Piano Concerto a sure bet

by Timothy McDonald, The Kansas City Star

World premieres are always a little risky: untested repertory with uncertain effect. Friday night’s concert by the Kansas City Symphony featured just such a toss of the dice, and everyone left a winner.

The orchestra commissioned Avner Dorman’s “Lost Souls, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra,” with pianist Alon Goldstein in mind. Before the performance Dorman described the narrative behind the music: a séance calling forth composers and pianists of the past; a recital that turns demonic and an ultimate exorcism.

Opening with eerie and dissonant high-string swoops, the work began without Goldstein at the keyboard. A silly and over-theatrical moment followed when the stage lights dimmed to black. The lights returned, and miracle of miracles — Goldstein was at the piano (as if the audience didn’t know what to expect!)

Despite the inane theatrics, the music was marvelous, featuring sprinkles of dissonance among ever present tonal riffs and passages. The rhythms were so intense that one percussionist overturned his bongos near the beginning of the work.

Evocations of the styles of Chopin, Bach, Gershwin, Ligeti and others could be heard throughout the work. Dorman employed a clever technique of beginning a melody in the piano and continuing it in the strings in an abnormally high register.

While the central portion of the composition flagged in energy and interest, the conclusion was a musical roller coaster ride.

Goldstein played convincingly, with a dual musical personality: vibrant lyricism at times followed by highly technical musical athleticism. The work ended with an extended piano trill, high strings, crashing percussion and (more theatrics!) lights out.

The orchestra proved a highly skilled partner for Goldstein, impressive in its precision and orchestral colors.

Washington Post Review

When asked what his music was about, Mozart is reported to have replied that his music wasn't "about" anything, that it contained nothing but musical ideas. Avner Dorman's new piece, Lost Souls, given its East Coast premiere by the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra at the George Mason Center for the Arts on Saturday, is about something -- other people's musical ideas, explored in a context of the paranormal.

This piano concerto about piano concertos was written for pianist Alon Goldstein, who premiered it in Kansas City in November (and who was Saturday evening's soloist). For all its kitschy accouterments, it is a delightful piece of music.

Its opening movement, "Séance," begins sans pianist but with eerily high shimmering strings. The lights go out, and when they come back on the pianist (the demon seer) is seated and proceeds to summon the spirits of concertos, not perhaps long dead, but at least long ago composed. It is the essence rather than the actual form of the music that is revealed -- a little Bach, some Messiaen, perhaps some Tchaikovsky and Franck (although Franck didn't write a piano concerto), and a lot more. The orchestra, apparently, isn't as sensitive to these spiritual vibes and struggles to stay with the program.

In the second movement the pianist performs a playful concerto movement and a dispirited orchestra quits trying to accompany. In the finale -- "Exorcism" -- however, the orchestra gathers itself for a lively and cheerful chase to rid itself of the concerto demon. The lights once again go out, the demon's soul expires in a high, pitiful and scrambling squeak, there is an explosion from the percussion and, lo and behold, when the lights come back on the pianist has disappeared.
Dorman thinks big -- lots of notes, crashing sonorities, jazzy rhythms -- and Goldstein has the chops to pull it off. But most of all, Dorman has a sense of humor that makes the whole undertaking work both musically and dramatically. 
Joan Reinthaler, The Washington Post, 15/03/2010

Kansas City Symphony: Avner Dorman Piano Concerto Premiere

by Don Clark / Puggingham Palace Blog

It is not often an orchestra in the US hinterlands gets to play on the world stage and introduce a major new work by a rising star composer and soloist. But that is exactly what is happening this weekend with the Kansas City Symphony. Music director Michael Stern leads the orchestra in the Bartok Hungarian Sketches, conducts the world premiere of Israeli composer Avner Dorman's Piano Concerto, Alon Goldstein as soloist, and concludes with a masterpiece of late romantic symphonic works, the Symphony # 2 of Sibelius.

Bartok's Hungarian Sketches, 5 short dances and portraits of rural life in Hungary were well served by the brisk and appropriately pungent winds. "Evening in the Village" and "Melody" were atmospheric and lyrical. The concluding "Swineherds Dance" brought the short suite to a festive conclusion.

To say that Avner Dorman's new Piano Concerto, is unique among its brethren is what some refer to as an understatement. For example, the twenty minute or so tour de force for piano and large orchestra begins with a seance and ends with an exorcism. In between we have "Twilight", a ghost-fantasy concert recalling the specters of past piano masters; everyone from Art Tatum to J.S. Bach.

Theatre? Yes. The concerto begins with the soloist conspicuously absent from his piano. Among microtonal ghost music from the high strings (think Penderecki's "Threnody") the orchestra evolves into a slowly undulating fog straight from the "Housatonic At Stockbridge" from Ives' "Three Places in New England. The house goes dark and with a commanding crash of keys and sudden light, the soloist is at the piano, summoned as it were to channel the ghosts of Chopin, Messiaen, Bach, Gershwin and a heavenly host of others.

In the aforementioned "Twilight", a softer, reflective slow movement, the orchestra sits back and lets the pianist rhapsodize on all the ghostly influences the seance has conjured. Shimmering, Janissary figures from the orchestra underpin the almost improvisatory piano. Bach skirts by, a bit of Messiaen bird song, music of the future, tonal chords, cadences and soon increasingly frequent impatient rumbles from the huge percussion battery. Ivesian in a way, as the familiar figures (never quotes, but reflections) weave their way through a dense orchestral fabric.

Ok, ENOUGH! The orchestral ghosts reappear and the battle is on. If this is an Ivesian piece, then the final "Exorcism" is the "Comedy" second movement of Ives' 4th, interpreted in the jazz/rock/world music of the 21st century. The ghost hangs on bravely, as does pianist Alon Goldstein, who literally battled the keyboard and the score until he gave up in a ghost-rattle, brittle as bone trill on the highest notes. His reward? To be dispatched in darkness by a percussion blast, where upon the lights reveal an empty bench.

When have you heard a new work greeted with a few pleasant chuckles and then rapturous applause?

This is a major new work, and frankly I can see being appreciated without the theatrics. The orchestral writing is brilliant, colorful but sometimes a bit overwhelming. Huge percussion battery, full complement of brass and winds, celesta, harp and orchestral piano are frequently called upon in full force. It is jazzy-sexy in spots, sweetly tonal in others, full of simple melodies and complex rhythms (I can just see the pages teeming with notes and polyrhythms) and a rhapsodic structure, that despite few recurring themes (outside of the "ghost music") holds together. The audience held on to every note as if they were on the ride of their life. Even the friend who accompanied me, who professed to not like the piece (a traditionalist basically) had to admit he was on the edge of his seat the whole time.

After the visceral and almost exhausting Dorman, the Sibelius was almost an anti-climax. This most passionate and stirring work received a fine performance from the orchestra, with the usual fine work from the winds and some excellent brass. Unfortunately, in the second Andante movement, the orchestra's concentration, intonation and movement flagged, but recovered for a stately and satisfying finale.

But the night belonged to the Dorman Concerto. Pianist Alon Goldstein, composer Avner Dorman and Music Director Stern quite happily took in the prolonged and sincere ovation. As well they should for the piece and the performance was a major achievement.

Nationalist themes carry the night

by Christopher Guerin / KCMETROPOLIS.org

So - imagine, if you will, that you are in the audience in 1719 as a 34-year-old Bach stands on-stage describing his latest work. You repeat this in 1804 with Beethoven, again in 1867 with Brahms, and finally on a November weekend in 2009 with Avner Dorman. Now, this is by no means intended to compare Mr. Dorman with the masters - time and future musicologists are the arbiters of such things. But these events should be appreciated for what they are:  opportunities to hear brand new music introduced by the composer himself. If you're lucky, it will even be a good piece of music, and by that measure Mr. Dorman and the KCS succeeded with brilliance.

Dorman described the piano concerto, subtitled "Lost Souls", as a "séance" to pianists and composers of the past, with the opening measures in the orchestra quite literally conjuring up the performer. At the outset, the piano stood empty as ethereal strings set a chilling mood before the lights dimmed gradually to full darkness. Mr. Dorman employed a clever device whereby another piano, hidden back among the orchestra, played a few notes just before the darkness, after which full illumination revealed a corporeal pianist (Alon Goldman) seated and ready to engage the audience. The presentation had all the earmarks of classic performance art but delivered in a way that was less tacky than one might presume from just hearing its description. Indeed, tackiness would have been a foregone conclusion had the piece fallen flat, but given that it had strong compositional foundations in a work that demonstrated great maturity from the 34-year-old Dorman, it actually worked quite well.

As promised, the piece well represented the first movement's initial struggle ("Séance") between the orchestra and pianist to get in synch with one another - the pianist having just returned from the dead, after all ("decomposition" jokes, anyone?). The second ("Twilight") and third ("Exorcism") movements proceeded to chronologically "time travel" through various musical styles, with thematic snippets recalling images that were stylistically familiar - Baroque, Classical, Romantic, 20th century, Jazz, even Rock - without too obviously quoting any particular composers. The result was more of a familiarity that captured various genres. Despite the power of suggestion in the performance notes ("...hints of Bach, Art Tatum, Messiaen, Lutoslawski, Ravel, Ligeti, Sweelinck and Gershwin"), my ears caught a lengthy section in the second movement that reminded me quite a bit of Keith Emerson's under-rated 1977 "Piano Concerto No. 1" (found on ELP's album, "Works, Vol. 1") and a shorter (perhaps 30 seconds or so) section that had elements of Pat Metheny. 

"Lost Souls" was commissioned by the Kansas City Symphony from Dorman who wrote the work for pianist, Alon Goldstein. Goldstein did a remarkable job of navigating his way through 300 years of pianistic stylings - delicately sensitive in the more tonal, melodic themes, and energetically tempestuous in sections that were more dissonant and chordal, where his ginormous Rachmaninoff hands worked to his advantage in several passages. The final product was a perfect melding of orchestra - with a phenomenal interpretation by Maestro Stern - composition and performance:  it was at once Stern's work, and Goldstein's work, and, ultimately, Dorman's work. This piece left no question in my mind that Avner Dorman is, by any measure, a world-class composer destined for much more greatness.