Programme Notes

The Chalice of Becoming is the title of a painting by Odilon Redon. I have always been fascinated by the art of the French Symbolists, and in particular Redon's work, which I find evocative and powerfully suggestive. In this particular image, a young child looks down into a large cup, while the face of the man he will become looks back up at him. I was reminded of the idea that if we look into a child's face, we can see something of the adult to come; and if we look into an adult's face, we can see something of the child that once was -- as though child and adult are merely two points on a continuum of time.

Musically, this suggested a kind of simultaneous reversing linear time for the two "players" in this concerto (violin and orchestra) in which the soloist ends where the orchestra began, while the orchestra ends where the soloist began. Each explores generally the same musical material, but the soloist proceeds "forward" through time from childhood to old age, while the orchestra (in essence) starts at the "end" and proceeds "backwards" through time, from old age to childhood.

The work is in two movements. A short pizzicato from the solo violin initiates the first section, for orchestra alone, followed by a long cadenza for the soloist. After this, there is an energetic and dramatic dialogue between the two. Near the end of the first movement, at the midpoint of the whole work, the soloist's second cadenza marks the point where the two opposite musical streams meet, and the movement ends on a contemplative note. This feeling is carried through into the second movement, which opens with a more intimate dialogue between violin and percussion, interrupted by short orchestral passages. Soon, though, the music turns energetic and propulsive, a whirling dance which leads to an extended episode for drums and violin with overtones of jazz improvisation. In the final section of the piece, the music comes full circle as the solo violin intones the music of the orchestral introduction, heard almost a lifetime ago.