Berlin is not the only city commemorating the fall of the wall between East and West! In Nice, during the preparatory atmosphere for the Year of Russia in France, the National Center for Musical Creation and the Nice Philharmonic Orchestra offered an audience noticeably less local and younger than usual, a “Grand Voyage” Russo-American evening. Nothing political, but under the baton of American conductor David Milnes, works by two modern Russian composers were featured: Symphony No. 4 “Notre Dame” by Youri Kasparov and “The Breath of the Exhausted Time” by his compatriot Vladimir Tarnopolski. The program also included “De la disposition” by French composer Philippe Leroux and “Atmosphères” by Romanian-Hungarian, naturalized Austrian, György Ligeti.
Four pieces cleverly separated based on their originality. In the first part, Symphony No. 4 “Notre Dame” by Youri Kasparov, winner of the Grand Prix of the 1996 Henri Dutilleux International Competition and named “Honorary Artist of Russia” by presidential decree in 2007, proposes, like the construction of a cathedral “from earth to sky,” an evolution through instrumental blocks. After initiating dark chords, the Brass gives way to the Winds, then to the Strings in the gyratory direction of the Orchestra. The score guides the musicians in a very slow and very progressive ascent, almost imperceptible to the ear, of a melody of almost classical facture despite the use of the dodecaphonic system. This melody gives the feeling of not managing to break free from obscure telluric forces. The flute tries a few higher notes, but the Double Basses seem to call it back to order. This very rational logic of orchestration by instrumental ensemble—the composer is doubly graduated from both the Energy Institute and the Moscow Conservatory—suggests music of an imposing dimension, always unsettling, that only the final notes played by a soft percussion—bells—seem to definitively liberate.
The second piece insists, on the other hand, on the atomization and absolute singularity of the instruments. Dedicated to the American maestro, “De la disposition” is the work of Philippe Leroux, a student of Olivier Messiaen after passing through the National Conservatory of Music of Paris. Author of around fifty contemporary music works, “De la disposition” makes the listener’s hearing chase fleeing, free, almost random and improvised sounds that, like will-o’-the-wisps, seem to emerge here or there within the Philharmonic. The execution of the three movements gives rise to new “dispositions” of “juxtaposed” and “exploratory” sounds. Between a few glissandos played by the Strings and the sudden crash of the Brass, there is a moment to breathe as the musical pressure seems to decrease in intensity. But the instruments start again even more dynamically and solitarily, in unexpected trajectories of rhythm and tone.
The second part offers—what a rich evening!—a striking contrast: G. Ligeti and V. Tarnopolski place their work within a register of entirely pastel musical colors. Chosen for the opening of “2001: A Space Odyssey,” György Ligeti’s piece “Atmosphères” constitutes the birth of so-called “static” music. A music, the author explains, that gives the “feeling of a continuous stream that has neither beginning nor end.” Endless notes held by the Strings, with Double Basses leading, are played, “filtered,” to the point of not hearing the few measures performed by the solo Violin. Or barely distinguishing the sound explorations of the two pianists, the extraordinary Antony Ballantyne and Sébastien Driant, who tiptoe away from their keyboards to gently brush the strings of their instrument with brushes or wool cloths. Everything is situated within the delicate space of human perception, marveling at the ultimate sonic creation.
Finally, percussion takes the spotlight with “The Breath of the Exhausted Time” by Vladimir Tarnopolski from the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. Regarded by the author as the “first sign of life,” the “slow breath” of birth gradually diffuses among the audience before establishing an initially hushed dialogue, then a more breathless exchange, between the orchestra—notes held by the Double Basses—and the six percussionists: like distinguished chefs behind their stoves, attentive to the slightest signal from the Maestro, Claude Vié, Christophe Perez, Patrice Gauchon, Benjamin Turrillo, Nicolas Castagnola, and Philippe Biclot suddenly spring into action, agile acrobats focused on their instrumental Chinese dishes, around their two marimbas, three vibraphones, three glockenspiels, tubular bells, and just as many bell plates, symphonic bass drum, timpani, maracas, tambourine, tuned gongs, crotales, suspended cymbals, Chinese or riveted cymbal, triangles, glass chimes, and tam-tams! A “breath of exhausted time” for the last measures, as the composer gladly acknowledges.
A specialist and devotee of new music, winner of the prestigious “Exxon Conductor” prize in 1984, conductor David Milnes currently leads the UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra and the Berkeley Contemporary Chamber Players. His smile throughout the evening indicated his enjoyment. An enjoyment he skillfully transmitted musically to a visibly at-its-best Nice Philharmonic, “delighted” according to some musicians, by this venture into modernity. When asked about the reasons behind this musical choice, David Milnes admits he sought to step away from classical repertoires where the interpretative margin seemed limited to him. With this music, he confesses, “I conduct by creating and experimenting.” An entirely shared, joyful experience for the audience of this concert.
