Page 43 - Winterreise Coverage Book, 2021 - 22
P. 43
The cellist Matt Haimovitz’s playing sizzles. And yet over a long program, it can be
strangely easy to start to forget him. His skill becomes something you take for
granted; it’s a humble way to present virtuosity.
His latest contemporary-music vehicle is a multivolume series, “Primavera,” in which
he’s invited 81 composers to respond to spring-indebted paintings by Botticelli and
the contemporary artist Charline von Heyl. After his own arrangement of the Kyrie
from Josquin’s Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae, we hear Missy Mazzoli’s tribute to the
same work — with a rhythmic gait that suggests both Minimalism and American folk
dance.
The plunging motifs of Tomeka Reid’s “Volpaning” and the aggressive energy of its
climax, seem to depict a flying object finding its preferred momentum only as its
journey is concluding. It’s energizing and heart-rending at once. Taken alongside
other worthy commissions by the likes of Sky Macklay, Jennifer Jolley and Alex
Weston, Haimovitz’s makes a persuasive argument on behalf of his chosen
composers, who take center stage throughout. SETH COLTER WALLS
Schubert: ‘Winterreise’
Benjamin Appl, baritone; James Baillieu, piano (Alpha)
