The 2017-2018 classical music season has finally begun, and BIFO, the Istanbul Borusan Philharmonic Orchestra, was on stage at the Zorlu Center on October 19th with its season premiere. The program was a special one, featuring not only a world premiere, that of the very unique avant-garde piece Shadow Walker composed by contemporary artist Mark-Anthony Turnage, but also hosting world-renowned virtuosi Repin and Hope as the soloists.
For any classical music novice who may not already be familiar with the names Hope and Repin: Both are names highly-acclaimed in the global classical music scene. Hope, who happens to be a regular in programs of BIFO, is a veteran artist with almost three decades of music in the making and an ex-Lipinski 1742 Gearneri del Gesu violin to accompany him on stages across the world. His career holds countless highlights and impressive feats.
Recently, these have also come to include his appointment as Musical Director of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and his receival of the European Culture Music Awards – placing his name among the likes of Daniel Barenboim, Placido Domingo and the Berlin Philharmonic. He holds Grammy nominations and numerous Echo Awards. And just last year, he was awarded with the prestigious Echo Classical Award for his latest album recording “For Seasons,” paying homage to Vivaldi. The New York Times and the Gramophone have only had praise for him.
Equally-heralded is Vadim Repin. I remember my first time seeing him performing in 2006, at the Cemal Resit Rey Concert Hall. His career had begun long before that though. He had already drawn attention as early as age eleven, when he was awarded 1st Place across all-age categories of the very prestigous Wienawski Competition of the violin in 1981. At age fifteen, he had already appeared as soloist at the Carnegie Hall, and at seventeen years of age, he become the youngest artist ever to have won the highly-regarded Queen Elisabeth Competition.
His album collaborations include the greatest names in the classical music world, from maestros Gergiev and Riccardo Cahilly to virtuosi like Martha Argerich and Maisky. He too holds numerous awards, and has also been honored with the title ”Chevalier de la Legion D’Honneur”. He plays a 1733 Antonio Stradivari violin.
And so, BIFO’s season debut had been highly anticipated, and was a sell-out. Repin and Hope were the soloists of Turnage’s Shadow Walker, a concerto for two violins and orchestra commissioned by the Borusan Philharmonic, the Essen Philharmonic, and the Trans-Siberian Art Festival. It is an intriguing piece composed of four movements, four anonymous movements taking place in the program as empty spaces next to their movement numerals.
Particularly in the second and third movements, this unique and avant-garde composition features plenty of tense, high notes echoing and mirroring each other with strong vibratoes. Both the first and second violin parts are equally present, and indeed seem to “shadow” each other.
Unlike the traditional sounds we are accustomed to hear from Repin and Hope, in places, the piece oozes out a Kronos Quartet’esque mystery and tension, while also reminiscing the auro of Raskatov and Penderecki. In line with its title, the piece resembled a tension lurking behind the shadows. In the first two movements, Repin and Hope exchanged tense and high notes of intense vibratoes. A looming percussion in the background added an oriental and mystical aura and hung on the air, and the drones and murmurs of the movements diminuendoes into silenced. The third movement came with even more staccatos and more tension of the solo violins. And this satirical energy was followed through by the strings. The big horn droned out soft, witty, satirical and ominous bellows. In the final movement, Repins’ lamentful moans and tensions were met with Hope’s melancholic vibratos, to be at times taken on by Repin himself. The sorrowful, dark moans of Repin were juxtaposed against the beautified, delicate narration by Hope. As the percussion faded in the backround, the two solo violins diminuendoes into a silence of immortality and ever presence.
While the Shadow Walker lurked and lingered in our souls, Repin and Hope came on stage for an encore of Sari Gelin, arranged for two violins (and some virtuosity, I would say). Berlioz’ Fantastic Symphony, Op. 14, provided some spiritual relief, at least partially.
Alhough the first movement addressed “obsessive romanticism” and came with a fair share of largo notes and “agitated allegros,” the moderately paced waltz depicting a courtroom ball in the second movement, and the adagio tranquility – despite the echoing thunders of percussion – of the third, remedied our souls.
The evening was not over, however. The symphony’s fourth and fifth movements depicted a nightmarish sequence of events, starting off with the antagonist murdering the object of his infatuation, facing the guillotine, and finding his way into hell. There, he was to find the object of his unrequited obsessive love transformed into a witch, circling around him in a satirical dance… A tense build-up of pizzicatos culminating in tremolos seemed to depict the essence of the entire narration and the piece ended in thunders, ominous fugues, and orchestral mania. What a way to start off the season…! Here is to more in the coming weeks and months!
Photos courtesy of Borusan Sanat.
