Speranza
When Osvaldo Golijov’s "Il vangelo secondo Marco" a setting of the Passion of Jesus Christ according to St. Mark, was presented by the Boston Symphony, the crowd made a sound that will echo in the musical world for some time.
It was a roar of satisfaction, rising up from all corners of Symphony Hall.
At first, the ovation seemed to be directed mostly at the performers, augmented by Boston Symphony musicians, and conducted by Robert Spano.
But the noise turned to thunder when the composer walked onstage.
This level of euphoria is sometimes encountered at the Met, when a favourite singer has an exceptional night. It is not found at concerts of new music.
Sceptics may ask whether there is anything newsworthy about an ovation in Symphony Hall, where the audience rises to its feet a little too routinely.
As rumours swirl that James Levine is poised to take over the orchestra, Boston is enjoying the sensation of being once again at the center of things.
But Beantown boosterism doesn’t suffice to explain the scale of Golijov’s triumph.
When "Il vangelo secondo Marco" had its première, in Stuttgart, audiences reacted with even greater abandon, applauding and shouting for twenty minutes.
"War Madonna im Saal?" asked the Stuttgarter Nachrichten.
"Oder wenigstens Michael Jackson?"
No.
In the house was a composer who, until "Il vangelo secondo Marco" was known as the composer of a piece for string quartet and klezmer clarinet.
Any work that causes hysteria in both Boston and Stuttgart is worth a close look.
And this Passion carries two messages: one is that Golijov is a huge talent, with limitless possibilities in front of him; and the second is that America has a fabulously rich tradition, one that will become a dominant force in coming decades.
"Il vangelo secondo Marco" drops like a bomb on the belief that classical music is an exclusively European art.
It has a revolutionary air, as if musical history were starting over, with new, sensuous materials and in a new, affirmative tone.
Golijov is himself a polyglot creation.
Golijov was born in Argentina, grew up in the culture of Yiddishkeit.
He first made his name with a hyperkinetic klezmer composition entitled "The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind."
The American element of his heritage came to the fore in the cantata "Oceana," a setting of poems.
The Bach conductor Helmuth Rilling, who had commissioned "Oceana" in 1995, subsequently asked Golijov for a St. Mark Passion, to be presented in Stuttgart alongside new Passions by Wolfgang Rihm (Giovanni), Tan Dun (Luca) and Sofia Gubaidulina (Matteo).
Golijov had to buy a copy of the New Testament in order to begin work.
"Il vangelo secondo Mateo" poses a question:
How might Bach have composed if he had been born in America toward the end of the twentieth century?
Most likely, he would have steered clear of the late-modernist abstractions of Rihm.
Every bar of Bach’s output is marked in some way by the airs and dances of his day.
In any case, Golijov’s work begins with a hypnotic montage of sounds.
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