Ojai, California – Violinist Leila Josefowicz and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen recently delivered an "explosive performance" of György Ligeti’s challenging Violin Concerto at the Ojai Music Festival, according to a review in The New Yorker. The acclaimed duo, leading the Colburn School Orchestra, presented a rendition marked by "sublime fury" that captivated audiences and drew an uncharacteristic display of "happy disbelief" from Salonen himself. This significant event took place as part of the festival's programming, which featured Salonen as music director.
Josefowicz, known for her dedication to contemporary music, tackled the solo part of Ligeti's towering and terrifying concerto for the first time in her career. Her performance was lauded for bringing Ligeti’s "savage discontinuities to the surface," employing a "thick, bristling tone" and navigating complex notation with "meticulous abandon." A particularly notable moment was her self-composed cadenza in the fifth movement, described as a "tour de force of disciplined chaos," responding directly to the composer's invitation for the soloist to create their own.
Ligeti's Violin Concerto, composed between 1989 and 1993, is celebrated for its extreme complexity and is seldom programmed due to its demanding nature. The work integrates diverse elements, including folk ditties, fractal textures, and influences from Central African and Indonesian music, juxtaposing standard tuning with archaic practices. Conductor Salonen, who esteemed Ligeti from an early age and worked closely with the composer, guided the Colburn Orchestra with "flexible authority," adeptly managing the piece's shifts between order and wildness.
The Ojai Music Festival, celebrating its 80th year, has a long-standing reputation for championing twentieth- and twenty-first-century composers. Salonen, returning as music director, curated a program that reflected both his deep connection to Ligeti's legacy and the festival's avant-garde spirit. The performance of the Violin Concerto underscored Salonen's belief in the work's "aliveness and freshness," comparing its vitality to that of Berlioz's "Symphonie Fantastique."
