Is there a classical music equivalent to the genre of “Film Noir” in movies? Perhaps a style called “Musique Noir”? If so, I think Daniel Ades violin concerto, “Concentric Paths,” would fit the bill.
For me, the start of the piece immediately called to mind a line from the old TV show “Naked City,” "There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them.” In Ades’ piece, the violin is the protagonist telling its story against the paths (i.e. the various lines of music) of the rest of the orchestra’s instruments, and the story is filled with stark sounds and heavy use of melancholy, bleakness, and disillusionment. Of course, the names for the concerto’s three movements – “Rings,” Paths” and “Rounds” – suggest that Ades’ intention was not to tell a “Musique Noir” type of story with the violin as the story’s protagonist – that’s just my interpretation of where the music took me. I did enjoy the work, but rated I it “blue” because I thought the second movement was a bit long and redundant. Also, I expected a more climactic ending – something more taut and dramatic to conclude the “story” told by the violin – but that never came. Still, I did enjoy the work -- I just wish it had capitalized more on it's "Noir-ish" characteristics to tell a complete story.
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A New Hope:As the header above says, each week I will listen to a piece of classical music that I've never heard before, and then I will report out what I thought about it. Archives
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