Malek Jandali Concertos
Rachel Barton Pine; Anthony McGill; ORF Vienna RSO; Marin Alsop
Cedille CDR 90000 220 (cedillerecords.org)
Syrian-American Malek Jandali (b.1972) effectively combines Arabic melodies, modes and rhythms with Western classical structures. His 36-minute Violin Concerto (2014) honours “all women who thrive with courage.” Jandali identifies four women beaten, arrested or disappeared by Syrian authorities, including his own mother who, with his father, was brutally assaulted after he performed at a Washington demonstration.
In the Allegro moderato, sinuous, plaintive violin melodies, portentous orchestral chords and restless rhythms culminate in an extended, anguished, angry solo cadenza. The mournful Andante follows, the violin singing a prolonged lament over throbbing drumbeats, slowly building to a stirring, hymn-like climax. Nostalgic folk dances animate the Allegretto, but the concerto ends with a slow, sorrowful violin solo and a sustained, darkly sombre final chord.
The 25-minute Clarinet Concerto (2021) was written for New York Philharmonic principal clarinetist Anthony McGill and dedicated “in memory of all victims of injustice.” The music is less overtly Arabic, the emotions more elusive. In the Andante misterioso, the clarinet intones a pensive, wandering melody over percussive punctuations. The misterioso mood continues in the Nocturne: Andante, with brooding, broken clarinet phrases and irregular percussive rhythms. The Allegro moderato features klezmer-like Syrian dance tunes, a virtuoso cadenza exploiting the clarinet’s extreme registers and a final festive dance, a happy ending to this mostly downcast concerto.
Well-earned applause for violinist Rachel Barton Pine, clarinetist McGill, conductor Marin Alsop, the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and, most of all, composer Malek Jandali.
