Concertos for Violin Quad and Aufgang de Dusapin by Milan Pala

Violinist Milan Pala and the Pavlik Records label are interested in Pascal Dusapin, and the publication of the two concertes Quad et Staircase is a real contribution to discography.

We will admit that Slovakia did not expect as a great land of defense of French music today, and that of Dusapin in particular. And yet! The Pavlik Records label, founded in 1992 and which signed with this publication a real success on the editorial, sound and interpretative level.

Quad“Concert for piano and small orchestra”, is considered one of Dusapin’s masterpieces. We were able to hear it in Paris in 2013 by its creators the violinist Hae Sun Kang and the Ensemble InterContemporain, who had given it the first in 1996, but he was not published on the disc. Nice contribution therefore of Milan Pala, especially since the sound taking and the game are striking of presence. The patronage of this work of just over 20 minutes is to say the least intimidating, since it draws its title from one of the last pieces of Samuel Beckett and that it is dedicated to the memory of Gilles Deleuze, philosopher who died at the start of its composition. Quad is not a concerto but a concert with a soloist and fifteen musicians, and the work develops on the Deleuzien concept of the rhizome where there is no hierarchy but where each element of a whole can influence the collective direction. Fortunately, it is not necessary to understand the intellectual substrate that nourishes this composition, to experience Quad as a mineral and visceral journey.

The second piece on the program, Entrance, is much happier on the disc, since it has two versions with leading soloists, the Renaud Capuçon creators with the Radio France Philharmonic and Myung Wung Chung (Erato) and the always inspired Pascal Rophé in this repertoire with the Shave Carolin Widmann and the National Orchestra of the Pays de la Loire (bis). While we had expressed a preference for the Widmann/Rophé version insofar as it seemed to be climbing in more ethereal spheres, the version of Milan Pala with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra led by Marián Lejava continues this advance and the air is even purer, but without drought or coldness. Recorded in concert, the sound intake is superb presence and relief, and overlaps the Erato and bis versions. We will not be surprised by this astonishing familiarity with the universe of Dusapin and the music of today when we know that Lejava, born in 1976, has among his masters Peter Eötvos or Tristan Murail. As for Milan Pala, born in 1982, the composer and performer who had the most influence on him is … Jean Guillou, and Pascal Dusapin is not far behind. Capuçon, Widmann, Pala, these three versions are like an ascent, where we can, according to his tastes, prefer the more human approach to a cap, or venture to stronger sensations.

These 58 minutes of fiery defense of Dusapin’s music will be for many a revelation as to the quality of the Slovak music scene for today’s music.

(Visited 4 times, 1 visits today)