Fresh, evocative voice expresses Cotton's vision
Every composer dreams of expressing a particular vision with a voice that is both fresh and evocative. American composer Jeffery Cotton has done just that, in his hauntingly beautiful string orchestral work, Suite from Pyramus & Thisbe (2002), the second show of the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra's season.
Tuesday night's concert welcomed back popular guest maestro Scott Yoo, who last appeared with the orchestra in February. The Boston-based conductor/violinist also founded that city's Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra, which performed the world premiere of Cotton's work in 2002. The 52-year-old composer (in attendance) served as the contemporary music ensemble's composer-in-residence from 1999 through 2003.
Originally conceived as an opera based on Ovid's tale of the young Babylonian lovers Pyramus and Thisbe (and prototypes for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet), Cotton shelved the piece for 10 years then resurrected it as a ballet suite inspired by the fall of the Berlin Wall when he was living in Germany during the early 1990s.
The dissonant, texturally rich work begins with angular, widely leaping lines accented by forceful jeté and snap pizzicatos in the lower strings. It drives forward with agitated intensity through muted, rhythmic ostinatos creating an otherworldly feel. Principal cellist Yuri Hooker's evocative solo spoke like a soliloquy while concertmaster Karl Stobbe easily navigated his extreme upper range over a pulsing accompaniment. The moody suite resolves triumphantly with a final major chord, as if heralding tumbled walls and new worlds begun.
