The heat sure is on now. But before signing off for a bit to be carried by the sea in Italy I was happy to be in Zurich’s beautiful Tonhalle, and discover two pieces by Esa-Pekka Salonen who was the creative chair during this now ending season. In a very well curated Prélude to the concert that later followed in the main hall, we heard Yta and Lachen verlernt in the gorgeous small concert hall. A full panoply of articulation, attack, breath, texture, dynamics – and many other things I cannot even put into words – is explored in Yta (for alto flute solo). Its title seems so well chosen as the word yta in Swedish means surface, as well as area. And Lachen verlernt (with the title being a quote from Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire) moved me with with its bursting sheets of sound (yes, indeed a bit like Coltrane’s sheets of sound) and the challenge of speed and movement for solo violin. How can hearing make one so happy? Music. Again. And again.
I will be back for Nils Petter Molvaer’s concert at the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 13. He’s a singular voice in music, and I’ve heard him before in several settings: playing solo at the Balestrand festival in Norway, and with his group at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland. There’s always that amazing sound. Looking forward to hearing him in yet another thrilling setting! He told me they will be doing a workshop, too – so, a full day of music it will be.