Tosca Opdam - Mason- Violin Concerto and Chamber Suite (2023/2025) [Official Digital Download]

Astutely pitched as “a violin concerto for the 21st century,” Todd Mason's Violin Concerto (2022) is brought to thrilling realization by soloist Tosca Opdam and the Budapest Scoring Orchestra under Péter Illényi's direction. Complementing the work is the Los Angeles native's Chamber Suite (2020), the result an immensely satisfying release on a number of counts. First, the concerto unfolds without pause for twenty-three minutes and thus becomes for both listeners and performers an exciting and intense experience. Opdam delivers a scintillating reading that will be hard for other violinists to top, and the orchestra performs the score deeply attuned to its nuances, arc, and dynamics. Not only does the Chamber Suite, awarded the top prize in the American String Teachers Association 75th Anniversary Composition Contest in 2022, partner splendidly with the concerto, the two total thirty-eight minutes, concision in this case amplifying magnificently the strengths of each work without taxing the listener's stamina with an overlong release.

One writer placed the violin concerto in the lineage of concertos by Berg and Bartók, yet while the idea is tenable, Mason's is a more immediately accessible affair than theirs. That quality stands it in good stead of being performed widely, as it so deserves. In writing the piece, his goal was to craft a musical adventure that both celebrates virtuosity and engages for its narrative form. In moving from dynamic, technically challenging episodes to ones demanding tender expression, the concerto affords Opdam a remarkable vehicle for demonstrating the full measure of her abilities. A gong, horn glissando, and surging strings introduce the piece, setting the stage for the violinist's entrance. Opdam does so with authority, navigating a path through dense orchestral thickets and waxing rhapsodically as the agitation subsides. In these opening minutes, that aforementioned writer's claim is well-supported by the polytonal character of the music and its brooding, even cryptic aura. That quality of adventure cited by Mason also grows more conspicuous as the soloist becomes ever more expressive and inward-looking. The fluidity of the dialogue enacted between soloist and orchestra is certainly one of the work's strengths; though the former is accorded two cadenzas, Mason opts for balance and constant interaction between the forces, a choice that enhances the work's impact. Even during the cadenzas, subtle shadings of orchestra instruments emerge to maintain the connection until the to-and-fro resumes as intricately as before. Plaintive moments appear that are particularly affecting, but Opdam's playing mesmerizes throughout, whether it involves executing passages of daunting difficulty or giving voice to heartfelt lyricism. That it all takes place without interruption makes it even more compelling.

TRACKLIST

1. Tosca Opdam - Violin Concerto
2. Budapest Scoring Orchestra - Chamber Suite: I. Allegro deciso
3. Budapest Scoring Orchestra - Chamber Suite: II. Espressivo
4. Budapest Scoring Orchestra - Chamber Suite: III. Spirito



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