New Works Premiered by Prometheus Trio and MSO

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Photo Credit: Jennifer Brindley

Last week marked the Milwaukee performance of two new works. Though its first two movements had been performed elsewhere before, Prometheus Trio premiered the first complete performance of the four-movement Piano Trio No. 5 by Daron Hagen (b. 1961), who grew up in this area. On the weekend Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra presented American composer Pierre Jalbert’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra. Both works are attractive and more than worthwhile. It was quite a week.

The two-movement concerto by the 50-year-old Jalbert (pronounced JAL-bert) was co-commissioned by MSO, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. The music is sophisticated and episodic, constantly exploring delicately layered textures. Mysterious, shimmering sounds were intricately orchestrated. Jalbert writes in a way that flatters the solo violin, with unusual tremolos and trills, building in a pleasing natural balance between soloist and orchestra.

Andreas Delfs ably lead the concert, with Frank Almond as concerto soloist. This piece brought out new dimensions in Almond’s playing, with beguiling colors I can’t say I’ve ever heard from him. That’s exactly what one wants in a new piece. The frenetic second movement spilled into a furious cadenza, brilliantly rendered.

The concert also featured a fleet, transparent performance of three movements from Felix Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Soprano Wendy Bryn Harmer, baritone Edward Nelson, and the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus gave a fine account with the orchestra of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ hour-long, excessive A Sea Symphony, which I admit is not my cup of tea.

Prometheus Trio was convincing in its performance of Hagen’s new piano trio at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. The composer states that his inspiration was the story of Icarus from Greek myth, who flew too close to the sun and fell to his death. Imaginative writing comes in the first movement, “Rupture: Intensive Care,” with the instruments imitating hospital monitoring machines. The second and third movements are built on the Irish tune “Red Is the Rose,” in a series of ear-tickling variations.

Hagen’s music is warm and wonderfully expressive. I especially appreciate his conciseness as a composer, without the needless ramble of many new works I hear.