Odd, extreme juxtapositions of instruments. Weird, unprepossessing sounds. Loud punctuating blasts.
English composer Thomas Adès’ Violin Concerto (“Concentric Paths”), Op. 24, conjures a musical landscape that is otherworldly, often hostile, yet irresistibly compelling.
The work was the centerpiece of a thrilling concert Friday evening before an unusually sparse audience at Boettcher Concert Hall — the first of back-to-back weekend programs featuring Scottish-born conductor Douglas Boyd.
The violinist in this concerto is not so much a soloist as a kind of spotlighted member of the whole who plays nearly nonstop. Often his or her sound blurs into that of other instruments, creating alluring, almost synthesizer-like harmonics and effects.
Taking this central role was violinist Anthony Marwood, who premiered the work in September 2005 in Berlin and London and was nothing short of superb here.
He pushed his instrument to the limit, often hovering at its extreme upper register and adroitly realizing all the exaggerated, unorthodox sounds Adès calls for while still creating an interpretation that was musical and even moving.
Marwood is the violinist of the distinguished Florestan Trio. Let’s hope his strong performance with the orchestra will spur the Friends of Chamber Music or some other series to finally bring the ensemble to Denver.
The Colorado Symphony named Boyd its principal guest conductor last year after he wowed musicians and audiences alike during two previous appearances with the orchestra.
His work on the podium, especially in the concerto, further validated that decision. Minutely attuned to Marwood, Boyd shaped an overall performance that captured the power, rawness and unconventional beauty of what has to be considered one of the great concertos of our time.
But Boyd is no one-trick pony. He was equally effective in the rest of the well-balanced program, offering a potent take on Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98, and excelling in the opener, Franz Josef Haydn’s Symphony No. 96 in D major, “The Miracle.”
His refined, articulate version of the latter conveyed both its substance and vitality.
The concert will be repeated at 2:30 p.m. today.
Kyle MacMillan: 303-954-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com
