Nicholas McGegan on DSO Replay

English composer (now a New York resident) Anna Clyne (photograph by Jennifer Taylor, from the Boosey & Hawkes News Web page about the United States debut of “Three Sisters”)

My latest adventure in exploring a performance on the DSO (Detroit Symphony Orchestra) Replay Web site motivated by a “watch party” invitation involved experiencing both a conductor and a soloist associated with my San Francisco listening experiences. The conductor was Nicholas McGegan; and, unless I am mistaken, this was my first opportunity to listen to him lead an ensemble with “modern,” rather than “historical” instruments. The soloist was mandolinist Avi Avital, whom I had not encountered since he had been the featured guest in a concert by the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra in March of 2010.

The performance itself was the United States premiere of Anna Clyne’s “Three Sisters,” a three-movement concerto for mandolin and string orchestra. The concert took place on April 27, 2019; and, in the program he had prepared, McGegan coupled Clyne’s composition with Antonio Vivaldi’s R. 425 concerto for mandolin and strings in C major. To be fair, Clyne herself did not take Vivaldi as a point of departure for her concerto; and, to clear up another potential misconception, the concerto does not seem to have anything to do with Anton Chekhov.

The work resulted from Clyne having won the 2016 Hindemith Prize, which entailed a commission by the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. It was written for Avital and Kremerata Baltica, and they gave the world premiere performance during the 2017 Festival in Hamburg. The title refers to the three stars that form the belt in the constellation of Orion. As Clyne put it, she turned her impressions of those stars in the night sky into “three portraits … sharing the same DNA in varying guises.”

Just what these portraits are may elude even the most attentive listener, but there is no mistaking that each movement has its own unique character. As a result, Avital has the opportunity to exercise a wide scope of his technical talents, almost all of which depart from what we usually expect to hear from a mandolin (even when Vivaldi is the composer). Indeed, about the only expectation that might be satisfied is the overall fast-slow-fast tempo structure that Clyne shares with Vivaldi.

Those watching this video will see the microphone placed close to Avital’s instrument. I have no idea whether this was used for more than recording performances. I do recall listening to Avital in Herbst Theatre without the assistance of amplification, but the hall in which DSO performs is much larger. I would hope that amplification was not required for the audience, particularly since it might have interfered with Avital’s interactions with soloists in the string section.

Regardless of any “programmatic” inspiration, Clyne’s concerto is rich with engaging listening experiences coming from both the soloist and the accompanists. As those of us familiar with McGegan’s work in San Francisco would expect, he knew how to bring out the full scope of those experiences. The result amounted to an irresistible blend of past and contemporary aesthetic sensibilities, likely to hold up to many subsequent listening experiences.