By Jonathan Blumhofer

Cellist Nicolas Altstaed’s recording features a fascinating pairing of pieces by Salonen and Ravel, a stirring reminder of the mysterious powers of common origins and creative invention. Don’t miss it.

Esa-Pekka Salonen’s music is often so fresh and striking in its feel for texture and color that it can seem to belong to a tradition entirely its own. Of course, that’s not quite the case: Salonen started out firmly in the European Modernist camp. But a career as a conductor and decades spent living in California have done their part to redirect a tendency towards austerity: in the last twenty years, Salonen’s turned out some of the most ear-catching new music to hit the stage.

A case in point in the Cello Concerto he wrote in 2016. Composed for Yo-Yo Ma, it’s a substantial, thirty-five-minute-long effort that more than puts the soloist through their paces: in addition to the normal retinue of tricks (double stops, arpeggios, harmonics, etc.), the solo part involves live-recorded tape loops and ends on a stratospheric last note that, hitherto, hadn’t been part of the instrument’s range.

The debut recording, with Ma and the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Salonen, came out in 2019. It was – and remains – a breathtaking document.

Now, though, comes a new account of the piece, courtesy of cellist Nicolas Altstaedt. Too soon? Hardly.

Altstaedt has his own, compelling view of the piece, one that’s essentially rhapsodic and limber. His reading of the first movement is warm and songful: regardless of the score’s textural busy-ness, the solo line shines through, like a searchlight through a fog bank. Meanwhile, the central movement’s explorations of the cello’s timbre glow, particularly the score’s haunting sequences with loops and its Debussy-like apotheosis. The finale’s folksy, vaguely Eastern-sounding dances come off wildly and Altstaedt’s landing on the last note teeters just a touch – but that’s firmly in line with the daring fervency of his larger performance.

Dima Slobodeniouk and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra deliver a tight, vigorous account of the orchestral accompaniment. While the Los Angeles recording benefits from the Philharmonic’s greater familiarity with Salonen’s style, especially in the finale’s tempestuous ensemble climax, Slobodeniouk draws playing of remarkable discretion and polish from his forces. The first movement’s thick opening textures, for instance, are pellucid and the score’s array of colors (like the finale’s involved percussion writing and E-flat clarinet solos) shine. Throughout, the Concerto’s structure is clearly shaped, primarily through a combination of smart balances and well-directed tempos.

Taken together, then, this is an exciting addition to the Salonen discography.

The disc’s filler, Maurice Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Cello, is likewise engaging – and not just because of the rhythmically tight, beautifully-matched reading Altstaedt and violinist Pekka Kuusisto deliver.

Rather, what often grabs the attention are the subtleties Ravel’s 1922 score shares with Salonen’s more recent work. Both composers, for instance, skillfully utilize canons as fundamental building blocks – Salonen in many of his Concerto’s initial opening-movement accompanimental passages and Ravel as one of the structural cornerstones of his Sonata’s first movement. Similarly striking are the composers’ shared fascinations with instrumental color and enthusiasms for folk music.

It’s at once a great piece, a fascinating pairing, and a stirring reminder of the mysterious powers of common origins and creative invention. Don’t miss it.

Jonathan Blumhofer is a composer and violist who has been active in the greater Boston area since 2004. His music has received numerous awards and been performed by various ensembles, including the American Composers Orchestra, Kiev Philharmonic, Camerata Chicago, Xanthos Ensemble, and Juventas New Music Group. Since receiving his doctorate from Boston University in 2010, Jon has taught at Clark University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and online for the University of Phoenix, in addition to writing music criticism for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.