Esa-Pekka Salonen: Violin Concerto and Nyx on Deutsche Grammophon

[kyjo]

The music of Salonen, better known as a conductor, might be a little on the modern side (it's not avant-garde in any sense, though :)), but it is quite colorful, inventive, and well worth exploring. Deutsche Grammophone will be releasing a CD of Salonen's Violin Concerto "Out of Nowhere" and "Nyx" (probably an orchestral composition) in mid-October. The violinist is Leila Josefowicz, and I am guessing that the orchestra is the LA Philharmonic under the baton of the composer himself ;D.

[nigelkeay]

I've heard the Violin Concerto just the one time, in a concert at the Radio France Festival with Leila Josefowicz and the Radio France Phil. I think I'd agree with your description of his music as applied to this work, although using the word modern cautiously in case it was taken to mean too modernist. As you say, it's not avant-garde in any sense, though. The soloist was thoroughly engaged with the work on the physical level, that was for sure, at times seeming to assume a posture more related to martial arts than normally associated with a violin player. Nothing negative intended here, of course.