A world premiere takes on Shakespeare
CSO commissioned ‘Ophelia’s Tears’ for veteran clarinetist
the bass clarinet, made a deep impact on Bacri.
“I found it so fantastic,” says the composer, “that I decided to base my new work on that ‘Ophelia’ solo.”
After Bloom returned to Chicago, “I got an email from him very quickly saying that the piece was like a river running before his eyes,” recalls the clarinetist. “And he then began to send me little fragments. He sent me the first couple pages, and then he sent me a passage and said: ‘Can you play this?’
“Not because it was so incredibly technically difficult, but because it was very high and very soft. I played through it and sent him an email: “Yeah, yeah, that’s fine.’ ”
Thus emerged “Ophelia’s Tears,” Concertante Elegy, which will receive its world premiere Feb. 20 in Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center, with CSO music director Riccardo Muti conducting.
But Bloom’s private performance for Bacri wasn’t the only reason he accepted the commission.
Equally important was the opportunity to write for the CSO, “which is for me the best orchestra in the world,” says Bacri. Yet he hastens to add that he did not tailor the piece — which is inspired by thematic material from his “Ophelia’s Mad Scene” — for the Chicago orchestra.
He wrote it “as for any other orchestra — but thinking about the pleasure I will have to hear it, that’s all. But no special features. The excellence of an orchestra doesn’t lie on extended technique. It’s on the opposite: It lies on the most familiar techniques. When you can see the true personality in an orchestra is when you make them play a scale.
“Of course, there is no scale in my piece!”
Yet no sooner does Bacri avow that he did not pen “Ophelia’s Tears” for the CSO’s specific capabilities than he slightly amends that statement.
“I’m so aware about the brass excellency of the orchestra, and so maybe, maybe there are some difficult things with the horns, on the high registers with the horns,” says the composer.
“Maybe with another orchestra I would be a little more — not careful, because I think it’s absolutely playable — maybe I would not be so demanding, because they need to be able to play that.
“And I’m so looking forward to hear how the brass are going to sound. But the violas too, they have a very important part.”
The rush of ideas that Bloom’s performance triggered in Bacri resulted in a 15-minute work with three sections played without pause. But why is it titled “Ophelia’s Tears”?
“In July 2018, Oliver Knussen — the great composer and conductor — died,” says Bacri, referring to a musician who had profound influence on him.
“I met him only twice, but it was very important meeting with him, and also with his music in general. I love his music.
“When he died, I remembered that one of the first pieces of his that I heard is ‘Ophelia Dances.’ So I told myself: What a coincidence! Now I’m going to write a piece in his memory, and it will be ‘Ophelia’s Tears.’
“What is a better instrument than bass clarinet to make this homage to Ophelia?”
And to Knussen.
As its title suggests, Bacri’s concerto evokes Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” and the arc of Ophelia’s descent into madness.
“The piece opens with a quiet first section called ‘Tragedy,’ ” explains Bloom. “‘Hamlet’ is one of the great tragedies of theater, so it’s sort of setting that up.
“Then it moves into a more cacophonous section of confusion, maybe, which leads us into the second section, called ‘Madness.’ And it’s, of course, a sonic picture, if you will, of Ophelia’s growing madness.
“The final section is ‘Death.’ ”
Bacri describes this last section as “a kind of dirge.”
All of which, not surprisingly, takes a toll on the performer.
“It has some very big technical demands that are relatively the smaller part of the work,” says Bloom.
“Musically, I find it a little bit like ‘Lucia di Lammermoor,’” referring to Donizetti’s opera, with its own famous portrait of madness.
“I feel like Joan Sutherland when I have to go through the mad scene. It’s pretty intense, and the death as well. I find it quite an emotional journey, more than most of the standard clarinet concertos
I’ve played.”
How much of this comes across in concert remains to be heard, not only for the audience but also for Bloom, who has been rehearsing the solo part without accompaniment, since there’s no piano reduction of the orchestra part yet available.
As for composer Bacri’s return to Ophelia as a protagonist, this may say less about an obsession with one character than his embrace of Shakespeare’s canon.
“Shakespeare is the most important influence for me,” says Bacri.
“I’m not a writer — I’m a composer. So why Shakespeare and not Mozart? Of course, Mozart and Bach and Beethoven are most important for me.
“But Shakespeare! If I could put music only on words of Shakespeare, I would do it. For me, Shakespeare is an example of the universal mind. Of course, some writers have said that Shakespeare was not only one writer but maybe a collective of writers. I don’t know. Maybe.
“But I don’t mind,” adds Bacri. “The work of Shakespeare is an example of universality, because there is everything in it. It makes a fantastic coherence and a fantastic statement of what the world is, what humanity is.”
J. Lawrie Bloom will play the world premiere performances of Nicolas Bacri’s “Ophelia’s Tears” on a Chicago Symphony Orchestra program that also will include Beethoven’s Symphonies Nos. 2 and 5, led by Riccardo Muti. 8 p.m. Feb. 20-22 and 3 p.m. Feb. 23 in Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave.; ticket prices vary; 312-294-3000 or www. cso.org