Pascal Dusapin - Wenn du dem Wind; Aufgang; 'A quia'

Pascal DUSAPIN (b. 1955)

Wenn du dem Wind for mezzo-soprano and orchestra (2014) 

Aufgang, concerto for violin and orchestra (2011) 

‘À quia’, concerto for piano and orchestra (2002) 

Natascha Petrinsky (mezzo soprano)

Nicolas Hodges (piano)

Carolin Widman (violin)

Orchestre National de Pays de la Loire

Pascal Rophé

rec. 2017, La Cité des Congrès, Nantes, France

Pascal Dusapin continues to be among the most recorded of present-day composers, and this new BIS disc includes a first outing for Wenn du dem Wind … (2014). Extracted from his most recent opera, Penthesilea, it focuses upon the eponymous heroine’s acute and ultimately fateful dilemma between love and law, the vocal parts condensed into a single line for mezzo that Natascha Petrinsky renders with keen pathos (if a little unsteadiness) against a stark and brutal orchestral backdrop. Hopefully the complete opera will make it to the UK before long.

Both concertante works have previously been recorded. Notions of ‘rising’ are explored in Aufgang (2011) – whether of ascent in an ethereal first movement, lightness during a central movement which achieves real meditative eloquence, or altitude in a finale where the soloist emerges above the orchestra as if breaking free of accumulated tensions. Carolin Widmann yields to Renaud Capuçon in finesse but her tonal poise and incisive projection make for a more involving listen. À quia (2002) puts emphasis on the absence (or inability) of response, as piano and orchestra vie for supremacy over respectively strident then agitated movements, before the soloist assumes control over the finale prior to a climactic confrontation. Nicolas Hodges finds greater subtlety than Ian Pace here, for all the latter’s trenchancy beforehand.

In all three works, the Pays de la Loire orchestra reaffirm the favourable impression of their Dutilleux disc (1/16), idiomatically conducted by Pascal Rophé and recorded with tangible presence. Dusapin admirers as well as those yet to acquire these concertos need not hesitate.

Gramophone