Classical The AVROTROS Friday Concert opened the new season. The world premiere of Tsoupaki’s ‘Aurora’ proved to be a poignant evocation of the deadly crossing made by boat refugees.
A large orchestra and a large choir excelling together in a broad repertoire, live on the radio: it is still a golden formula, proved Friday night at the first AVROTROS Friday Concert of the season. In front of a well-filled large hall of TivoliVredenburg, chief conductor Karina Canellakis led the Radio Philharmonic and the Groot Omroepkoor in a programme with uncommon works by Sibelius and Rachmaninov as well as a world premiere by Calliope Tsoupaki.
Aurora is the name of Tsoupaki’s latest work: the dawn you long for after a long night, but also the name of one of the boats transporting refugees to Europe. The theme she was given for her commissioned composition was ‘Wanderlust’, Tsoupaki told the Opium programme on NPO Classical last week. She herself always found the ultimate ‘Wanderlust’ in the Aegean Sea: sailing there bordered on paradise for her. But that sea has now degenerated into a mass grave for migrants.Aurora’s compact text consists largely of names of boats.
Tsoupaki, the former Composer of the Fatherland, always makes music that sings. She often does so for smaller ensembles, in works with a sophisticated mastery of colour and harmony that not infrequently also have a ritual aspect, such as Odysseus and her requiem, Liknon. She can also play an orchestra. She already proved with Salto di Saffo, also for the Radio Philharmonic.
In Aurora, Tsoupaki overwhelmed with a glorious, lushly orchestrated opening and a wordless singing chorus that recalled Debussy’s Sirens. All affirmation – but soon a decrescendo screwed the euphoria back to sombre contemplation, turned the wordless choral interval into an alarm call. That ambivalence pervaded the whole work, which ranged from optimistic seascape to vintage Tsoupaki oboe elegy. The climax was a giant collective climax, whose harmonic ambiguity was discharged in brilliant a cappella singing.
(Joep Stapel, NRC)
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