The new double violin concerto by Mark-Anthony Turnage,
Shadow Walker, is premiered and toured by the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic in
October, with Vadim Repin and Daniel Hope as soloists.
Mark-Anthony Turnage's new double violin concerto, Shadow
Walker, is premiered by soloists Vadim Repin and Daniel Hope in Istanbul on 19
October with the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra under Sascha Goetzel.
This first performance is followed by a European tour visiting the Essen
Philharmonie (20 October), Gallus Hall in Ljubljana (21 October), the
Musikverein in Vienna (23 October) and the Maag Halle in Zürich (25 October).
Shadow Walker is jointly commissioned by Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic
Orchestra, Philharmonie Essen and the Trans-Siberian Art Festival which
includes events in Vadim Repin's native city of Novossibirsk.
The new 25-minute work is dedicated to artist Mark
Wallinger, who Turnage collaborated with on his ballets Trespass and Undance.
The title Shadow Walker is drawn from a Wallinger video in which the artist
films his shadow as he walks along Shaftesbury Avenue in London, exploring
themes of identity and replicated imaging. The disembodied shadow takes on its
own life in relation to the public on the streets, allowing the artist to
experience the city as a flaneur behind a mask of anonymity. Turnage's work
also references Wallinger's series of Id Paintings, life-size action art images
whose bilateral symmetry resembles the two halves of the human body.
Shadow Walker is cast in four movements, Fast-Slow-Fast-Slow,
with the third movement taking the form of a scherzo. A wide range of
contrapuntal techniques are employed by Turnage, from general imitation and
echo, to strict canon - such as the opening of the fourth movement starting
with the two soloists in turn, and proliferating through the strings to build a
rhythmically and harmonically complex texture. Mirror canon also appears, which
is more closely related to the symmetrical techniques in Wallinger's Id
Paintings.
Buy CD here
Buy CD here
