Patricia Kopatchinskaja Takes Vivaldi to All Imaginable Limits in “What’s Next Vivaldi?”
Patricia Kopatchinskaja, credit: Julia Wesely | Classical Post
Patricia Kopatchinskaja has long been one of my favorite musicians. It somehow seems off the mark, not quite enough, to call her a violinist (not only because she has frequently performed the role of singer/speaker in Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire) though her capabilities on the instrument—technical, sonic, coloristic—are virtually matchless. Yes, she most often appears on stage with violin in hand, but her musical spirit reaches far beyond the scope of the instrument itself: she digs new tunnels into familiar repertoire and makes a striking, often bold case for each piece she brings into her sphere. The resulting performances, both live and on record, brim with electricity, risk, and an aliveness the scope of which words can only communicate a small part.
Her new album, What’s Next Vivaldi?—recorded with the Italian period-instrument ensemble Il Giardino Armonico and Giovanni Antonini—features five Vivaldi concerti alongside five new Vivaldi-inspired works by contemporary Italian composers (Aureliano Cattaneo, Luca Francesconi, Simone Movio, Marco Stroppa, and Giovanni Sollima). The album is out now on Alpha.
“A Lovely Anarchic Band”
Giancarlo Latta: In your introductory note to the new album, you write that discovering Il Giardino Armonico as a young student was “like a shock or a drug.” I had a similar experience as a teenager hearing their recording of the Four Seasons—I was totally transfixed. Can you say more about what this way of making music sparked in you?
Patricia Kopatchinskaja: It was the 1999 Vivaldi album by Il Giardino Armonico with Cecilia Bartoli. This was not anymore a learned historically-informed performance but an explosive expression by people who totally identified with the music—and it went to all imaginable limits. Just what I also strive for.
GL: What was it like to play with Il Giardino for the first time, years later?
PK: It was the same. They are a lovely anarchic band with total involvement, full of ideas and heated discussions, kept finally in order by the genius of Giovanni Antonini.
GL: The track Lazzo parlante is actually a rhythmic study recorded surreptitiously by the engineers during a rehearsal of Aureliano Cattaneo’s Estroso. The result is both humorous and vivid and seems the perfect prelude to Cattaneo’s evocative piece. What compelled you to include it on the album?
PK: Well, while recording we had to practice the rhythm without instruments to get it right and the sound engineer did not stop the machine. While editing we thought this would give a glimpse into how we approached such a piece and also catch some of the sometimes chaotic and heated atmosphere during rehearsals and recording.
GL: Your performances are truly a thrill to experience live. Is there anything you aim to express differently in making a recording as opposed to playing a concert?
PK: No difference—we try to catch the moments as they arise. I rather consider such recordings like a photo album: one can look back, remember, and enjoy.
Vivaldi Concerti And Their Influence
GL: The C major concerto (RV 191) was entirely new to me. It’s so virtuosic, quirky, and quite funny! Of the many Vivaldi concerti out there, what drew you to these five in particular?
PK: The “Tempesta di mare” [RV 253] and the “Grosso Mogul” [RV 208] are showpieces which I have been playing for many years; the other concerti were added on advice by Antonini. The “Grosso Mogul” was transcribed by Bach for organ and was a model for the fifth Brandenburg concerto, which contains similar material—the long harpsichord cadenza in its first movement is clearly modeled after the precedent of the big violin cadenza in the “Grosso Mogul,” one of the rare original cadenzas by Vivaldi. Insofar as the fifth Brandenburg marks the emancipation of the keyboard from a supporting role to a soloistic one, it can also be considered the prototype for all piano concertos, making the “Grosso Mogul” their common ancestor.
Erasing The Boundaries Of Old And New
GL: The five contemporary works are striking in their variety. In each, though, there are gestures that are recognizably Vivaldian. What was it like approaching contemporary music with the musicians of Il Giardino?
PK: When I met Giovanni Antonini some years ago, I succeeded in persuading him to include contemporary pieces in a concert. With these new works, we did not tell the composers what to do, we just wanted their reaction to Vivaldi. The modern pieces encourage us to push the limits while playing Vivaldi and also hint at Vivaldi’s pioneering modernity in his time.
GL: This is something I find so spectacular about the way you conceive of programming, that through contemporary works we can hear old works anew. So often when contemporary music is programmed alongside old repertoire, it is implied that through the lens of the old music we will hear the new works more clearly. You show the listener that there is just as much to be heard in the other direction: through the music of today, we can approach Vivaldi’s music with freshness. While listening to the album, I often had to refer back to the track listing to see if what I was hearing was Vivaldi or something contemporary… it’s a satisfyingly disorienting effect—it reminds us that every composer, no matter the era, is at once reaching into the past and the future.
PK: At the end there is only one music. While it can be good or bad it really does not matter from which time or place it comes from. We should not think of different and separate boxes.
GL: How do we, as artists, encourage and promote this mentality? Are audiences and institutions resistant to risk and change, or do you find that many are becoming more open-minded?
PK: I think we should be much more curious, invent new situations and games—like children do on a playground. Kids never get bored, even with the same toys: they are able to create excitement and joy out of anything. It’s a matter of phantasy and the aim of experiencing something that one would otherwise not be able to see or hear in our everyday life. Enrichment of the imagination; keeping the mind awake and sharpening it constantly. If we always play the same music in the same way, we are moving into a dead street. The talking and resonating between old and new music is always fascinating, because we get in touch in more spaces and with more languages, more colors. Calling the history and present into the here and now can provide a gripping thrill of friction and friendship. In my experience, audiences are quite happy to follow in such expeditions, and recently institutions and concert organizers have also become more open than before.
Patricia Kopatchinskaja, credit: Eric Melzer | Classical Post
More Than “Pure Abstract Art”
GL: Your projects—especially those that you present as staged productions—often tell stories, ask big questions. They seem to demand that audiences create meaning for themselves through their engagement with the art. Is this something you consciously think about? How essential is this to what you’re creating—should it always exist beyond the concert hall?
PK: Many pieces of music are much more than constructions or pure abstract art. They are part of the biography, soul, and time of a composer—think of Schumann, Schubert, Berg, Shostakovich. I try to also bring these aspects of a piece to life. I mostly start with a main composer or work and then try to find ways to best showcase their qualities and significance. It is similar to an art museum, where pictures are grouped together so that they can explain and enhance one other.
GL: You’re performing again in Europe, post-lockdown. What were the last several months like for you?
PK: After two months in lockdown I became quite depressed. It seems that I need the stage to feel useful. Fortunately, there are now again concerts. And I hope that people follow the rules so that we can avoid another lockdown.
GL: Finally, I have to ask if you can tell me a little bit about the incredible album cover. With the plastic bags and bottles I can’t help but think of the climate crisis. The split image of litter and vegetation seems to add a poignancy to the question of “What’s next?”...
PK: The beauty with art is that everybody can find his own truth. Obviously you think farther than many people—and I’m afraid you are probably right.
Patricia Kopatchinskaja
A combination of depth, brilliance and humour, Kopatchinskaja brings an inimitable sense of theatrics to her music. Whether performing a violin concerto by Tchaikovsky, Ligeti or Schoenberg or presenting an original staged project deconstructing Beethoven, Ustwolskaja or Cage, her distinctive approach always conveys the core of the work. Highlights of the 2020/21 season include residencies with Frankfurt Alter Oper, SWR Symphony Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony, and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. She will continue to showcase the works of living composers such as Michael Hersch, György Kurtág and Márton Illés in her varied and innovative curated projects. Kopatchinskaja’s production of Pierrot Lunaire will tour Europe in 20/21 and will be released on disc later this season.
