Monday Musicale with the Maestro – May 3, 2021 – The Premiere of Dark Testament:  A Grateful Coda

Ayman Bejjani, Concertmaster

Ayman was born in Dallas, but soon after, his family moved to Holly Springs, NC.  He is a double major in music and chemistry, and his favorite classical music is by French composers from the second half of the 19^th century.  Ayman is particularly fond of the Impressionists Debussy and Ravel.  I was particularly impressed with his confident, natural manner of “getting in the groove” while playing the difficult, jazz-tinged solos in Dark Testament.  That ease and confidence with jazz is quite unusual for a string player, even a professional!  I was delighted to learn that, like me, he loves New Orleans jazz!  And along with Pete Fountain and Benny Goodman (both of whom I have conducted), we also admire the great artistry of jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli.

Maria Manning, Principal 2^nd Violin

Maria was born in Nashville and was guided towards classical music by her Costa Rican mother, who plays the flute.  Maria started playing the violin at the age of four because she loved the Riverdance Irish music and dance company and wanted to be like them to play and dance at the same time!  She is headed into her sophomore year at UNC with a double major in violin and neuroscience.
 
She loves the passionate Russian composers like Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich and is a fan of great ballet music.  Like the rest of these student musicians, Maria appreciates certain aspects of rap, especially the beat and the intensity of it.  She mentioned that the jazz style of the violin solos she played in Dark Testament were challenging, but even more so was finding the correct timbre for the piece.   At rehearsals, I was constantly telling the musicians to “not play so pretty,” cajoling them into a gritty, gutsy sound that would be anathema in a work by Mozart.  But like all the other soloists, Maria quickly rose to the occasion, and the end result was a delight.

Andrew Bryant, Principal Bass

Andrew was born in New Jersey and is a political science major. Like all of these young instrumentalists, he enjoys a wide range of musical interests. He likes pop music, for example, and described himself as being a “metal head.” Recently he has become especially interested in the music of Grieg and Tchaikovsky.  And we had a great conversation about Richard Strauss’ Metamorphosen (the topic of my Musicale on January 4, 2021).  Last semester, Professor Kalam included that piece in about a dozen works for string orchestra and was surprised to hear that this bleak and tormented musical confession by Strauss was especially beloved by the students.  Tonu mentioned to me that the gravity of this work appealed to the young players, perhaps enabling them to express their own discontent in this unsettling era.  Because Andrew is a political science major, I asked him how he managed to make sense of the “tribal” politics of our time.  He recommended several books to me as guides out of this maze, including Ezra Klein’s Why We Are Polarized.

Michael Lee, 2^nd Violin and Train Whistle

Michael was born in South Korea and came to this country when he was 10. Like Kevin, he is in the pre-med program but plans to keep playing the violin. He fell in love with the violin when he was introduced to orchestral music.  He especially loves the Bach Sonatas and Partitas for the violin, explaining, “The music of Bach helps me to stay grounded and to remind me of why I love classical music in the first place.”  I asked him if he listens to current pop music, and he said he listened to it for the social content and to be able to converse with his friends about their love of this music.
 
Michael said he’d enjoyed working on my piece because, as a living composer, I could attend rehearsals and verbally explain the emotions I wanted the students to portray.  For instance, near the very beginning of my piece, the solo string quartet is drowned out by a loud, threatening sound from the basses.  At the first rehearsal I attended, this passage wasn’t being played loudly enough.  When I explained that I wanted “a tsunami of sound to obliterate the string quartet,” that did the trick!  In the third movement it was Michael who had the job not only of playing the violin, but also cueing the train sound effect that twice interrupts the strings.  Believe or not, I wrote a separate PART for this effect!

Kevin Agner, Principal Cello

Kevin is a pre-med student who understands the daunting and long road ahead of him before he is to become a physician. But he is determined to keep his cello-playing at a high standard so he can continue to express this part of his personality. Like Ayman, he loves the Ravel Quartet, and like the other students, he is very selective and discerning about which pop songs receive his full attention. Kevin is stunningly articulate for his age.  MY recollection of college was that when confronted by a teacher, my reaction was more mumble than meaningful.  This is a different generation! We enjoyed a pleasant lunch in a Franklin Street restaurant, and Kevin was engaging and a far better listener than most people of any age.  Our dialogue was based on the reciprocal respect one always hopes for in a student-teacher relationship. Several of my professional colleagues have commented on the formidable technical challenges of the cello solos in my work and Kevin’s mastery of them. He was very enthusiastic about Dark Testament, so when he suggested that I write a cello work for him, I was flattered and took the comment to heart.