Sequenza21/The Contemporary Classical Music Weekly

The Elusive Charm
of
Gideon Lewensohn

In first listening to and attempting to form a point of view of the four works by the Israeli composer Gideon Lewensohn that are collected on the ECM CD “Odradek,” it was evident to me that it was going to be an difficult endeavor. Lewensohn is not easily categorized. The mystery of the pieces--like the mystery of the character “Odradek,” who is from a Kafka tale and is a creature that is “extremely illusive and hard to catch” and even harder to say exactly what it is—remains somewhere just out of reach of the usual musical analysis. The title piece, the "Odradek Quartet," is made up of 17 distinct fragments inspired by the Kafka story. As with all art, a large part of the process of understanding and relating to it comes from one’s own point of view, with one’s own ideas about it. How you form a relationship to it is a primary element and function of art and music; same difference.

So my first feeling was to throw out all the rhetoric and just say that this is some of the most fascinating music that I have heard. It is accessible and yet it takes some time to even get a grip on (especially the quartet). You can listen to it a few times before you actually get into it.

Lewensohn is an original, no doubt. But he is also a believer in melody, harmony, gesture and even subtle drama. His references and gestures are quick; glances and sideways winks, interludes within the narrative. But because of his understanding of harmonies and overtones the whole effect is just as a part of strata; as an allegory with many layers of sub text and effect. So yes, Lewensohn is agile and illusive. He hides in plain sight. Tonal centers shift into atonality. Melodies shift and turn into tonal clusters becoming vaguer and then emerge as sweeping un-diatonic gestures; then the pulse of the bow striking string; a current here and there.

In a way, this is meta-music—music about music, with its frequently returns to open strings, the sense of going down a certain musical path, stopping, re-tuning and starting down a different route. There are startling fragments that allude directly to the styles of idioms of other composers—Mahler, Bartók, Lygeti.

The quartet “Odradek” is at once disturbing and unpredictable, yet it moves as a story line through its chapters. A nod here, a tip of the hat there. Yet a thread is revisited enough and a theme is present and evolving enough, through its seventeen segments, to set forth a narrative. Then he sets it off, which is sometimes disquieting, sometimes humorous, sometimes tongue in cheek.

The quartet is played by the Auryn Quartet with collective dynamic feeling and overall clarity. Every instrument has a distinct and recognizable voice. The piano quintet is stunningly realized with the piano of Alexander Lonquich added who also plays the first of two postludes for piano. The second one is also played brilliantly by Israeli pianist Ora Rotem Nelken. The postludes are a real treat.

All of the compositions on this recording are of a family and also diverse; as different as they lend themselves to the overall sensibility of the CD. But, after all the subject of this review is a bit illusive and "unreviewable" so don¹t take any of my words too seriously. You¹ve got to hear it for yourself.

This is Lewensohn¹s debut recording on ECM and their New Series catalogue.

Odradek
Gideon Lewensohn
The Auryn Quartet
Alexander Lonquich - Piano
Ora Rotem Nelken Piano
ECM New Series 1781

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