Maksimal

Program Notes

A project of deep personal conviction, my violin concerto Maksimal (2015-19) was completed off-and-on amidst other projects over a four year period. The piece leans on many archetypes of concerti, featuring a FAST – SLOW – FAST order, and including many virtuosic episodes for the violinist. Yet, the piece's real essence lies somewhere beyond a typical “show off” work for soloist. Instead, different ideas, gestures, and tropes are woven into a larger arc, with themes resurfacing, refracted and transformed, as the piece continually evolves. It is in this sense that I came to the title (borrowing from the Danish spelling for “maximal”), as connections are found in a wide traverse of musical and emotional landscapes. In the first movement, “I. White Heat,” the violinist simmers with percussive bow strokes, building in fast rhythmic repetition, as if sparks and smoldering smoke are growing. These episodes grow inexorably, until spilling over into clanging bells and chirping woodwind scales that descend back into the simmering heat. The second movement, “II. Continuum,” begins with gentle sighing gestures that rise up. The violin plays slow soliloquies throughout, until the sighing returns once more, now falling and leaving us on the doorstep of the third movement. In “III. Circle Games,” the violin leads a fantastical and whimsical game of chase, constantly dipping in and out of new textures and tempos. Yet, as its episodes progress, the music inevitably arrives back at its starting point, with different cycles of music somehow all linked together in a larger universe. This piece is dedicated to my teachers and mentors, and especially Donald Crockett whose passion for exploring colorful music gave me confidence and inspiration to complete this work.

— Daniel Temkin