Ilhas: Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition World Premiere
Posted on December 7, 2023
“The Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition at the University of Chicago is the home of the Grossman Ensemble. The ensemble gives three concerts a year, each one devoted to presenting nothing but world premieres. The new season of Grossman Ensemble performances kicked off Friday night at the Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th St., with an unusually rich and rewarding quartet of new works, all commissioned by the CCCC and each one personally introduced by its composer. This concert was revelatory and immensely satisfying.
Portuguese composer Andreia Pinto Correia took her father’s writing as the inspiration for “Ilhas” (Island). Her program notes tell us that her father was “a medievalist, professor and poet” born on the Portuguese island of Madeira. Her composition was based on some of his last writings (both published and unpublished), and each of the five movements is her reflection on her father’s reflections.
“Da nossa voz” (From Our Voice) contained bell-like sounds with rich clarity juxtaposed with strings that voiced a note that then became distorted, suggesting hearing voices only through memory, which can be incomplete or mangled. “Os degraus da noite” (Steps of Night) had fascinating horn calls that seemed to pierce fog and was surrounded by quiet scurrying. It closed with a nocturnally dark chord.
“Horizonte circular” (Circular Horizon) evoked both a sense of wonder as well as perhaps confusion, which I interpreted as a wise way of acknowledging an only tentative but thoughtful attempt at understanding. After the concert I asked her what the title meant and she believed that her father was trying to express the idea of a horizon all around an island. I then understood that the music had a splendid way of expressing the smallness of an island and the immense expanse that surrounded it as far as the eye could see.
“Teias” (Webs) was a glorious soundscape built around little bursts of music, sometimes overlapping each other, sometimes in isolation; sometimes soft in sound, sometimes vibrantly loud. “A minha frente so o mar e a estrela” (In Front of Me Only the Sea and the Star) featured a shimmering oboe solo, both lush and lonely. The sea was mysterious and had fascinating undercurrents.
Last week I reviewed a piano recital by Lawrence Axelrod, whose program included Pinto Correia’s “Silêncios, Atmosferas e Utopias,” about which the pianist said that it was one of the few works he could honestly say that he wished were longer. I felt precisely the same way about “Ilhas.” Interestingly, Axelrod’s choice was one of Pinto Correia’s earliest works, written while she was a student. So from then and still today, she has the ability not only to charm and fascinate you, but to make you want more. No mean feat.”
M.L. Rantala, Classical Music Critic
Hyde Park Herald, Chicago
Presented by the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition in partnership with UChicago Presents.