American composer Michael Torke (b. 1961) has just completed a new concerto for solo violin and string orchestra simply titled Last.
Last is a collection of twelve meditative pieces that can be performed separately, or as a whole. The titles evoke memories and the passage of time. (Last Fall, Last Year, Last Month, Last Sunday, etc.) Torke comments that they “are almost like second movements of violin concertos.” His program notes for Last are as follows:
The Stoics recommend we live in the present: to fret over the past or stress about the future is counterproductive because these lie beyond our control. But I think there are other ways to respond to the past. We can cherish and even mourn what is no longer present. For me, our past populates our present, whether it be last year, last month, last week, or last Sunday.
Last Fall, the first piece in the collection, is serenely elegiac. It includes a descending harmonic sequence that feels as if it drifted in from a Baroque violin concerto by Bach or Vivaldi. In the magical opening bars, the music comes into focus gradually, one voice at a time, beginning with a descending four note ostinato. We enter into a nostalgic journey, concluding with the melodic threads evaporating as quickly as they came.
This recording, released last Wednesday as the album’s first single, features violinist Siwoo Kim and the East Coast Chamber Orchestra:
Recordings
- Torke: Last, Siwoo Kim, East Coast Chamber Orchestra michaeltorke.com