The
pointillistic style represented a gentler period.
This is a work that can easily become just impressionistic washes of sound, but conductor Ilan Volkov meticulously focused on balance and dynamics (sometimes with a finger to his lips) to turn it into a tapestry of almost
pointillistic delicacy.
Webern's "Kinderstuck" is a challenging
pointillistic piece based on an easily-discerned 12-tone row.
2, for its part, is by turns
pointillistic (in the first movement), clattery (in the second), and morose (in the third); in its final minutes there is a dialogue between surprisingly lyrical, even romantic passages and violently dissonant ones before the music finally fades away, whimperingly, to nothing.
Two other works by Hoyland favourites completed the programme: Maderna's cool,
pointillistic Serenata per un Satellite, and movements from Stockhausen's Tierkreis, surprisingly conservative in their lyricism, and immaculately delivered by cellist Ulrich Heinen and pianist Malcolm Wilson.
In the first movement, "Fast," the
pointillistic texture demands economy of movement, precise preparations and a clear understanding of how physical gestures correspond with the musical phrases.
Despite its linear texture, this is a difficult and demanding work of pure abstraction,
pointillistic in its outlook and demanding an impeccable sense of time and structure to negotiate the fragmentary, syncopated, and continuously shifting rhythmic figures.
Ruders was present here to hear his Four Dances in One Movement, a
pointillistic score of great refinement and with many-layered textures, and one which has the capacity to reflect backwards and forwards in time.
Typical of Berger's post-neoclassical style, the Quintet displays a more
pointillistic use of musical space, with wide leaps of sevenths and ninths and an avoidance of intervals that may easily imply tonal centers.
Delicate woodwind touches underlined the often
pointillistic nature of the score, which broods with a Hollywood-style sense of drama and also breathes some surprisingly Elgarian elements - perhaps not so surprising when you remember that Rachmaninov once played his own Third Piano Concerto in a programme which also included the Enigma Variations (and Mahler, no less, was the conductor).
The Preludes are at one and the same time simple yet dense, melodic yet
pointillistic, sentimental yet hard-edged.
Often its scoring is glitteringly
pointillistic, putting immense responsibility on the many solo instruments it highlights in passing, all brilliantly conveyed by the CBSO players under conductor Hans Graf's tight, clear beat.
