László Tihanyi recently completed Frieze, a “chamber concerto” for solo viola and 12-piece ensemble. This follows two other important works for viola, his “viola concerto”, Passacaglie, composed for Kim Kashkashian, and a piece for viola and piano, Eight Invocations to the Lunar Phases, published in 2011 and dedicated to Kaskashian and Péter Nagy.

The world premiere of Frieze took place on May 3 in the Budapest Music Center (BMC), the new concert venue well-known for its original and exciting programs. The solo part was played by the world renowned young Hungarian violist, Péter Bársony, who was joined by the contemporary ensemble THReNSeMBle (artistic director: Balázs Horváth) and conducted by the composer.

The concerto-like features of the piece include the alternation of the solo and tutti sections (reminiscent of, but not following the traditional form), solo candenzas, and a virtuosic style solo line. At the same time, the character of a chamber concerto manifests itself partly in the brevity of the work (12 minutes, much like the chamber concerti by Vivaldi or Telemann), and partly in the reduced size of the accompanying ensemble.

However, this small ensemble can be regarded a condensed full orchestra, as it is composed of four woodwinds, two brass instruments, a four strings, a piano, and percussion. This instrumentation mimics a symphonic orchestra; more so as the composer takes care in distributing the roles of the missing fundamental orchestral instruments (the bassoon, the trumpet, the timpani, and the viola) evenly among the ensemble.

The title of the work, composed in 2015, refers to the ornamental musical motifs of the solo part which open the piece and later, during the elaboration of the form, become building blocks. The composition includes 13 small formal sections, making extensive use of the various textural combinations offered by the ensemble: the solo viola plays alone in a sort-of cadenza, then in combination with the percussion, or the winds, or the strings, then accompanied by the whole group of instruments. In other sections the soloist is silent, letting the ensemble exhibit its various colors and faces, sometimes in choir-like dialogues between the individual instrumental groups. Tihanyi, having a penchant for, and great experience in composing for the viola, offers the player a technically demanding, yet idiomatic solo part, rich in original instrumental effects. (János Malina)

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