by Ethan Walter
The title of this review may appear dissociative. Detailing the performance of American and European classical music by an orchestra from St. Louis with a title taken from a remark made by an Argentinian fiction writer, which I cribbed from the set of program notes distributed at the performance. However, upon attending the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra performance on the night of Sunday, November 17th, I was struck by the inherently dissociative elements present within the music performed. Moving between such diverse pieces as Kernis’ Venit Illuminatio (Toward the Illumination of Colored Light), Bartók’s Violin Concerto No.2, and Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 98, the players of the orchestra adeptly balanced between the extremes of passion and precision, intellect and heart, and, indeed, as Jorge Luis Borges remarked, “Fuego y cristal.”
After opening remarks were made concerning the night’s programming by the ensemble’s music director and conductor, Stéphane Denève, the concert began in earnest with Venit Illuminatio. Denève briefly alluded to the composer’s, Aaron Jay Kernis, status as a synesthete: one who experiences two sensory or cognitive impulses at once. For example, if one were to read sheet music and experience the differing notes as distinct colors, one would be described as a synesthete. Immediately upon the beginning of Kernis’ piece, I was struck by the implications of synesthesia’s presence within the work.
Venit refracts and reflects, moving motifs through individual players and then whole sections in a patient manner, allowing them to fully inhabit the tonal colors evoked by the piece. Color–tonal and otherwise–remains vital. Kernis’ work operates on a strictly sensorial level, inviting the audience to consider the emotive and cognitive impact of musical thought as it dies away and becomes something new. In many ways, Kernis’ work could be described as the “Cristal” portion of Borges’ dichotomy. Every angle that yields a detailed look at the object situated before oneself, a slight variation may produce a radically different understanding of the whole.