A New Day (2021)

A New Day is one of the most exciting new works I’ve heard in concert all year.

Early on, Weilerstein introduced a vocabulary of arcing glissandos and serrated harmonics that would slice through the surface of the “day” like recurring anxieties. But her playing also drew a fully formed figure, a personality, the presence of a protagonist moving through the whirl of the world painted by the orchestra.

This was especially so in the thrilling second movement, “Working Out,” which employed all of the weight, resistance, tension and repetition the title might suggest. Weilerstein’s lines were pulled taut like the cables of a bridge. Though “Working Out” could also refer to the solving of a problem — at times in this movement, it was as though Weilerstein were drafting an idea and scribbling it out. A sequence of cliffhangers finally sent us over the edge, causing an early outbreak of applause.

A short third movement (”Mostly Alone”) opened with a high-resolution solo by Weilerstein that felt like a stolen moment’s peace — a feeling confirmed by the fourth “Into the Night,” which races to such dizzying heights the air feels thinner. It’s a powerful, energizing finish — one that includes a lively conversation between Weilerstein and principal cellist David Hardy.

While most days end with sleep, Tower reimagines it as a kind of rising — a disappearance into dream — with Weilerstein’s cello vanishing like the string of a released balloon.

…a standing ovation from the appreciative audience and three curtain calls for the orchestra, the composer, who was in attendance, and for the cellist.

…the score is a whirlwind of virtuoso gestures, a perpetual-motion display of the most gripping sort.

The cello enters almost immediately at Daybreak with a lovely plaintive melody, reveling in figurations and gestures, overcoming thrilling virtuoso challenges before great orchestral strides open onto a lovely moment with the oboe; there’s more energy, then a beautiful tune in the violins and winds. Delightful writing for the French horn fleetingly suggested its use in Dvořák’s Cello Concerto. Weilerstein made quicksilver magic of Tower’s cleverly written chromatic runs synced to the winds.

Working Out is a brilliant Scherzo in double time, with celestial and challenging solo double bass double stops, relentlessly fast cello work with some dazzling sul ponticello, finishing with more double bass double stops, leading the cello to a radiant concluding chord. Wonderfully exhausting.

The last two movements make a pair. In Mostly Alone the sad solo cello, as if pouring out the composer’s own soul in song, never finds safety and ends with a glissando to the highest reaches of the A string. Into the Night begins with an upwelling of lyrical energy that is calmed and serenaded by a soaring solo violin, before developing into a presto with the cellist moving up, down and around the cello at lightning speed, fueled by pure motive power. As the figurations slow and an end seems to be approaching, the cello, played with deeply moving stillness by Weilerstein, lets all cares go in a final glissando sigh higher than the first, consoled by echoes in the bass and drums.

A strong and exciting piece, A New Day should quickly find its way into the repertoire. I have no hesitation recommending this powerful concerto to every cellist, conductor and orchestra that would consider taking it up…

It was good to hear the work of such a remarkable living composer at Chautauqua. Tower’s command of the orchestra is unequalled, her music is both vivid and accessible, and it is performed widely. It should be heard more often.