Michael Hersch: End Stages & Violin Concerto (Live)

Featuring

Tito Muñoz
Patricia Kopatchinskaja
International Contemporary Ensemble
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Michael Hersch

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Michael Hersch's music unflinchingly explores the more vulnerable corners of human experience, aiming to touch parts of the soul few other living composers do.

Composer Biography

Michael Hersch, the composer, has faced numerous cancer diagnoses among his closest people, including his own ordeal.

Composition History

The Violin Concerto was commissioned by Patricia Kopatchinskaja, the violinist on this album, after she discovered Hersch's music online and wished to collaborate.

Compositional Technique

Like many of Michael Hersch's instrumental works, the Violin Concerto draws inspiration from poetry and visual art, specifically poems by Thomas Hardy and a sculpture by Christopher Cairns.

Compositional Technique

The Violin Concerto's four movements align like interconnected islands of sound rather than following a traditional arc of forward progress, with the score instructing the violin to play "brutally throughout."

Performer Biography

Patricia Kopatchinskaja, the violinist, is known for her versatility, performing repertoire from baroque on gut strings to new commissions and re-interpretations of modern masterworks.

Composition History

The work "end stages" was commissioned by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and was created in partnership with artist Kevin Tuttle, who made drawings inspired by the theme of terminal illness.