''Outscape'' is a cello concerto written by the French composer Pascal Dusapin for the cellist

Alisa Weilerstein Alisa Weilerstein (born April 14, 1982) is an American classical cellist. She was named a 2011 MacArthur Fellow. Life and career Weilerstein was born in Rochester, New York. to a secular Jewish family. She started playing the cello at age four. ...

in 2014–2015.Chicago Symphony Orchestra offers boisterous, exciting music – including a world premiere
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'', M.L. Rantala, June 8, 2016 It was premièred by Weilerstein and the co-commissioning

Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The ensemble makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenu ...

under conductor

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on May 26, 2016.Alisa Weilerstein lauds ''Outscape'' for its 'yearning lyricism and urgent drive'
CSO Sounds and Stories, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Kyle MacMillan, April 13, 2016 Following its creation, Weilerstein gave the first European performances of the work with the Stuttgart and Paris Opera Orchestras in 2016 as well as the UK première at the

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with the

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on July 19, 2017.Proms 2017 Prom 7
/ref>Prom 7 review: Weilerstein, BBCSO, Weilerstein – new cello concerto enthrals
Alexandra Coghlan, July 20, 2017 The concerto has since been taken up by

Anssi Karttunen Anssi Karttunen (born 1960) is a Finnish cellist. Karttunen's repertoire ranges from the early baroque to living composers and improvisation. He has performed with many orchestras in Europe, Asia, and the Americas, including the Philharmonia, BBC ...

, who performed it in

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in November 2017.Description of the work and preview of the score on the composer's publisher website
(in French)
Anssi Karttunen, 2016

Overview

''Outscape'' is a one- movement cello concerto with an overall arch-like structure.Weilerstein Excels in New Dusapin Concerto
Seen and Heard International, James L. Zychowicz, June 6, 2016
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'', John von Rhein, May 27, 2016 It eschews the genre's traditional opposition between soloist and orchestra. Rather than seeing them as rivals, Dusapin wanted to guide them towards each other and allow them to merge, with the cello "becoming an orchestra" and the orchestra "becoming a cello". It starts with the cello playing a low, repeated C#. It is immediately echoed by the bass clarinet, which follow the soloist like a shadow. They are then joined by percussions and, later, piccolo. From this relatively simple beginning, the music very gradually intensifies, with the cello interacting with various chamber-like groups picked out of the orchestra, slowly gathering momentum and at long last reaching a tempestuous climax before returning to silence. Soloist Alisa Weilerstein described ''Outscape'' as "a very interesting combination of yearning lyricism and urgent drive", almost "neo-romantic in that it is emotionally very open, and yet its orchestration and language is absolutely of today". The work lasts about 28 minutes.

Reception

Critical reception was positive, with Alexandra Coghlan notably describing the concerto as "a tale hed be keen to hear again". According to James L. Zychowicz, While John von Rhein stated that

External links

References

{{reflist Compositions by Pascal Dusapin 2016 compositions Cello concertos