Spira (concerto)


SPIRA—Concerto for Orchestra is an orchestral composition written in 2019 by the South Korean composer Unsuk Chin. It was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which gave the piece its world premiere under the direction of Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on 5 April 2019.

Composition

Spira is cast in one continuous movement and lasts about 19 minutes. The title of the piece comes from the self-similar spiral curve known as a logarithmic spiral, which was nicknamed Spira mirabilis by the 17th-century mathematician Jacob Bernoulli. Unsuk Chin was inspired to write a concerto for orchestra following a decade-long relationship with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which she described as "among the most inspiring ones." In the score program note, she wrote, "What fascinates me about this chameleonic 'genre' is not only that it challenges musicians to peaks of virtuosity but especially that it can coax unprecedented textures, sonorities, and forms from the symphony orchestra. The orchestra can be presented as one entity, a 'super-orchestra', but also in various chamber-like combinations, and one can also highlight a certain section or even single musicians as soloists."
The piece prominently features the use of a pair of vibraphones placed spatially apart, with an additional musician controlling each instruments' resonance. The composer added:

Instrumentation

The work is scored for a large orchestra comprising three flutes, three oboes, four clarinets, three bassoons, six horns, four trumpets, four trombones, tuba, timpani, four or five percussionists, harp, piano, and strings.

Reception

Reviewing the world premiere, Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times praised the piece, remarking that it "takes its sound world from a pair of bowed vibraphones spreading overtones all over the place, so they can be picked up by strings and winds and brass and bloom springlike into ever-expanding bouquet of glittery vibration." Andrew Clements of The Guardian similarly wrote, "Despite the hyperactivity and complexity of the scoring, the full orchestral forces are used sparingly; the overriding impression is of glittering transparency, and of tracing a totally sure-footed harmonic path from beginning to end." Rebecca Franks of The Times also praised the piece, writing that Unsuk Chin "allows the music to unfurl and curl in a riot of ricocheting, shimmering, explosive, glittering detail." She continued, "Chin's command of the orchestral palette is incredible and, as if looking at a slide under a microscope, the more closely you listened, the more there was to discover. I almost wished they had played Spira twice, there was so much to take in."