MICHAEL GORDON (b.1956): Dystopia (Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra;  David Robertson. Jan 12, 2008), Rewriting Beethoven's Seventh Symphony (Bamberg Symphony; Jonathan Nott.  Sept. 30, 2006).

Description: Dystopia is a high-energy, half-hour headlong thrill ride for large orchestra, with almost no relief from its tumultuous progress. An attempt to capture the energy and complexity of Los Angeles, the piece presents a somewhat unflattering portrait of a city in constant, confused motion. In a given section, small active cells of very tonal material repeat obsessively, overlapping in layers, while being assailed by swooping glissandi which serve entirely to destabilize the harmony; a favorite effect of the composer's, apparently, which he likens to the pitch instability of an LP record speeding up and slowing down. The driven post-minimalist propulsiveness is somewhat reminiscent of Esa-Pekka Salonen's orchestral pieces - Insomnia, for instance - presumably coincidentally, often written for the same orchestra - while the unpredictably 'damaged' tonal harmony has something in common with David Lang, not entirely surprisingly, as both were founders of Bang on a Can. Rewriting applies similar process to very recognisable fragments of Beethoven's symphony; the first movement focuses on the opening gesture, distorted by the dissonant pitch-instability device, while the second takes the funereal march theme and presents it over a persistently throbbing accompaniment, producing something very close to Michael Nyman's signature treatments of Purcell. The third movement's persistent rhythm is Beethoven's, here looped and brought into the foreground as the music's main material. Again, the pitch-instability dissonances weave an unsettling aura around the borrowed, tonal thematic fragments. The final movement, into which the music plunges without a break in the glissando slidings and undulations, introduces Beethoven's theme in tight little oscillating loops, in an increasingly hectic dance-finale.