Two Paths, two friends
ASO season concludes with a work drawing on multiple kinships
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra concludes its 2003-2004 classical subscription concert season this week with a program featuring a rarity, a work for two solo violas and orchestra: Two Paths by Sofia Gubaidulina. Born in 1931 in the Tatar Republic, educated at the Kazan and Moscow conservatories, and currently living in Germany, Gubaidulina is touted as one of Russia’s leading living composers. Creative Loafing recently sat in as featured soloists Reid Harris and Paul Murphy, the ASO’s principal and associate principal violists, talked about Gubaidulina’s music and their own friendship as colleagues sharing the same music stand for more than a decade-and-a-half.
Reid Harris: Two Paths was written for the New York Philharmonic’s two first chair violists, who are both women. It’s dedicated to Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus [from the New Testament of the Bible]. Mary chooses the spiritual path and Martha chooses the more earthly traditional domestic path. You can feel that in the music.
Paul Murphy: Gubaidulina does not specifically delineate [the roles], but it’s quite obvious from the very first entrance that the first viola personifies Mary and the second viola personifies Martha.
Harris: They can’t quite agree on anything. They attempt at several points to agree, but they can’t, and there seem to be a couple of fights in the music where they are really disagreeing. The first viola seems to be attracted upwards, towards what one could interpret as the spiritual path. Although I do have my moments in the deep, rich, dark character of the viola, I also [am] playing some of the highest solo notes I’ve ever played in my career.
Murphy: My part, as second viola, is very rich and very low. I get to really explore the lower register, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t have those aspirations of spiritual loftiness; I have some very high passages myself. It’s an interesting piece because of the differences, because of Gubaidulina’s deep spirituality, and [her] writing it about two women and for two women. Harris and I have joked that [rehearsing it] this spring, we’ve been getting to know our “feminine sides.”
Harris: I think [Gubaidulina] is also talking about [our] modern day. Today, women have different choices, [but] whatever choice they make is a valid choice, where in olden times they didn’t have so many choices.
Murphy: Gubaidulina did suggest that we need not try and blend our styles too much. She wants the differences of the two individual personalities to come out.
Harris: [In the orchestra] we have to agree instead of disagree to unify the viola section, so we’re trying to be more different than we normally are.
Murphy: We’re similar personalities. We have differences in our playing, [but] we both feed off each other’s enthusiasm in the orchestra. Having a stand partner in an orchestra is almost like having a marriage.
Harris: And if you get along really well, it’s great; if you don’t, like in a marriage, it can be rough. We’ve been stand partners for ... ?
Murphy: For 17 years. It’s very difficult to find a stand partner you get along with that well for so long, but we do. We socialize together. Harris is godfather to my daughters. We didn’t know each other before I came [to Atlanta], but we’ve been good friends ever since.
Harris: It’s amazing how much you can catch sitting at a stand with each other for all those years.
Murphy: Just like when you know somebody so well you almost anticipate what they’re going to say next.
Harris: I knew you were going to say that!
Reid Harris: Two Paths was written for the New York Philharmonic’s two first chair violists, who are both women. It’s dedicated to Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus [from the New Testament of the Bible]. Mary chooses the spiritual path and Martha chooses the more earthly traditional domestic path. You can feel that in the music.
Paul Murphy: Gubaidulina does not specifically delineate [the roles], but it’s quite obvious from the very first entrance that the first viola personifies Mary and the second viola personifies Martha.
Harris: They can’t quite agree on anything. They attempt at several points to agree, but they can’t, and there seem to be a couple of fights in the music where they are really disagreeing. The first viola seems to be attracted upwards, towards what one could interpret as the spiritual path. Although I do have my moments in the deep, rich, dark character of the viola, I also [am] playing some of the highest solo notes I’ve ever played in my career.
Murphy: My part, as second viola, is very rich and very low. I get to really explore the lower register, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t have those aspirations of spiritual loftiness; I have some very high passages myself. It’s an interesting piece because of the differences, because of Gubaidulina’s deep spirituality, and [her] writing it about two women and for two women. Harris and I have joked that [rehearsing it] this spring, we’ve been getting to know our “feminine sides.”
Harris: I think [Gubaidulina] is also talking about [our] modern day. Today, women have different choices, [but] whatever choice they make is a valid choice, where in olden times they didn’t have so many choices.
Murphy: Gubaidulina did suggest that we need not try and blend our styles too much. She wants the differences of the two individual personalities to come out.
Harris: [In the orchestra] we have to agree instead of disagree to unify the viola section, so we’re trying to be more different than we normally are.
Murphy: We’re similar personalities. We have differences in our playing, [but] we both feed off each other’s enthusiasm in the orchestra. Having a stand partner in an orchestra is almost like having a marriage.
Harris: And if you get along really well, it’s great; if you don’t, like in a marriage, it can be rough. We’ve been stand partners for ... ?
Murphy: For 17 years. It’s very difficult to find a stand partner you get along with that well for so long, but we do. We socialize together. Harris is godfather to my daughters. We didn’t know each other before I came [to Atlanta], but we’ve been good friends ever since.
Harris: It’s amazing how much you can catch sitting at a stand with each other for all those years.
Murphy: Just like when you know somebody so well you almost anticipate what they’re going to say next.
Harris: I knew you were going to say that!