MusicNOW finale presents the daring and different

A chorale for ocarinas, Renaissance polyphony, edgy modernism, Hungarian folk songs and mistuned instruments. Those were just some of the elements heard in Ligeti’s Violin Concerto, in its first-ever performance by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra on Saturday night.

Ligeti’s music from the early 1990s succeeds in turning musical traditions upside down. As the only non-living composer represented on Saturday’s MusicNOW Festival program, the piece was, said festival founder Bryce Dessner, “the doorway through which to understand the rest.”

Indeed, it was an evening of three virtuoso concertos that all drew from the past while reinventing music as something daring and different.

But first, Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s set the mood with bleak, unsettling harmonies in her composition, “Reflections,” performed by violinist Kathryn Woolley, violist Christian Colberg and cellist Ilya Finkelshteyn. It had a spare, hypnotic beauty that you could appreciate if you’ve ever visited Nordic lands.

For the concert’s centerpiece, Finnish virtuoso Pekka Kuusisto made his Cincinnati Symphony debut as soloist in György Ligeti’s Violin Concerto, under the sure baton of Matthias Pintscher. The concerto is in five unbroken movements.

Kuusisto, an artist of astonishing gifts, booted up his iPad and tackled the daunting score animatedly. He began almost imperceptibly, with a pianissimo melody, followed by a frenzied dialogue with orchestral colleagues. His playing was by turns expressive and fiercely vibrant in this journey of many moods. Atmospheric moments included the violinist's soaring, introspective theme in the Intermezzo, played against shimmering glissandos in the orchestra. His solo cadenza had dazzling fiddling, high harmonics and left-hand pizzicatos.

The colors of this piece were unusual, and sometimes witty. Besides ocarinas, musicians tooted on recorders, and near the end, the violinist whistled and sang along. Pintscher was in step with him every inch of the way.

After intermission, Palo Alto-born composer Timo Andres was the soloist in his own piano concerto, “The Blind Banister,” which he wrote for pianist Jonathan Biss in 2015. It is a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in music.

Perhaps because his point of departure was Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2, Andres’ concerto was instantly appealing, but also fresh. It was well-crafted, and the composer’s inventive use of scale passages helped to ground the listener. Interesting moments included a lovely dialogue with violin (Kathryn Woolley), some jazzy chords for the piano and even Copland-esque writing in the orchestra.

As a pianist, Andres was up to the task, navigating keyboard spanning runs and figures easily. Let’s hear more from him, please.

The United States premiere of Dessner’s own concerto for electric guitar, “Wires,” concluded the evening, with the composer as soloist. Dessner, known as a founding member of the indie band The National, is also an accomplished composer and classical musician. As a composer for orchestra he is masterful at creating unique and beautiful soundscapes, and the electric guitar, as well as his “Ebow” (an electronic device) created unexpected and quite wonderful timbres.

Dessner’s 14-minute score was rich with spatial dialogues across the stage, such as a fantastic one between the guitarist and drums (Marc Wolfley).Pintscher was a dynamic and precise leader, whether the music was sustained or in a drive to its massive, spectacular finish. Listeners were on their feet once again for ovations.