Milwaukee Symphony to perform Pierre Jalbert's new violin concerto

Elaine Schmidt
Special to the Journal Sentinel
When composing new music, Pierre Jalbert says his work in progress looks like looks like a jumble of rhythmic fragments and hieroglyphs drawn on sheets of paper. The Milwaukee Symphony will play his Violin Concerto Feb. 16 and 17.

When concertmaster Frank Almond, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and former music director Andreas Delfs perform the Midwest premiere of American composer Pierre Jalbert’s Violin Concerto this weekend, they will be taking part in a phenomenon picking up steam in the classical music world: the consortium commission.

A commission is simply an arrangement by which someone pays the composer to write a specific piece. It’s a work-for-hire agreement that has been a part of music for hundreds of years.

The consortium commission, a modern twist on this old model, is an arrangement in which two or more entities share both the cost and the premiere rights of the new piece.

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Jalbert, who teaches composition at Rice University, explained that consortium commissioning of new works “is really appealing for performers and organizations.”

Sharing the expense of a commission allows an organization such as the Milwaukee Symphony to commission more works than it could if it had to pay the entire cost of each commission.

“All of them get to participate in the premiere of the new piece where they are located,” Jalbert said.

For composers, consortium commissions have an extremely significant appeal.

“A consortium commission gets your piece played multiple times in multiple places,” he said. “You want to get your music out there and this does that.” 

The world premiere of Jalbert’s two-movement Violin Concerto was performed last June by St. Paul Chamber Orchestra concertmaster Stephen Copes, with conductor Thomas Zehetmair leading the SPCO.

Following Milwaukee's performance, the West Coast premiere will occur on March 17, played by Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra concertmaster Margaret Batjer with conductor Jeffrey Kahane leading the LACO.

Jalbert, a New Hampshire native of French Canadian descent, spoke frankly about his compositional process, saying, “People think of writing music as all inspiration – that it just comes to you in a flash. Actually, you have to work at it every day, just like anything else, in order to get better.”

Once he has an initial idea he begins what he calls “two weeks of agony,” fleshing out and bringing order to the basic elements of the piece. His early-mapping shorthand for pieces looks like a jumble of rhythmic fragments and hieroglyphs drawn on sheets of paper.

“Once I’m in the middle of the process, with some of the musical ideas down, and the architecture, then it starts to be fun,” he said.

As to inspiration, Jalbert said his ideas have come from multiple sources, including stained glass windows in a church, poetry, and a late-night drive on a Houston freeway.

IF YOU GO

The Milwaukee Symphony performs Pierre Jalbert's Violin Concerto and other music at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Marcus Center's Uihlein Hall, 929 N. Water St. For tickets visit www.mso.org or call (414) 291-7605.