CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Composer Donald Reid Womack, left, wrote a violin concerto especially for Honolulu Symphony concertmaster Ignace Jang.

Melodic collaboration

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By Gary C.W. Chun
gchun@starbulletin.com

Ignace Jang performs Womack Where: Blaisdell Concert Hall When: 8 p.m. today and 4 p.m. Sunday Tickets: $15 to $57 Call: 792-2000

It seems eerily prescient that Donald Reid Womack would debut his finished work, a composition started soon after the events of 9/11, as the United States and its allies are in the early stages of war with Iraq.

The creation started, he said, with "a crazy idea I had three years ago, when I saw a violin concerto performed that was written by a prominent composer, and saying to myself 'I can do better than that!'"

The proof will come this weekend, as his violin concerto, written for Honolulu Symphony concertmaster Ignace Jang, debuts in a program that includes works by Rossini and Shostakovich.

Womack said the inspiration for the piece was twofold: "I wanted to write something for Iggy that would play to his strengths, his virtuosity, his nimbleness and his very lyrical and sweet tone."

Womack's violin concerto, divided into three sections -- cadenza, canto and coda -- is also expressed as conflict, grief and hope.

"The piece has germinated for a year-and-a-half. What happened on Sept. 11, 2001, seeped into the writing, and now with the Iraq war I want the audience to understand that this is not a political composition. It doesn't espouse any viewpoint except a humanistic one. Instead, I want the piece to be heard as a collective, emotional experience.

"It's not a somber composition. The first movement signifies conflict, with unresolved feelings expressed between the violinist and the orchestra. From the second movement signifying grief, pain and sorrow, the more lyrical final movement is about change and hope, with a virtuosic flurry at the end," he said.

"It's a pretty accessible piece -- the whole notion behind it is drama. Whether you're sophisticated in classical music or not, the emotional elements of the concerto are pretty clear."

JANG SAID THAT he felt "very honored that a composition was written for me of this scale. Don has written for smaller ensembles, and I was familiar with his music, and what I liked in terms of this piece was that the emotional elements were the key for me.

"There's a great deal of tension between the dialogue between the violin and the orchestra in the first movement, a very unsettled struggle but with moments, say, of silver linings in the clouds. It has a nice, cohesive progression to it, and the second movement has these beautiful lines -- not at all introverted, and you feel there is an oasis of hope.

"Technically, this is a hard composition that assembles any number of elements. I myself worry over the execution, because it takes great stamina to play," Jang said. (The concerto is a little more than a half-hour long.)

Both he and Womack have worked on the piece since last summer. Before last week's rehearsals, Jang played with Tommy Yee in a traditional piano reduction of the concerto.

"But hearing the colors of the orchestra are more gratifying," Womack said. "Balancing out their part with the solo violin went really well."

Womack feels fortunate that, as a local composer, he can present such an important piece with Jang and the Honolulu Symphony.

"This piece is about creation, and sustaining the progression of humankind," he said. "Compared to the 'fast food' of Top 40 music, something like this is a good, nutritious meal."

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