List of Works || Divertimento No. 10

Weinzweig called pianist Jon Kimura Parker to ask him, along with the Esprit Orchestra and the support of the Canada Council, to commission Divertimento No. 10. While Parker expressed initial disappointment at the work’s lack of virtuosic fireworks, he came to see the dialogic character, exhibited in rhythmic and motivic gestures, as the strength of the work. In an interview for Two New Hours, Weinzweig reflected on his interest in musical dialogue: "For some years I have been interested in the dialogue aspects of the ensembles, and this theory was based on the idea that when two people have a conversation around a common topic but they both say it differently; that is a true dialogue. I’m against the use of imitation, which is a classical technique. You see, imitation does not advance the dialogue; if anything it stalls the dialogue."

In keeping with Weinzweig’s “true dialogue,” the piano and orchestra maintain two very different approaches: the string orchestra is slow-moving and introspective while the piano is buoyant and gregarious. The piano and orchestra never play together until the final of twelve continuous segments. Weinzweig confesses that he wanted to avoid the argumentative nature of a concerto conversation, as soloist and orchestra compete to be heard over the other. While Divertimento No. 10 avoids such an argument for the first eleven segments, the piano ultimately dominates, first as its angular rhythmic and motivic gestures command the orchestra’s tremolo, and last as the piano’s closing gesture overshadows the contrabasses’ final crescendo.

Written by Alexa Woloshyn