May 6, 2026
Jones Hall
Houston, Texas – USA
Houston Symphony, Juraj Valčuha, conductor; Joshua Bell, violin.
Wendell K. Harrington, projection design (The Elements); Paul Vershbow, projection programming (The Elements).
The Elements (2023) (Houston Symphony premiere)
Kevin PUTS: I. Earth
Edgar MEYER: II. Water
Jennifer HIGDON: III. Air
Jake HEGGIE: IV. Fire
Jessie MONTGOMERY: V. Space
Kevin PUTS: VI. Earth (Reprise & Finale)
Richard WAGNER: Vorspiel und Isoldens Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde (1859)
Richard STRAUSS: Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration), Op. 24 (1889)
Lawrence Wheeler | 14 MAY 2026
Thursday evening at Jones Hall, violin superstar Joshua Bell joined Juraj Valčuha in the Houston Symphony premiere of The Elements, a joint effort created by five distinguished composers. Bell has performed this work around the world some 20 times, including with Valčuha conducting the Chicago Symphony. He is recording The Elements during these performances—a credit to Valčuha and the Houston Symphony.
Bell has said he wanted to create a piece with a theme similar to The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi or < em>The Planets by Gustav Holst. He selected five American composers who have stylistic differences yet share a similar aesthetic of tonality and lyricism. Even with applause in between, the six movements flow naturally from one to another—in fact, there is no break between the fifth and sixth movements. At some point, Bell decided to switch the order of the third and fourth movements—“Fire” and “Air”—providing greater contrast between fast and slow.
For “Earth,” Kevin Puts wrote a hauntingly beautiful opening with a rich harmonic texture and steady pulse grounded in the low strings, followed by harp. Tempos, dynamics, and harmonies change, offering different earthly perspectives, including a meditative section reminiscent of the soldiers’ hymn in his opera Silent Night. Bell’s high-pitched melodies suggested the perspective of Earth as a blue marble. The harp accompanies solo violin harmonics as the music goes full circle.
Edgar Meyer’s “Water” follows a drop of rain until it becomes part of a thunderstorm and thundering waterfall. A rain stick adds realistic effect before the violin plays virtuosic running septuplets. A virtuoso bass player, Meyer has written pieces for violin, providing an idiomatic flair.
Jennifer Higdon’s “Air” allows for a breather as the music settles down for a moment of quiet reflection. While she has written extensively for solo violinists, this piece is closer in style to her popular blue cathedral.
The fourth movement, Jake Heggie’s “Fire,” is as mutable and unpredictable as Loki, the god of fire. It begins with a spark before becoming as hot as a lava flow. Violin fireworks in the form of virtuosic passages give way to a dance-like section that is evocative of Hava Nagila. In a quieter section, the movement explores the sparks of passion, inspiration, and spirituality. It ends explosively.
Juraj Valčuha (jurajvalcuha.com)
Jessie Montgomery’s “Space” is The Elements’ final frontier. An accomplished violinist, she has written extensively for string instruments. This movement includes references to the previous movements as well as a virtuosic cadenza. Montgomery said: “The solo violin takes on a melodic journey, pulling the listener both inward, into their own imagination of the universe, and outward, into the very depths of outer space.” Part of that journey includes ethereal artificial harmonics, suggesting the isolation of space.
The final movement, Kevin Puts’ “Earth (Reprise and Finale)” seamlessly follows “Space.” The music revisits themes from the opening, but ends majestically. The composer hopes the music will inspire a more spiritual reverence for Earth and its protection.
The music is accessible and immediately understandable, especially with each movement’s theme and video projections providing a cinematic reference. Bell played with his trademark silky tone, musical commitment, and charismatic presence. Valčuha provided a detailed and sensitive accompaniment while maintaining excellent balance. The Houston Symphony musicians were in top form, ensuring a highly successful recording. The Jones Hall audience responded enthusiastically to the stellar performance, while perhaps being thankful that a new piece was not fraught with challenges of comprehension.
Last February, Valčuha led an all-star cast in a spectacular performance of Act II of Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner. This evening, Valčuha returned to conduct the beginning and ending of the opera—Vorspiel und Isoldens Liebestod (Prelude and Isolde’s Love-Death)—sans voices. The Prelude opens with the cellos softly playing four notes. The last note fades into an extraordinary chord played by oboes, bassoons, and English horn. This chord, the famous “Tristan chord,” is an unresolved dissonance—it sounds like it’s leading to something—but because Wagner withholds resolution, the chord is a beginning without an end. The chord returns during the course of the opera, but it is only resolved during the work’s ecstatic closing Liebestod. It is the role of the “Liebestod” (or “Transfiguration”) to resolve this harmonic tension and lay the lovers, their story, and their music finally to rest. Wagner originally proposed—and preferred—Liebestod und Verklärung (Love-Death and Transfiguration), but the modern name survives despite his wishes. Regardless of what we call them today, Wagner’s pairing of the two bookend pieces captures both the hesitant longing of the lovers and their final redemptive union in death.
Valčuha led a carefully constructed account of the Prelude. He gave full measure to the opening rests, and dynamics were well modulated while keeping the tempo just slow enough to express the hesitant longing of the forbidden lovers. Valčuha released this constraint in the Liebestod. His physicality changed, with beats becoming larger and rounder, while embracing the full orchestra in his motions and emotions. The orchestra responded with dynamic and passionate playing. The final chord of the Liebestod completes a harmonic resolution that has been delayed four hours and concludes one of the supreme masterpieces of Western civilization. Richard Strauss pointed out that the very last chord of the opera is played by every instrument in the orchestra except the English horn. Wagner uses the English horn to represent desire, and with the death of both Tristan and Isolde, desire has ended. The important English horn part was played by Adam Dinitz, who kept his horn down on the last note.
The parallels between the Wagner and Strauss’ Death and Transfiguration are clear—even the title is derivative of Wagner’s original, Liebestod und Verklärung. The 25-year-old Strauss spent the summer of 1888 working as a répétiteur (a vocal coach) for a Bayreuth Festival production of Tristan und Isolde. He was intimately familiar with that work’s struggle to achieve harmonic resolution and the transformative power of the spirit over death.
Death and Transfiguration depicts the death of an artist. A program in the score states: “The sick man lies in bed breathing heavily and irregularly in his sleep. As the man lies dying, thoughts of his life pass through his head: his childhood innocence, the struggles of his manhood, the attainment of his worldly goals; and at the end, he receives the longed-for transfiguration from the infinite reaches of heaven.”
Valčuha’s reading of the Strauss was convincing, characterized by an extremely wide range of dynamics. The piece loosely resembles an elegy—with the associated emotions—and these were effectively channelled through the Houston Symphony musicians. Solo woodwinds continued their fine playing, joined by Kayla Burgraff, who made her official debut as principal flute this week. The brass principals—French horn, trumpet, trombone, and tuba—had numerous solos, all excellently presented. Principal timpanist Leonardo Soto continues to impress with his rhythmically secure and balance-sensitive playing. Valčuha has shown an affinity for Wagner and Strauss, perhaps due to their operatic qualities. ■
The program was repeated Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Houston Symphony: houstonsymphony.org
- Juraj Valčuha: jurajvalcuha.com
- Joshua Bell: joshuabell.com
Read more by Lawrence Wheeler.
RECENT POSTS
Atlanta Symphony pairs Berlioz and Bernstein in program of wandering minds and uneasy worlds • 13 May 2026
Prieto leads North Carolina Symphony in festive, vividly played pan-American season finale • 12 May 2026
.png){kind=logo}