tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10509968164191556962024-03-16T17:45:14.040+01:00Philip Spires commonplace bookI have kept a commonplace book for many years. It's a place where scraps of impressions are filed for future reflection. It's not a diary, it's just a mental scrapbook, concentrating on book reviews, concert reviews, visual arts and some occasional pieces on travel. It is also a place where I occasionally reflect on what I write. Details of my books can be found at http://www.philipspires.co.ukphilipspireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03763496062924791120noreply@blogger.comBlogger542125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050996816419155696.post-13960109615166323152024-03-16T17:44:00.003+01:002024-03-16T17:44:27.006+01:00St John Passion in ADDA Alicante with Ruben Jais and Coro Labarocco de Milano<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiWSteXx9zHwYDBe7VPDeT3TAJKTPePscoKjfr0t3nr7H-5bCjFfbM7qDIdJurWYkjuo64daRzc7IYf1UuGlHP1uHWPps1fdaSxQ8L5mRv6iwgNqwRThP3XiLPPpmBSYORGUy2TggZwRMiqVS80RDCTIdf8jNDcX5JWo3XtmMPQxCnCCP4y1tx_kNC4UoE" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="191" data-original-width="264" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiWSteXx9zHwYDBe7VPDeT3TAJKTPePscoKjfr0t3nr7H-5bCjFfbM7qDIdJurWYkjuo64daRzc7IYf1UuGlHP1uHWPps1fdaSxQ8L5mRv6iwgNqwRThP3XiLPPpmBSYORGUy2TggZwRMiqVS80RDCTIdf8jNDcX5JWo3XtmMPQxCnCCP4y1tx_kNC4UoE" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">It is at least forty years since I heard a concert
performance of a Bach Passion. It is probably a decade since I heard a complete
performance. I am not a believer in Christian myth. I cannot participate in a
performance of such a work as the composer anticipated that its intended
audience might. For me, it’s a story, some of which might actually have
happened. That makes a performance of the work very similar to anything else
based on the text of a story, such as an opera, oratorio or song. So my
appreciation of the work is solely from the perspective of someone interested
in music.</span><p></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">But Bach’s Passions were not works assembled as a
singular artwork. The purpose was clear: to tell a story, but also to provoke
religious sentiment. This second objective is not possible for me, but then I
do know enough about the events to realise what the intention might have been.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The music is necessarily episodic. Three different
forms predominate. These are, of course, choral sections, where the singers are
largely cast in the role of the voices of the people. Then there are the
dramatis personae who have solo roles, some of which are expanded into arias,
which, frankly, are present purely for the musical, not dramatic effect. And
then, listed last but certainly not least, there is the role of the evangelist,
the storyteller. The part, usually sung by a tenor voice, without vibrato or
affectation, so that every word can be heard, is crucial. Without it, there
would be no story. And, in this performance, in Alicante’s ADDA auditorium, the
amazing performance of Bernard Berchtold in the role brought the evening
literally to life.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">There was a slight flaw in the staging, however. The
solo arias were delivered by members of the chorus. Though they did have a
featured platform from which to project, this was set at the back of the
orchestra, immediately in front of the rest of the chorus. I understand the
logistical difficulties of bringing the solo voice to the front of the stage,
but equally placing it behind the orchestra perhaps diminishes the voice’s
presence in the hall. It was clearly audible, but for me these sections, which
should stand out, did not. In the second part, we heard the two violins
accompanying an aria at the front of the stage, whilst the voice was almost at
the back.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Structurally, the music now seems more modern than I
remember. JS Bach’s practice of pitting solo voices against selected
instrumental sonorities seems to be very contemporary. There were the violins,
of course, but a particularly successful passage has a bassoon predominant and
oboes, flutes and cors anglais play significant roles.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">But I have to reserve the real praise for Bernard
Berchtold’s performance as the evangelist. The voice was perfectly suited to
the role. The delivery was interpretive and conveyed both meaning and nuance.
The crystal clarity of the sound was always interesting to listen to, and the
voice did not tire, as many often do, in this long and exacting role. I am sure
that Bernard Berchtold has sung this role before, and I am equally sure that he
will be offered many more opportunities to do so.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Coro Labarocca di Milano gave a controlled but
committed performance throughout. Johannes Held’s Jesus was convincing and the
ADDA orchestra offered their usual perfection. Ruben Jais was also perfection,
in a quiet way.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Philip Spires
Author of five novels, short stories and book on rugby league
http://www.philipspires.co.uk</div>philipspireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03763496062924791120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050996816419155696.post-33424211859851532412024-03-01T16:52:00.003+01:002024-03-01T16:52:18.245+01:00The Desconstruction of Mahler: ADDA under Josep Vicent with Patrick Messina in Adams, Brahms and Berio<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgeJ2sZvgXavxMPdP-COjYert6xIF9P3yIPOjQVQizHF398YKZX64PjFqQXhfacAm7wJ-GOvI44cAzSacw-fFNcKlw0IYVUm3W-v3AtYdJQOnGEHq0FwLqL9-MjA--K86S-_s1k6611aPRqg7cfKtRztZWo3_oRkOr-MJeg9IoFIa0DQfagMa4v7WH2_lY" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="251" data-original-width="201" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgeJ2sZvgXavxMPdP-COjYert6xIF9P3yIPOjQVQizHF398YKZX64PjFqQXhfacAm7wJ-GOvI44cAzSacw-fFNcKlw0IYVUm3W-v3AtYdJQOnGEHq0FwLqL9-MjA--K86S-_s1k6611aPRqg7cfKtRztZWo3_oRkOr-MJeg9IoFIa0DQfagMa4v7WH2_lY=w199-h249" width="199" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">This was a very special concert. It will live in the
memory for as long as breath continues. It was nothing less than a triumph of
artistic direction on behalf of Josep Vicent. All three featured works were, in
their own way, quite recent, given the often-backward-looking character of
concert programmes.</span><p></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The evening began with a short, modern masterpiece.
The program notes suggested that in our era, true myth (an oxymoron if ever
there was one) is found not in characters of ancient Greek epics, but in the
celebrities that populate our minds during waking hours. John Adams’s opera,
Nixon in China, characteristically set recent events to music on a stage. Part
of the opera’s point is that those figures involved in making history also have
lives to live. John Adams cast Chairman Mao and his wife as dancers and the
music to accompany this is The Chairman Dances, a Foxtrot for Orchestra.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">It begins with a minimalist-sounding incessant rhythm,
but in a moment of true magic, transforms itself into an almost sentimental
dance, as if the celebrities forget themselves for a short time, and suddenly
become human. Order does reassert itself as responsibilities and public faces re-emerge.
The orchestral sound of this piece is vivid and multi-layered, but it does
remind us continually that the clock rules rhythm, and perhaps our lives. It
certainly rules the dance.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Second on the ADDA programme was Brahms’s Clarinet
Sonata Opus 120. But this version was orchestral, the arrangement provided by
Luciano Berio in 1986. Berio did not change Brahms’s original concept, but
filled it out, so it occupied bigger space, even suggesting the concerto form.
He was faithful to Brahms’s intention and this intimate, highly personal and
lyrical work is now capable of filling a concert hall, though gently and in its
original character. Patrick Messina as soloist gave a perfect (there is no
other word) performance, totally controlled, completely in sympathy with the
music. It was a performance with a humility that brought out the intentional understatement
of the work. As an encore, we were treated to a more classical use of the
clarinet with string accompaniment, again an arrangement.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The second half was given to a single work, a
performance of Luciano Berrio’s Sinfonia for orchestra and amplified voices.
The voices in question were London Voices, who seemed wholly at home with the
highly multidimensional and unusual format of the piece.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Berio’s concept seems to grow spontaneously out of the
experience of a twentieth century city. Charles Ives had at the start of the
century chose impressionistic experience to portray the complexity of modern
life. In his Sinfonia, Luciano Berio offered similar experience, but one on
speed by comparison with that of Ives. An apparent jumble of sights, sounds,
intellectual stimuli, musical references, passing comments and literary
memories appear and combine to create a vivid, surreal collage, which
deliberately does not hang together. It doesn’t because modern life is itself
multidimensional, confused, confusing, stimulating, threatening and tender all
at the same time. If I have one minor criticism, it is that the spoken text of
the voices was not sufficiently prominent. Whether this matters is a matter of
opinion. When visual art, for instance, features a raft of text, surely its effect
is lost when viewers have to both read it and translate it. It may be the same
with the words that Berio featured in this work. The word Majaskowsky did,
however, hang in clean air. The text, by the way, is as collage-like as the
music. It’s not a narrative, and is influenced by, amongst others, James Joyce
and Samuel Beckett. Absurdity rules. This was thoroughly memorable music, and it
was stunningly performed by the singers and musicians alike.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">In this performance, Josep Vicent chose to play this
work in its original four movements. Berio did add a fifth, but I think the
logic might have been to create space for the encores, which in their way added
to the collage-like experience. Berio quotes extensively from Mahler in his Sinfonia.
As an encore, this led to a performance of the Adagietto from the fifth
symphony. After the apparent anarchy of the Berio, the long lines made a
peaceful and beautiful contrast. Then, when we all thought the pastiche could
not get richer, London Voices, with the accompaniment of a brushed drum, gave a
fugue in a cappella jazz style with an upbeat rhythm. Let<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s
not try to explain. Let’s just listen.</span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Philip Spires
Author of five novels, short stories and book on rugby league
http://www.philipspires.co.uk</div>philipspireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03763496062924791120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050996816419155696.post-85883455036357059272024-02-04T17:10:00.002+01:002024-02-04T17:10:52.884+01:00Manuel de Falla's La Vida Breve in Alicante with Sandra Fernandez and Miguel Ortega<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiVH6qO8M_w1NNlDks3JHWUEI29KRwlVZLdaxMGsCE9OQjEjhi3G8GVLbSwbCMApKbPg4BK9qyxkR0QIogbeQ5P39DODYpAz0LEXsGko2eCt-52JwXqKi2qHZrcs6w-8fnVTQ5z7tNp8-OXSX2sH-OKbFr94iCSQgEric-MyF-smRqO0ete2b8sTi1Mw6E" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="191" data-original-width="264" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiVH6qO8M_w1NNlDks3JHWUEI29KRwlVZLdaxMGsCE9OQjEjhi3G8GVLbSwbCMApKbPg4BK9qyxkR0QIogbeQ5P39DODYpAz0LEXsGko2eCt-52JwXqKi2qHZrcs6w-8fnVTQ5z7tNp8-OXSX2sH-OKbFr94iCSQgEric-MyF-smRqO0ete2b8sTi1Mw6E=w335-h243" width="335" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">La Vida Breve by Manuel de Falla is a problematic
work.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Its problem stems mainly from the fact
that it is an opera that lasts just over an hour. Productions of it generally
have to be combined with another short work. Now there is no shortage of one
act operas, but there is a shortage of companies willing to juxtapose two works
of inevitably different styles on one programme. Opera North in Leeds did it in
2015, staging it alongside Gianni Schicchi of Puccini in a tragic-to-ridiculous
pairing. It worked, but not every opera company is as keen to take risks as Opera
North. Bluebeard’s Castle is an obvious pairing, but the emotional territory is
perhaps too similar to that of La Vida Breve. Just how many women does an
audience want to kill off in one evening? And so it is via concert performances
that audiences are most likely to experience Manuel de Falla’s early opera, and
so it was in ADDA, Alicante last night, under the direction of Manuel Ortega.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Opera in the concert hall bring the music to front stage.
Yes, the singers are there, and they have to perform, but usually there is
little action. It has to be admitted that even in a full staging of La Vida Breve
it might be hard to find much action. A femme fatale is in love with a man
above her social class. She laments the fact that lonely birds die, that lone
flowers wither. A chorus extols the virtue of working for a living, stressing
the identity that shared tasks can promote. But they do repeat the fact that it
is better to be born the hammer rather than the anvil, a none-too-subtle
reference to the difference in social class between the two lovers, Salud and
Paco. Salud’s lover, Paco, does dessert her. He marries someone else, a woman
from a social class similar to his own. No doubt there were family ties to
cement and faces to be saved. Salud finds the prospect of solitude lethal.
There is not a great deal in the libretto, and what there is repeats the
standpoint of the principal characters quite a lot.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">So with the music and singing centre stage, what are
we to make of the performance? Well, it was excellent. Certainly committed.
Certainly both lyrical and exciting. Sandra Fernandez as Salud was inevitably
and almost permanently centre stage. Both her voice and her expression were
finally tuned to the role. She came across as a faithful, committed and sincere
lover, who almost worshiped Paco. His rejection, therefore, went to the heart
of her beliefs, the essence of a very identity. Francesco Pio Galasso as Paco
sang the role with both passion and virtuosity, but the role is problematic.
Throughout Paco looked and sounded sincere, but he went off and married someone
else. What was Paco intending to do? Keep face with society while keeping Salud
as his piece on the side? Like Steva in Janacek’s Jenufa, Paco is a role that
does not engender sympathy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Angel Odena and Marta Infante as Salud<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s
family members gave stunningly expressive performances. There was real
character in both their roles, despite the fact that their texts are neither
extensive nor varied.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And so to the music. For Manuel de Falla, La Vida Breve
was an early work, and one can hear how much the young composer was still
searching for a voice. The flamenco style cadences that characterized his music
are here, but there is also the language of symbolism, a little Bartok of Bluebeard
or Wooden Prince, perhaps, some of Schreker as well. There is some Debussy.
They were passages when I felt this could be Pelleas and Melisande. There is a
little Wagner and some Strauss in the orchestration via the splitting of the
strings. But perhaps the most revolutionary episode comes when the music
becomes flamenco, and the characteristic gravelly singing erupts, accompanied
by a guitar. It would be an intervention, but Manuel de Falla is already
skilled enough as a composer to weave the transitions to and from these
interludes into the overall scoring and concept. Pedro Jimenez “Perette” and
Basilio García gave perfect performances of this music.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">La Vida Breve thus comes across as a convincing work,
spectacular in its orchestration and at times in its musical ideas, but one
dimensional as a drama. This is not a criticism. It has some very good company
on the opera stage in this category. It is a work that deserves to be heard
more often.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Philip Spires
Author of five novels, short stories and book on rugby league
http://www.philipspires.co.uk</div>philipspireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03763496062924791120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050996816419155696.post-73102879514909878262024-01-24T17:44:00.004+01:002024-01-24T17:45:18.355+01:00Something special - Pablo González, Francesco Piemontesi and the Dresden Philharmonic in Beethoven and Strauss<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhA7GG8Sf-4RfuOSNblxJY2L_7D5Q-JIun5iwsFvKaQ0g3pGKT7KGp2XByvfBKZnIubN1LVNlm81RY_rT88yUbe5ay4XevPp2DtdTVvXXAMwJ9Oc1FVYJwq73Hg3dS1muh3W1DRu0sR58gPVYVN6OcgMmxGhlQ9QR4wnY_jyqzPBRdu3PKISUQMTBdeaIA" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="191" data-original-width="264" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhA7GG8Sf-4RfuOSNblxJY2L_7D5Q-JIun5iwsFvKaQ0g3pGKT7KGp2XByvfBKZnIubN1LVNlm81RY_rT88yUbe5ay4XevPp2DtdTVvXXAMwJ9Oc1FVYJwq73Hg3dS1muh3W1DRu0sR58gPVYVN6OcgMmxGhlQ9QR4wnY_jyqzPBRdu3PKISUQMTBdeaIA=w265-h192" width="265" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Something special was experienced by the ADDA audience
last night. On the face of it, the concert was almost conventional, as concerts
sometimes can appear on paper. There was to be a Beethoven piano concerto
followed by a Richard Strauss tone poem, it all sounded possibly a little
run-of-the-mill. But don</span><span dir="RTL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span dir="RTL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">t be
fooled by appearances. This was undoubtedly something special.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Let<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s start
with Beethoven<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s Third Piano
Concerto as interpreted by Francesco Piemontesi. As the program notes
underlined, this work was Beethoven<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s big
break with the past, at least, as far as his concerto writing was concerned.
This work was not to follow the eighteenth-century model of elegance before
challenge. This third piano concerto of Beethoven has a really symphonic feel.
The dialogue between the soloist and orchestra, contrasts strongly, here
argumentative, here supportive.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">And Francesco Piemontesi’s playing, brought out all
the subtleties, without once resorting to gimmick or bravura. What was obvious
from the opening orchestral passage to the work’s end was a sense of
cooperation between the soloist and orchestra, a sense of communication and
sharing, despite, on occasions, the music demanding, strong contrast. Francesco
Piemontesi gave a brilliant performance, topped by a significant encore<o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The orchestra was the Dresden Philharmonic, under the
baton of Pablo Gonz</span><span style="font-family: "Goudy Old Style",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">á</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">lez.
Unusually Pablo Gonz</span><span style="font-family: "Goudy Old Style",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">á</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">lez
opened the second half with a short verbal presentation about Richard Strauss’s
Ein Heldenleben. The work is clearly something special in the eyes of Pablo Gonz</span><span style="font-family: "Goudy Old Style",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">á</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">lez. He described it as
at least one of the greatest of all musical creations. And he stressed that
this was not the Richard Strauss Don Quixote, although he went on to describe
the piece as surreal and satirical, both of which might apply to the way a
modern mind appreciates Cervantes’s novel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">And the performance was indeed something special. This
is a piece that orchestras often play as if it were a gymnastics exercise. But
here the romanticism and lyricism were stressed, and the music flowed rather
than exploded. Here we had pauses to emphasize transitions, changes in dynamics
that brought out all the textures in this multi-layered work. And we really did
hear all the complexity of the aural colours that this great work projects.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">As an encore, Luis Alonso got married again. This
quintessence of popular Spanish music brought the house down.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Philip Spires
Author of five novels, short stories and book on rugby league
http://www.philipspires.co.uk</div>philipspireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03763496062924791120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050996816419155696.post-46294950442220389992024-01-15T11:02:00.004+01:002024-01-15T11:02:34.925+01:00The Hallé Ochestra, Kachung Wong and Liza Ferschtman in Brahms and Shostakovich in Alicante<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgQiGhDld_H913K2kxJ5OsZbKHWunGdYpQtycQY5lNG8DjSFcyEuA6nAjSt_mMJY64ydZuRtVcLrKD8iIRTwtwaGeAnYKaqheu--c4TATW_fExMpsNg-JPqeL3lNBGdO65wDmIP_HUCuLQyaYWRB10T57hrwumYlpLYhBs7n2WXxz6g9xNaSYM8rZXfZqk" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="146" data-original-width="376" height="124" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgQiGhDld_H913K2kxJ5OsZbKHWunGdYpQtycQY5lNG8DjSFcyEuA6nAjSt_mMJY64ydZuRtVcLrKD8iIRTwtwaGeAnYKaqheu--c4TATW_fExMpsNg-JPqeL3lNBGdO65wDmIP_HUCuLQyaYWRB10T57hrwumYlpLYhBs7n2WXxz6g9xNaSYM8rZXfZqk" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>The Hallé Orchestra has
a very long history and tradition. Part of its tradition is to develop long and
lasting relationships with its principal conductors. If history provides the
pattern, then Kachung Wong from Singapore can look forward to many years based
in Manchester. And on the evidence of this performance in Alicante’s ADDA
auditorium, the relationship will endure. Kachung Wong’s conducting was more
than precise and more than detailed. He chose to conduct the second half from
memory, which, given the complexity of the scoring, was a feat in itself.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">In the first half, we
had heard the Hallé and Lisa Ferschtman in the Brahms Violin Concerto. This is
a work that is played and heard so often that it rarely surprises. But on this
occasion, two things stood out.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">First, there was the
playing of Liza Ferschtman alongside the lyricism and romanticism of the
interpretation. The soloist’s stress on dynamic range and lyricism was superb.
Overall, the interpretation had a lightness of touch coupled with a stress on
the personal touches of Brahms. The storytelling in the work came to the fore.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Also, Lisa Furman<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s chose not to play the Joachim credenza. The one we
heard - by Auer? - was more lyrical and more directly related to the expressive
music of the first movement. It also added to the stress on the expressive
quality of the experience. Lisa Ferschtman offered an encore of a solo caprice,
which again was beautifully interpreted.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The second half
featured the Symphony No. 5 of Dmitri Shostakovich. To prepare for the event, I
had listened to the fourth symphony of the day before. It was in response to
the criticism from on high of the forced the composer to present the fifth as a
Soviet artist’s response to just criticism.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">And what was strange
was that I kept hearing references to the fourth in the fifth. There is one
section in the first movement that I heard as a direct quote. And then there’s
the end of the first movement, where the celeste seems to remind everyone of
the end of the fourth symphony.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">And there is nothing easy
or compromised about the fifth symphony’s slow movement. Despite is obvious
appeal, the music is very complex, and, for the most part, bleak. Where the
composer did offer solace to his masters, was in the finale, where triumphal
chords, frankly, do not reflect what preceded them. Overall, the symphony is an
enduring masterpiece.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">An encore inevitably
followed. This was Nimrod from Elgar’s Enigma, with somehow sounded different
when played by an English orchestra.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Philip Spires
Author of five novels, short stories and book on rugby league
http://www.philipspires.co.uk</div>philipspireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03763496062924791120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050996816419155696.post-21193288643844146242024-01-08T20:49:00.001+01:002024-01-08T20:49:05.033+01:00Fumiaki Miura, Josep vicent and ADDA Simfonica in Ravel and Shostakovich<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAT-_v-1V3_jGViRF9n29Py8BJYISrdO1L9n9GVsMkfZMm_Co3thxM2HaXa7rekbFeAS_mpD0dZ3eS9AdxFPjZ4qLo_E8nB3VGPWjWH7iGJFcKY5vJog10YVuEs4umh62pMBXFUBfw3YdlyclWbDhph125U-m97gPsO8E46y_RcMMyJ2_rM2FWQTLUmrA/s300/images.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAT-_v-1V3_jGViRF9n29Py8BJYISrdO1L9n9GVsMkfZMm_Co3thxM2HaXa7rekbFeAS_mpD0dZ3eS9AdxFPjZ4qLo_E8nB3VGPWjWH7iGJFcKY5vJog10YVuEs4umh62pMBXFUBfw3YdlyclWbDhph125U-m97gPsO8E46y_RcMMyJ2_rM2FWQTLUmrA/s1600/images.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div>This was a concert of
two halves, both superb, both contrasted, both within and between. Shostakovich
in the first half and Ravel in the second provided the between contrast between.
The works chosen, two by each composer, provided the contrast within. To the second half first.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Ravel’s Daphne and
Chloe Suite No2 is a concert hall favourite. It is a post-impressionist splash
of colour, like Matisse cutouts dancing around their own space. But it<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s also symphonic: it feels like the colours develop and
transform, though strangely they do not seem to merge, except in the opening
sunrise. Josep Vicent used two locations for the wordless chorus, one group, at
the rear right of the stage as the audience saw it, and the second in a box,
higher and further to the right, above the stalls. The effect was akin to
surround sound. The orchestral playing in this work, and the one that followed
was outstanding, with all the timbre and textures of the music glowing in their
own right.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Ravel’s Bolero has
been described as the music of madman. Ravel’s own assessment of the opinion
was that it was correct. The work is so well known that I will say nothing
about the music itself, except to point out one aspect which Josep Vicent chose
to stress. The drum rhythms are usually insistent and ever-present in this
piece. There are performances where the audience hears very little else. But
this was not one of them. Josep Vicent had the drum’s contribution in dynamic
balance with the rest of the instruments. At the start, the drum was barely
audible above the pizzicato strings. As a result, the superb orchestral playing
was able to communicate all the textures the composer chose to exploit, and
these became the focus. That magical passage where a horn and celeste play
together sparkled like Christmas lights. We even got an encore of the final
sections, just in case we had missed it first time round.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">In the first half, the
ADDA audience heard two works by Shostakovich. The Jazz Suite No1 was played by
an ensemble including saxophones, trumpets, trombone, violin, bass, various
percussion, an upright piano, a banjo, and a slide guitar. As always with the
music of Shostakovich, the listener is never quite sure whether to take
anything seriously. He always seems to be looking over his shoulder to judge
reaction, except, of course, when the subject with himself, when he wallows in
DSCH, as in the Eighth Quartet or the Tenth Symphony. The personal signature
motif, however, seemed to be lacking from both the Jazz Suite and what
followed. The textures and witticisms of this music came across vividly, as did
its inherent self-doubt mixed with tragic whimsy. It was, after all,
Shostakovich.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The piece that ended
the first half of the concert was something completely different from the rest
of the evening. This was Shostakovich<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s Violin Concerto
No2 with Fumiaki Miura as soloist. This particular concerto is not played often
and dates from thirty years after the rest of the programme. Like much late
Shostakovich, such as the Viola Sonata, quartets and symphonies, it seems
almost distracted. This is music made of lines that don<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>t
seem able to decide where to go, never mind join up. It<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s
an unsettling experience, full of questions that are not even finished, let
alone answered. Unlike the other works in the program, however, this second
violin concerto by Shostakovich does invite further listening. The almost
chamber music feel of the orchestration, where particular sounds stand out
unexpectedly, is surely part of what the composer was trying to achieve. And
what would you make of the interjections from a tom-tom that seem to interrupt
and threaten? The solo part often seems to be screaming, but quietly, almost
trying to hide its nervous agitation.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">All of this complexity
was perfectly interpreted and conveyed by Fumiaki Miura, the soloist for this
performance. It<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s not performed as
much as other concertos, so Fumiaki Miura understandably chose to have a score
in sight. But his interpretation of this narcissistic, self-conscious,
self-referential. perhaps self-mocking music was as close to perfect as I could
imagine. And that drum? Is it fate knocking on the door, or the police? Or is
it Shostakovich waking up the audience?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Despite all the
brilliance of Daphnis and Chloe, the firework show of Bolero and the witticisms
of the Jazz Suite, it is Fumiaki Miura’s playing of this enigmatically
understated work that will last in the memory. And, just to add to the
surrealism, he played the Vieuxtemps Variations on Yankee Doodle Dandy as an
encore. Memorable.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Philip Spires
Author of five novels, short stories and book on rugby league
http://www.philipspires.co.uk</div>philipspireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03763496062924791120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050996816419155696.post-68924086487631553332023-12-18T10:50:00.000+01:002023-12-18T10:50:01.018+01:00Gustavo Gimeno and the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana in Sibelius and Mahler<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0UoDIrOSkOiHvQX84XdEwkBkRSVBo7jXgRJaBoO-1DbyPwaNP8HoXDQf4sFvCbacXtDEdj335Ah7tdXKbDozua_LVzdC09fck275jZCk8lumn6Q6WEuU3mg8acQLhU59KVaEj6L-GCr-tTtzyzZACw5E9TaJBblNJS21ycDBzc3UPc_OQpztSFUb4HXc" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="298" data-original-width="413" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi0UoDIrOSkOiHvQX84XdEwkBkRSVBo7jXgRJaBoO-1DbyPwaNP8HoXDQf4sFvCbacXtDEdj335Ah7tdXKbDozua_LVzdC09fck275jZCk8lumn6Q6WEuU3mg8acQLhU59KVaEj6L-GCr-tTtzyzZACw5E9TaJBblNJS21ycDBzc3UPc_OQpztSFUb4HXc" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Gustavo Gimeno conducted the Orquestra de la Comunitat
Valenciana in the latest concert of ADDA’s Pasions season. The program juxtaposed
two symphonies that were premiered about thirty years apart by composers who
were both born in the 1860s. The contrast, however, was immense.</span><p></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Composed almost at the end of Jean Sibelius’s creative
life, the Seventh Symphony is much more revolutionary than it might appear at
first sight. Its compressed form is perhaps more reminiscent of a tone poem
than a symphony, but at twenty minutes duration, its single movement is longer
than many eighteenth century symphonies that advertise multiple sections. And
here there is a sense of development, even evolution as motifs come and go,
resurface and transform in this seemingly organic form. The whole takes on the
feeling of a valediction, with the trombones effectively waving goodbye, hardly
animated, but certainly determined, to a creative life that was soon to be
retired.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Sibelius’s Seventh Symphony is a very moving work,
full of wonderful, slow textures, where sounds seem to melt at the edges as
they brush past one another. The Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana under
Gustavo Gimeno’s direction, played the work sympathetically, always keen to
bring these textures to the fore.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony, by contrast, came at
the start of his composing career. Its gestation was protracted, and the
composer revised the score almost each time it was played during its first five
years.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The result, however, is an often-played masterpiece.
Only two of Mahler’s symphonies, the first and fourth, are of half concert
length, and the fourth needs a soloist. This makes the first symphony the
easiest of the composer’s output to programme, and so one feels that its presence
might sometimes be perfunctory. An orchestra wants Mahler on its curriculum
vitae, and the first offers the least resistance.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">But there was no such pragmatism on show for Gustavo
Gimeno and the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, who had clearly rehearsed
the piece at length. Here we had a reading and performance that stressed detail
and contrast. Mahler’s juxtaposition of light and heavy, light and shade, loud
and soft, fast and slow were perfectly communicated and played. But this was no
mannerist display of the possible for possibility’s sake. Here all the lines
were well drawn, and the overall shapes made sense, musically at least, which
is often not the case with this intentionally episodic work.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">It was so detailed that the musical allusions came to
the fore. The funeral march’s juxtaposition of popular song alongside Jewish
celebration was clear and also stark, and it seemed to be delivered with the wry
smile that no doubt the composer wore while writing it. Also evident was the
similarity at one point to the Fifth Symphony’s Adagietto. Also notable in the
scherzo, just before the contrasting slow trio, there stood out of figure in
the cellos, just a series of repeated notes, that were lifted verbatim by
Shostakovich into his fourth symphony. No perfunctory presence for this
symphony for that great composer.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Mahler’s rousing finale was delivered by standing brass
and horns, but it was the whole orchestra that shone. Gustavo Gimeno was
careful to present each section of the band for acclaim at the end. They had
all deserved the applause.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Philip Spires
Author of five novels, short stories and book on rugby league
http://www.philipspires.co.uk</div>philipspireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03763496062924791120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050996816419155696.post-70605003546102507502023-12-14T09:44:00.003+01:002023-12-14T09:44:27.605+01:00Josep Vicent conducts Beethoven and Montsalvatge in Alicante<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi88C-ZUXsXAM3Vn_VnXZSFo4U-j2R-B9FVFXzDQQWktmR82M4ythjdbFVhnsPseC41r2yXnxYzYF4AvZoCuNCVQ2k7U9qXYZ-CetZGPGW53KP4DiF4lDfQ-er6ydvCRySbKEJwEJ756AVBSySJaAeJXxrQB-SJ8t4khQJzUVU35XhGmxgr4FI9LKX4koY" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="761" height="123" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi88C-ZUXsXAM3Vn_VnXZSFo4U-j2R-B9FVFXzDQQWktmR82M4ythjdbFVhnsPseC41r2yXnxYzYF4AvZoCuNCVQ2k7U9qXYZ-CetZGPGW53KP4DiF4lDfQ-er6ydvCRySbKEJwEJ756AVBSySJaAeJXxrQB-SJ8t4khQJzUVU35XhGmxgr4FI9LKX4koY" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Beethoven<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s Ninth
Symphony is one of those works I can hear anytime I want. I play it to myself
in my head - at least, I think I do. It<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>'s</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span>
a work I and many others have heard so many times, I sometimes wonder what
might be gained from hearing it again. On this occasion, I need not have
worried.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">This is always a concertgoer’s dilemma, at least, if
you are a concertgoer like me, who always craves new and original experience.
There are many concertgoers, perhaps even a majority, who want only to hear
what they know, hence the rather repetitive and perhaps, at least to me, the
rather stultified and predictable nature of a lot of programmes.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">As a season-ticket holder, however, one does tend to
go to whatever is billed, and on Sunday, 10 December 2023, Josep Vicent and the
ADDA orchestra chose to play Beethoven Nine.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">I tried to remember the last performance of the work I
attended. It must have been that Promenade Concert over twenty years ago that I
attended with an old college friend, when an original instrument group
performed it. “It’s being sung on the original voices,” said my friend with
more than a smile. We were a long way from the stage in London’s Albert Hall.
The work, of course, filled the space. More often than not an overlooked but
regularly visited friend is full of surprises when we do finally make contact.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">And it was true with this performance of Beethoven
Nine. There were even surprises in Josep Vicent’s reading. The opening bars,
for instance, are so often played with the first violins cutting forte through
the general tremolo. Here they were subdued, understated. In the last movement,
when the famous theme establishes itself on wider strings after cellos and basses
have introduced it, Vicent had the woodwind come almost to the fore with its
argumentative counterpoint. Thirdly - and what a masterstroke! - the presence
of the chorus on the stage meant the timpani had to move. Vicent brought it
almost to the front of the stage alongside the violas and cellos. The timpani,
of course, plays a thoroughly significant role in the work, and not only in the
groundbreaking second movement, where it played melody for perhaps the first
time. The four soloists, Erika Grimaldi, Teresa Iervolino, Airam Hern</span><span style="font-family: "Goudy Old Style",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">á</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">ndez and José
Antonio, were all more than up to their tasks. Positioned just ahead of the
chorus, they sang with remarkable clarity, volume and commitment.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">But the real star of the show was the chorus, Orfe</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">ó</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">n Donostiarra. The chorus were not just committed to
the task, they sang as if their lives depended on it. But they were always
totally musical, never prone to stress volume rather than tone, always
accurate, with every dynamic change respected. The amazing quality of their
work was recognized by the audience’s loud cheers at the end, a gesture that
was both noticed and appreciated by everyone present.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">In the first half we had Montsalvatge’s Cant
Espiritual de Joan Maragall, a twenty minute work for chorus and orchestra. Maragall’s
words concentrate on the prospect of life after death, in contrast to Schiller’s
which, as we know, are really interested in the here and now. Montsalvatge’s
music, understated neoclassicism, mixed with modernism and popular song, came
across as the perfect foil to the grandiloquence that was to follow. But in
Beethoven<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s case, the grandiloquence works
every time. It’s grandiloquence with consequences and there<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s
not an empty second in the experience. In our current world, we need more, not
less calls for brotherhood and sisterhood amongst all people.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Philip Spires
Author of five novels, short stories and book on rugby league
http://www.philipspires.co.uk</div>philipspireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03763496062924791120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050996816419155696.post-48141515761431578422023-12-10T13:12:00.006+01:002023-12-10T13:13:47.537+01:00Programa 13 de diciembre Festival de Piano de Denia - Tsisana Kikabidze tocará Beethoven, Liszt, Bartok y Rachmaninov<p> <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjO2gYcUxxKWcRbH3iiW6R3oO0nGjCEX8u_i3DAJ_boObupc95PHh8m8_TF0uYgmp1LmGJjD0Rdh58Drc6VLFzbHjowyzdVj6y3Kp11i7wrlD5bIynt4_zRlszk9iuA0eLoadOSoUNx1LEK7tdF9W5EgcrrONmXhFf0pCmn51g4oGX91yKqH3Z0JyBVfI/s1174/Picture1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1174" data-original-width="848" height="608" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjO2gYcUxxKWcRbH3iiW6R3oO0nGjCEX8u_i3DAJ_boObupc95PHh8m8_TF0uYgmp1LmGJjD0Rdh58Drc6VLFzbHjowyzdVj6y3Kp11i7wrlD5bIynt4_zRlszk9iuA0eLoadOSoUNx1LEK7tdF9W5EgcrrONmXhFf0pCmn51g4oGX91yKqH3Z0JyBVfI/w439-h608/Picture1.jpg" width="439" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyWSg8UkBXHjtyFo0SrczEoyXG6gKz0Uttqw4tHng0YkoT34m8Oz2QAH48OsApPtNnWo1fpZbN1-irf6RZX8uxkltgsrOkJxU01pEBjWB7YkHuts10Aqd21KtvWz6c4UZlmSwzt8n3rNrF1z0gn4uMs2rlM3NGEFiFgJFUNjnF8E3JU1aQ0L-jPwrhEMs/s1143/Picture4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="859" height="515" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyWSg8UkBXHjtyFo0SrczEoyXG6gKz0Uttqw4tHng0YkoT34m8Oz2QAH48OsApPtNnWo1fpZbN1-irf6RZX8uxkltgsrOkJxU01pEBjWB7YkHuts10Aqd21KtvWz6c4UZlmSwzt8n3rNrF1z0gn4uMs2rlM3NGEFiFgJFUNjnF8E3JU1aQ0L-jPwrhEMs/w387-h515/Picture4.jpg" width="387" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCu8tMlgtBkMRHgSj-cW3W0_1M5CjX_JxZmqg1-MIs03vKHklLFJSsfwojtGZTTVDxkjWxrGCP-I_3JPuzSZAOJLJARymk-UAcSUzea7OnhnhrGz7HWdw19P3rHsO25HXndO94JmFjUMpkv-fCPopfK7qoMsO7lQmlR8uXb0ZlulwbXAQBL8sL85Dc_SI/s1143/Picture5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1143" data-original-width="835" height="560" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCu8tMlgtBkMRHgSj-cW3W0_1M5CjX_JxZmqg1-MIs03vKHklLFJSsfwojtGZTTVDxkjWxrGCP-I_3JPuzSZAOJLJARymk-UAcSUzea7OnhnhrGz7HWdw19P3rHsO25HXndO94JmFjUMpkv-fCPopfK7qoMsO7lQmlR8uXb0ZlulwbXAQBL8sL85Dc_SI/w410-h560/Picture5.jpg" width="410" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiciRy8svSXMpGC1A0kCerIcprOZLfSCNNmlgTb9mDM4P3rIckJKBhB-Ty4qsdlmuFkviRMseB90CjQM-Oauncc7nKwKRXjsWmmkAGH6OfeomazqswwB11HIuNwBKBxv8wky5BHkF1qcF9d_s6dbg7iKCuURTu6ZfChlNb65guNQLrjHwPE4p36mKGSRYM/s1094/Picture3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1094" data-original-width="797" height="599" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiciRy8svSXMpGC1A0kCerIcprOZLfSCNNmlgTb9mDM4P3rIckJKBhB-Ty4qsdlmuFkviRMseB90CjQM-Oauncc7nKwKRXjsWmmkAGH6OfeomazqswwB11HIuNwBKBxv8wky5BHkF1qcF9d_s6dbg7iKCuURTu6ZfChlNb65guNQLrjHwPE4p36mKGSRYM/w436-h599/Picture3.jpg" width="436" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Philip Spires
Author of five novels, short stories and book on rugby league
http://www.philipspires.co.uk</div>philipspireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03763496062924791120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050996816419155696.post-48845383275572522272023-11-27T11:28:00.004+01:002023-12-10T13:03:58.423+01:00Programa 29 de noviembre Festival de Piano de Denia - Mihaela Manea tocará Scarlatti, Brahms, Enescu y Liszt<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidTc9srXmqb3ZDAXHAUJFdwhxKLGOcyEVuAEdPox3uj5dwnA6DFbcBL6FJxNv8DLNxxxhrZRnwDmOeE1McxHiH-_maHYJP02wElPTqBiQ67duOGnxkJmqkZQqmg-s8qh6qdvdjUYIpT9A2nRDiMnFSLNpfL_DJoLOWgLtMceeOaj0E-_YuuMuxzohAVdI/s1236/IMG_20231127_0001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1236" data-original-width="870" height="629" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidTc9srXmqb3ZDAXHAUJFdwhxKLGOcyEVuAEdPox3uj5dwnA6DFbcBL6FJxNv8DLNxxxhrZRnwDmOeE1McxHiH-_maHYJP02wElPTqBiQ67duOGnxkJmqkZQqmg-s8qh6qdvdjUYIpT9A2nRDiMnFSLNpfL_DJoLOWgLtMceeOaj0E-_YuuMuxzohAVdI/w442-h629/IMG_20231127_0001.jpg" width="442" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU4SeHWWBsHjIxyVY-Cu-bSeSymBEsklCT7L5M85XinbbQVOQ1NMrrm3Y_n3MnCt4Da5iHY7vWOYq7RGtzphe9sTqojRnl4p-zNUoPY2lCflRFC0grP0SMWQogQqJXNke7rXLEVCu6hd5nCfybLfWiZ8o9_Fm-a7ad-m9kVBVPFsqyqPr58uqcrw1mUyk/s1236/IMG_20231127_0002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1236" data-original-width="872" height="564" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU4SeHWWBsHjIxyVY-Cu-bSeSymBEsklCT7L5M85XinbbQVOQ1NMrrm3Y_n3MnCt4Da5iHY7vWOYq7RGtzphe9sTqojRnl4p-zNUoPY2lCflRFC0grP0SMWQogQqJXNke7rXLEVCu6hd5nCfybLfWiZ8o9_Fm-a7ad-m9kVBVPFsqyqPr58uqcrw1mUyk/w398-h564/IMG_20231127_0002.jpg" width="398" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk8JRabEImETJF_NWwUomEGP3j1WzCMQriJNRWbQqimza2bu0XrwtuZp37yT2YrVsBaPwVjmccz2gQ28n85w4HMaJRh2d0I6bY8jJlYgBTB65VrtJRWAlbLP-4c_LlUnsYMSYNkyo4zyRZMkX1UZeq_IjTtPLTpqcxVHhitTQIrTx0BAskcY5Y3jYA4gA/s1236/IMG_20231127_0003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1236" data-original-width="870" height="564" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk8JRabEImETJF_NWwUomEGP3j1WzCMQriJNRWbQqimza2bu0XrwtuZp37yT2YrVsBaPwVjmccz2gQ28n85w4HMaJRh2d0I6bY8jJlYgBTB65VrtJRWAlbLP-4c_LlUnsYMSYNkyo4zyRZMkX1UZeq_IjTtPLTpqcxVHhitTQIrTx0BAskcY5Y3jYA4gA/w396-h564/IMG_20231127_0003.jpg" width="396" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiziD0pZuXyXMCUzhJom_TFGloBkR6Gq_UJ3e2Bt19a6QGDJ6-K6wUGnFZgGXSeHRK7aYPI2zSyZnvaqMkW-VrhwRCT47K18e9jAVadT_7wY7ifVeDtLneSa5A7cwAvq-_c4e5UIpPo9urcjql12e-yL-gE_QpcBr4j8SaVhVSeyGJzq4KQZZ7kIkHf0M0/s1238/IMG_20231127_0004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1238" data-original-width="874" height="567" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiziD0pZuXyXMCUzhJom_TFGloBkR6Gq_UJ3e2Bt19a6QGDJ6-K6wUGnFZgGXSeHRK7aYPI2zSyZnvaqMkW-VrhwRCT47K18e9jAVadT_7wY7ifVeDtLneSa5A7cwAvq-_c4e5UIpPo9urcjql12e-yL-gE_QpcBr4j8SaVhVSeyGJzq4KQZZ7kIkHf0M0/w400-h567/IMG_20231127_0004.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Philip Spires
Author of five novels, short stories and book on rugby league
http://www.philipspires.co.uk</div>philipspireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03763496062924791120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050996816419155696.post-76816146273171953402023-11-25T11:24:00.008+01:002023-11-25T12:14:56.743+01:00Pimchas Zukerman plays Elgar with Orchestra National de Lyon under Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider in ADDA Alicante<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhA1NHYiYCJX4wFzSOEijFZlicEBuzqA88aBfAzXL-JYk6ORe7hJcD21eqBeEvEm2zr5LROEAwApnv_ZVkt_z3nEdGbX7O7S8evSVEldrFFztGTzitxD6yVNMw5JMNAEoV_fvC-Na2A963e0FcPJ4KpkbmsRsMjk_GdL8873wWi28wC720mlenQ4IZTuzA" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhA1NHYiYCJX4wFzSOEijFZlicEBuzqA88aBfAzXL-JYk6ORe7hJcD21eqBeEvEm2zr5LROEAwApnv_ZVkt_z3nEdGbX7O7S8evSVEldrFFztGTzitxD6yVNMw5JMNAEoV_fvC-Na2A963e0FcPJ4KpkbmsRsMjk_GdL8873wWi28wC720mlenQ4IZTuzA=w252-h141" width="252" /></a></div><p></p><p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">When writing reviews, the pressure to express opinion
often leads to overstatement. It is a position. I usually try to avoid, and I
do so by concentrating on the positive aspects of the object under review. I
will do the same here.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">To say that everyone went away happy from this evening
of Elgar and Brahms would be an understatement. They had been treated to an
outstanding performance by an outstanding violinist. They had also been
delivered a going-away lollipop in the form of the ever-popular Nimrod
variation from Elgar’s Enigma to round off the evening.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Pinchas Zukerman is now seventy-five years old. He
has been making music in public for over five decades of his life, and if
anything, he seems to get better with time. There are few pyrotechnics to see
in his playing. But when the eyes are closed, the true force of expression
becomes clear in all of its colours.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The Elgar Violin Concerto that started this evening was
beautifully played. Its complexity of argument, where orchestra and soloist
seem regularly to exchange roles and material, seems like an intellectual
process at times, an intellectual process that is conducted purely via emotion.
This Elgar concerto is a thoroughly modern piece, dressed in nineteenth century
form, as evidenced by the unconventional techniques the soloist is directed to
use. Brahms, and indeed Mendelssohn are here, but so is the idea that violinist
and orchestra combine and compete in dissecting a musical argument. This is no
simple showpiece for a soloist to fill with emptiness.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">And the communication between artist and orchestra this evening between Pinchas Zukerman and the Lyon Orchestra was superb. The soloist
even joined in with the first violins here and there to keep himself busy. His
tone throughout was a joy to hear, as was his obvious understanding of the
problematic score. Elgar was always a showman, but his lack of personal
confidence always persuaded him to be retiring. He considered himself an
outside, an underdog who was always trying to gain entry to an establishment
that he felt shunned him. It is rather strange, contradictory even, given that
his music is now seen as thoroughly “establishment”. Personally I hear this dichotomy
in the music, as exemplified so often at the start of his pieces, which sound
is if we are entering into the middle of a conversation that was already
underway before we arrived. It’s as if the composer is apologising before he
has said anything!</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">After the interval, the Lyon Orchestra played the
Symphony No. 1 of Brahms. It<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s an
orchestral standard, which, surely, most full-time professional orchestra have
played many times, and can probably render convincingly from memory. It can be
a challenge, not least for a member of the first violins who lost a string. She
proceeded to play through the piece as if the problem did not exist. Remarkable
and congratulations!</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Personally, I don<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>t have
much to say about the Brahms Symphony, except that if it had been written in
the age of recording technology, Johannes Brahms would have been labelled a
plagiarist. History, however, might mark the influence of Beethoven in his
music as “inspiration”. It was an inspiration, as we know, that caused the
composer, great difficulty, and perhaps this symphony had to be written to
unleash creativity that otherwise would have found no voice.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Another great ADDA evening.<o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Philip Spires
Author of five novels, short stories and book on rugby league
http://www.philipspires.co.uk</div>philipspireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03763496062924791120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050996816419155696.post-88598757751445379012023-11-20T15:17:00.003+01:002023-11-20T15:17:16.891+01:00Jesús Reina, Pierre Bleuse and ADDA Alicante in Ravel, Strauss and Mozart<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj4KYc7lwyx7TKAbXtlbfXoPKIJs4i2DgPR--FqESSuLkKaykMTiO2_YcpMOD_xhN4YnIA6sgt-e8zS6V49G860RfeDtaMX_qwbe0tEONI0N49bSIh7s06UDb0YOt2N1fVL-omtbNGflu-2xeGEP-7qT1d1hGWOz2rE34T_auZkMRGI8Y4AqiRXUgx3dX4" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="380" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj4KYc7lwyx7TKAbXtlbfXoPKIJs4i2DgPR--FqESSuLkKaykMTiO2_YcpMOD_xhN4YnIA6sgt-e8zS6V49G860RfeDtaMX_qwbe0tEONI0N49bSIh7s06UDb0YOt2N1fVL-omtbNGflu-2xeGEP-7qT1d1hGWOz2rE34T_auZkMRGI8Y4AqiRXUgx3dX4" width="243" /></a></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">For the third time this season, Alicante</span><span dir="RTL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span dir="RTL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">s
ADDA audience heard a major piece by Richard Strauss. The Violin Concerto is an
early work, written when the young man was a teenager and still searching for a
mature voice. As a consequence, it does remind one of Brahms, Mendelssohn here
and there, amongst others.</span></p><p></p><p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">But its overall conception is quite different. For a
start, there is no obvious cadenza. Even at sixteen years of age, Richard
Strauss was trying to write a concerto where soloist and orchestra were to
combine to deliver an integrated musical experience. This was never conceived
as a vehicle to allow a soloist merely to show off. And so it needs to be
performed cooperatively, with the soloist always mindful of the orchestra’s
contribution.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">On this occasion, the soloist was Je</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">s</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">ú</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">s Reina, a musician who devotes
much of his time to playing chamber music in small ensembles. If anyone would
be sympathetic to this need for integration, then, surely, he would be. The
audience was not to be disappointed. He was so completely sympathetic to the
orchestra’s role that he often turned during the time when he was not contributing
to face the orchestra and actually listen to what they were playing. The result
was a truly integrated work, with a musical argument coming to the fore. Pierre
Bleuse’s direction also allowed the perfect balance to develop.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The concert had begun with the orchestral version of Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin. Now this work is often played almost as if it were
conceived as an eighteenth-century concerto grosso, rather than an homage to
the form from the point of view of a twentieth century composer.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">This performance crafted by Pierre Bleuse was
different. The shape was still there, but the hard, staccato edges seem to be
softened. The strings seem to be offering commentaries rather than statements.
The result was a beautifully balanced, surprising and thoroughly
post-impressionist, twentieth century piece. It paid homage to the past while
saying something quite new. It is such a familiar piece, but what a surprise!</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Mozart<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s G Minor
Symphony occupied the second half of the concert. It is hard to find anything
new to say about the work, but it is also a work that does not need novelty. It
is so well crafted, so perfectly conceived, that it makes its own points every
time it is played.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Pierre Bleuse’s direction brought out every aspect of
Mozart<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s score. It was serious,
threatening, lyrical, playful, and always inventive. A real treat brought the
evening to a close in the shape of Chabrier’s Habañera, a surprisingly subtle
an interesting little piece. Another surprise!<o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Philip Spires
Author of five novels, short stories and book on rugby league
http://www.philipspires.co.uk</div>philipspireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03763496062924791120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050996816419155696.post-83502559611668666042023-11-15T13:04:00.001+01:002023-11-15T13:04:16.976+01:00Programa 15 de noviembre Festival de Piano de Denia<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgcN1OORqYiaN2A0N0t15_7rHEfgb98G0Yt7bHwBTPMOK-mMmRfwDyo2hpS4brJndOaSSxh5N4aDRDLaTZvxxIO1p-az7XE52CRfaTCwN1fjKRSYoj0zW3a6VO8I4JCulGDN2jG-YD-vv1c3qG-oBvQfgauGv1h3rlaUIwrpvytF9o2pUFyRbioBX5wBIU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="736" data-original-width="518" height="780" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgcN1OORqYiaN2A0N0t15_7rHEfgb98G0Yt7bHwBTPMOK-mMmRfwDyo2hpS4brJndOaSSxh5N4aDRDLaTZvxxIO1p-az7XE52CRfaTCwN1fjKRSYoj0zW3a6VO8I4JCulGDN2jG-YD-vv1c3qG-oBvQfgauGv1h3rlaUIwrpvytF9o2pUFyRbioBX5wBIU=w549-h780" width="549" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Philip Spires
Author of five novels, short stories and book on rugby league
http://www.philipspires.co.uk</div>philipspireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03763496062924791120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050996816419155696.post-26383109186134992232023-11-13T11:33:00.006+01:002023-11-25T11:17:41.912+01:00Orchestra of the Royal Capital City of Krakow under Katarzyna Tomala-Jedynak in ADDA Alicante<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxWf6f9ORixxfLxt4MBXgNVRjhrSjA14Sl_AaERL38OelcsMmF7jQCQ_oercRsEizP8PaM5EQMoBEdzxfeLD5z_8OYXjdFZcnPAuuEL74jGWN4RZJhWccZQV1tG1qayc4iJ15IL230f_yStc6lepK_OaGTG08dn8AO3-PblmDbByoICtMxKvTJIEKfpzg/s384/Untitled.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="320" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxWf6f9ORixxfLxt4MBXgNVRjhrSjA14Sl_AaERL38OelcsMmF7jQCQ_oercRsEizP8PaM5EQMoBEdzxfeLD5z_8OYXjdFZcnPAuuEL74jGWN4RZJhWccZQV1tG1qayc4iJ15IL230f_yStc6lepK_OaGTG08dn8AO3-PblmDbByoICtMxKvTJIEKfpzg/s320/Untitled.jpg" width="267" /></a></div></div></div><p></p><p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Surprises come when least expected. On entering the
ADDA auditorium, it was at least a shock to see so little of the stage
occupied. So used have we become to seeing a platform crammed with seats and
percussion hardware in preparation for a “big” work that the apparently
scattered chairs and stands that awaited the arrival of a moderately size
string orchestra was at least startling. And there was to be only one double
bass!</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Providing a perfect example of the phrase “less can be
more”, the orchestra of the Royal Capital City of Krakow proceeded with a
program that surprised and delighted the audience almost with every note.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">We began with the Sinfonietta Number Three of
Penderecki, a reworking for string orchestra of his String Quartet No. 3,
subtitled “Pages from an unwritten diary”. The composer’s style, outside of his
religious works, tends towards the episodic. Seemingly simple ideas come and go,
and via abrupt transitions and apparent non-sequiturs, we are led around an
idea that reworks itself, perhaps without reaching even musical finality, let
alone a position of argument or comment. Celebrating Penderecki<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>'</span>s
90th anniversary, this piece’s subtitle was apposite. What might have been
written if this diary had been complete</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: ZH-TW;">?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"> The Sinfonietta Number Three is thus an example of
what might have been, its apparent raw edges deliberately left unsmoothed.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">There followed a performance of a thoroughly different
kind of work. The Concerto for String Orchestra by Grazina Bacewicz is a
masterpiece. She uses the string orchestra in a largely neo- classical manner,
in a way that seems to alternate between the concerto grosso and sonata form.
But there are also harmonies here that come from popular music, and all this is
encased in a rhythmic drive that never lets the piece flag in its apparently
relentless progress. It is succinct, tightly argued, and makes perfect sense in
a surreal, unexpected way. Clearly, this is a piece that the orchestra plays
often, and they clearly enjoy it every time.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The real surprise came after the interval with
Mendelssohn’s Ninth String Symphony. The product of a mature mind aged about twelve,
the piece is an astounding achievement. It is tightly structured and musically
convincing. The surprise comes in the slow movement, which Katarzyna
Tomala-Jedynak did not try to conduct.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Using just eight players, the movement begins with
four violins in counterpoint. There follows a balancing section of two violas,
cello and bass, before a conclusion, where the four violins are joined by the
others in an octet. Treating this as chamber music and leaving the decisions to
the players emphasized the whole program’s closeness to the chamber music
experience. By the end, the communication that this engendered between
performers and audience more than compensated for the lack of volume. The
orchestra of the Royal Capital City of Krakow offered a short, but energetics
dance movement as an encore.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Philip Spires
Author of five novels, short stories and book on rugby league
http://www.philipspires.co.uk</div>philipspireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03763496062924791120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050996816419155696.post-33444325439507504122023-10-29T15:19:00.002+01:002023-10-29T15:19:15.466+01:00Antonio Pappano, Yeol Eum Son and the London Symphony in Kendall, Liszt and Strauss in ADDA, Alicante<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEirfB4CWHmsUD70I8mxzNQrRaYXZwR4JfF7pc7OLIaa4SnixbCfYc-6jVOqnm19eiyx151AjBe9Mf-HTqZOhlvstHv_M4UmIk-m0DjAF_9P_Kd9iPFY3RN1QWoINPOEaCI7mJFsO4-5i4XKpZ0JRuJ11FsUxBoidWg22-hctsehXUShCmIf7zMMjqLcpeM" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="191" data-original-width="264" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEirfB4CWHmsUD70I8mxzNQrRaYXZwR4JfF7pc7OLIaa4SnixbCfYc-6jVOqnm19eiyx151AjBe9Mf-HTqZOhlvstHv_M4UmIk-m0DjAF_9P_Kd9iPFY3RN1QWoINPOEaCI7mJFsO4-5i4XKpZ0JRuJ11FsUxBoidWg22-hctsehXUShCmIf7zMMjqLcpeM" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When it comes to star billing, in the world of so-called classical music, there is no bigger ticket than Antonio Pappano directing the London Symphony Orchestra. The maestro, who perhaps will forever remain linked to his day job for decades, as the musical director of London</span><span dir="RTL" style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><span dir="RTL" style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">s Royal Opera House, is to take up the role of Chief Conductor with the LSO next year. This concert, already performed this month in London in the Barbican Hall, albeit with a different soloist, marks the start of that cooperation. Alicante’s ADDA audience last night had the privilege of sharing its music.</span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><p></p><p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The main work on the program was Richard Straus’s Also Sprach Zarathustra. It<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s one of the composer’s early tone poems, and, perhaps uniquely in music, is not only based on a book, but on a work at philosophy, albeit presented as a fiction. Nietzsche’s ideas announced to the universe that there was no God. And thus human beings must develop a new way of relating to experience, a new way of relating to the world in order to live. It was the will that now asserted itself, not a faith.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Strauss’s tone poem opens with finale, a brass fanfare complete with organ that has become a pop classic. What follows is veritably an examination of the breadth of experience that a symphony orchestra can present. So vast is the range of sonorities wrapped within this half hour that often the listener has no idea where the sound is coming from. Split strings, soloists from the front desk, widely spaced harmonies for unlikely pairings, a double bassoon and a tuba competing for the bottom space, married to a complexity of orchestration that is sometimes almost bewildering, all this contributes to the effect of this remarkable work.</span></p><p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">It is, however, fifty years since I last heard it in concert, and it might be fifty more before I attend again. For all its stunning sheen, there is also something lacking in its vision. Though Strauss insists on a programme of selected chapters from the book, too often I find alpine meadows, heroes, lions, dandy pranks, heraldic delusions, and even merry pranks surfacing. What is lacking, therefore, is an intellectual direction that justifies the title. It was Richard Strauss<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s problem: the music he wrote is undeniably wonderful.</span></p><p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The playing of the LSO was utterly wonderful. The sound of this orchestra seems to be more integrated, more balanced than most. But when a solo voice is needed to stand out, stand out it does, and with elegance. The evening finished with an encore of an eastern European dance, which added almost a full stop to the open ending, perhaps a question mark, pianissimo pizzicato, of the tone poem.</span></p><p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Earlier, we heard Yeol Eum Son in Liszt’s Totentanz. “Tour de force” could equally have been its title, for it makes huge demands on the soloist. It seemed, however, that Yeol Eum Son hardly noticed, so complete was her control over Liszt’s taxing variations. It was a superb performance, appreciated by the audience to the extent that Yeol Eum Son offered some Moskovsky Sparks as an encore.</span></p><p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The evening had started with a work commissioned by the LSO from Hannah Kendall, a British composer, who seems to win competition prizes at will. Many of her works examine cross-cultural musical forms, and “Oh, flower of fire” was indeed related to cultural identity expressed through sound, and this identity’s search for a home. Scored for a large orchestra, the work rarely used tutti. There were long periods when all the strings were silent, and then, when they were called to play, only made passing phrasal comment.</span></p><p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">But what this music was clearly about was the memory of West African music, as transplanted by slavery, the violent orchestral tutti, to the Caribbean. The doctored harps alongside percussion sounded like a kora being plucked in the marketplace. The violence of the orchestral interjections was surely calculated. And so, often at the limit of human hearing, surely implying the small voice of the oppressed, Hannah Kendall explored textures, sonorities and colours that were as surprising in 2023 as Richard Strauss’s surely were in 1896. In Hannah Kendall’s case, the philosophy was a more obvious part of the experience, perhaps because of the changes in human society, the rise of the individual, presaged by Nietzsche<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s argument. Now we are more atomized.</span></p><p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">At the end of the piece, Antonio Pappano actually conducted the audience. He clearly wanted silence to follow the last notes and an outstretched left arm with index finger extended kept everyone quiet for a good ten seconds.</span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Philip Spires
Author of five novels, short stories and book on rugby league
http://www.philipspires.co.uk</div>philipspireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03763496062924791120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050996816419155696.post-31250552809702043052023-10-23T15:29:00.004+02:002023-10-25T13:51:55.242+02:00Congyu Wang - 24 Oct Denia International Piano Festival<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Jqrb3TAaMb0ixBLbqe1760fIsQRlTlQYNgtvo70xvhd9DMC_Z0x0qdBIJ4kEzUlJJW6UtepyENs5gYfkEQgio_L_6bYRZgma-rIndNTU5rntLpahKYO3BpnlnooIUBHmEcOnZVaUb3CevSvbTvqf9WZ0oi80We498_6iEq2rZQmd1ycHQl00gzu-r0Y/s2488/IMG_20231023_0001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2488" data-original-width="1732" height="637" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Jqrb3TAaMb0ixBLbqe1760fIsQRlTlQYNgtvo70xvhd9DMC_Z0x0qdBIJ4kEzUlJJW6UtepyENs5gYfkEQgio_L_6bYRZgma-rIndNTU5rntLpahKYO3BpnlnooIUBHmEcOnZVaUb3CevSvbTvqf9WZ0oi80We498_6iEq2rZQmd1ycHQl00gzu-r0Y/w444-h637/IMG_20231023_0001.jpg" width="444" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNtQqP1eqw3N7o1Dww2HHxXQXyJX2cGHNRk9sL3F9Mopw7nncmlu7EJHkEQq8I0lkZYYbQGArrnFhYsykNDixlAg2qHqYafOp7EFTs4FPfamF05-IsD7R3gKesx0h4uMKx_DfsuoL7TWsffVIbOcvq8EzPdWZMiy5EHnX-TAQXRAkAOPERYzF8XTVelDo/s2484/IMG_20231023_0002.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2484" data-original-width="1744" height="693" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNtQqP1eqw3N7o1Dww2HHxXQXyJX2cGHNRk9sL3F9Mopw7nncmlu7EJHkEQq8I0lkZYYbQGArrnFhYsykNDixlAg2qHqYafOp7EFTs4FPfamF05-IsD7R3gKesx0h4uMKx_DfsuoL7TWsffVIbOcvq8EzPdWZMiy5EHnX-TAQXRAkAOPERYzF8XTVelDo/w487-h693/IMG_20231023_0002.jpg" width="487" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxeNDCh7CWIqTFCG_vnVmFcDt_nNv85pWmOsRSDUtco4QQuLRbK1aRARVvAWLi9sPNsjht4yQ4btlNKzn0rUA3i2vepTcLqV0eIgb50zASLoFwe0b7e5yXW1jQ5DRu-8ij5_Jr7Mr99FoYIxxlP0WWHZk00w8v-xMrekjwh4-5HHMRR33U50paFN00wsA/s2476/IMG_20231023_0003.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2476" data-original-width="1736" height="740" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxeNDCh7CWIqTFCG_vnVmFcDt_nNv85pWmOsRSDUtco4QQuLRbK1aRARVvAWLi9sPNsjht4yQ4btlNKzn0rUA3i2vepTcLqV0eIgb50zASLoFwe0b7e5yXW1jQ5DRu-8ij5_Jr7Mr99FoYIxxlP0WWHZk00w8v-xMrekjwh4-5HHMRR33U50paFN00wsA/w518-h740/IMG_20231023_0003.jpg" width="518" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ44imvNbjokDH24nlgKsXB1R5W8yitZ0X5Bi8gHKEJNuU58nET2OI7C5ETVqYKw5exprJpgVH9t2CoU44Yw22Y51KiXexfApRUagt-D1AreeQiaxkF2Tq8PyjZgpQSeFYN41mddSe_3ZmeqipcqDh7MPhFHyklvlXp41suLLQunGOgC1fAdk_yahWm5c/s2484/IMG_20231023_0004.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2484" data-original-width="1744" height="745" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ44imvNbjokDH24nlgKsXB1R5W8yitZ0X5Bi8gHKEJNuU58nET2OI7C5ETVqYKw5exprJpgVH9t2CoU44Yw22Y51KiXexfApRUagt-D1AreeQiaxkF2Tq8PyjZgpQSeFYN41mddSe_3ZmeqipcqDh7MPhFHyklvlXp41suLLQunGOgC1fAdk_yahWm5c/w523-h745/IMG_20231023_0004.jpg" width="523" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNormal">Congyu Wan's playing was
explosive and at the same time tender. He has definitely thought about every phrase. But he does
not over-shape or over-interpret. The emphasis is where it needs to be, the
rubato is applied, but never overdone. The dynamics are wide, but never over-emphasised. He has a tendency with Chopin to slow
the piano and accelerate the forte. In concert it works beautifully, but the approach might not get past a nit-picking reviewer on disc.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He chose to play the
Chopin Nocturne and the Liszt Liebestraum together, deliberately holding off
the applause at the end of the Chopin. The effect was to increase musical
tension. The Denia audience was spellbound to silenece anyway! Quite memorable. The Earl Wild arrangement of the Vocalise transforms
the melody into what sounds like another prelude to add to the Rachmaninov set.
There’s a central section that is explosive. After that the Kreisler Libeslied
sounds like a show-off piece, which is what it is, but the Rachmnaninov harmony
saves it and, indeed, makes it interesting. The Gershwin preludes again sounded more pianistic than usual. Just a
little research shows that Earl Wild reworked seven Gershwin Preludes – the usual
performance does the three that Gershwin himself published under the title.
These pieces were quite different. Highly pianistic and with recognisable
melodies that kept poking through the notes. The overall effect was wonderful
and simply put brought the house down.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After that, Congyu Wang then
embarked on Gaspard de la Nuit. Now this is a challenge at the best of times.
It is virtuosic in a way that perhaps only Ravel could write. It’s a style that
is unique. It sounds literally like no-one else. But what demands he makes to
mimic simplicity! One feels that Ravel always wanted to simplify, but the way
his mind worked was just different from the rest of us. The pianistic elements
don’t feel like decoration. They are essential elements in the music’s sense.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Congyu Wang’s playing
was breath-taking. The emphasis here was in the contrasts. Slow-fast, quiet-loud,
the contrasts seemed emphasised, but never mannered. Add to that the rhythmic tension that is always part of Ravel's thinking and the result is this masterpiece of the concert hall. He had really thought about
the overall shape of the piece and that came across with clarity. Just what the
rather strange mind of Maurice Ravel had in mind we will never know. What is
clear is that the place he lived was not quite in this universe, such a
transporting experience does his music offer - and this performance in particular.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And then, at the end
of the programme, we heard Aldoraba de Garcioso. This is Ravel in “Spanish” mode
and the audience will have been totally familiar with the musical phrases and
harmonies that keep surfacing in this consciousness stream that is pure Ravel.
The playing was again beyond brilliant, but always sympathetic, never spectacular
just for effect. Congyu Wang is a true artist.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There followed three
encores. Chopin, Debussy and more Chopin. The audience would have stayed for
more, but after a programme like that at least one person involved deserved a
rest.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p></div><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Philip Spires
Author of five novels, short stories and book on rugby league
http://www.philipspires.co.uk</div>philipspireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03763496062924791120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050996816419155696.post-86304026070330899872023-10-14T14:25:00.003+02:002023-10-14T14:25:15.041+02:00Memorable? You bet! Joe Alessi plays Chick Corea’s trombone Concerto at ADDA, Alicante<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The word memorable is much overused. It now tends to signify something that is rather bland, an experience unworthy of being labelled “world class”, “incredible”, “iconic” or some other meaningless malapropism. And if something is truly memorable, how long would we expect that memory to last? A minute? An hour? A lifetime?</span></p><p class="Body"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjc3ZmWykzWGwWEO3KWxEFWkLS4lHKKttALymXAhMC8W5wkK5C_RLU-KTKr3e9XBOJEsXFacb-rCLEyQf14hmmQC_7y5wO06U6hsUk_i9_3-MppoVddn0dWl7YUDnqE4ERedaZ11PmNf0rpkmja3J97lXZhKZWL_kbvP4fDXhUvsvGfZ0ufg9Uma1XUPwE" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="246" data-original-width="205" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjc3ZmWykzWGwWEO3KWxEFWkLS4lHKKttALymXAhMC8W5wkK5C_RLU-KTKr3e9XBOJEsXFacb-rCLEyQf14hmmQC_7y5wO06U6hsUk_i9_3-MppoVddn0dWl7YUDnqE4ERedaZ11PmNf0rpkmja3J97lXZhKZWL_kbvP4fDXhUvsvGfZ0ufg9Uma1XUPwE" width="200" /></a></p><p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Last night’s concert in ADDA, Alicante, was memorable. It</span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">s</span><span dir="LTR" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span dir="LTR" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span dir="LTR" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span dir="LTR" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> music alongside its experience will live in my own memory for the rest of my life. And it won</span><span dir="RTL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span dir="RTL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">t be at the level of a distancing or fading recollection. This musical experience will forever be vivid, enhanced by Chick Corea’s wholly original score, and Joe Alessi</span><span dir="RTL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span dir="RTL" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">s skilled and committed playing.</span></p><p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Trombone concertos have been pretty thin on the ground until recent years. That is strange, because the instrument, also known as the sackbut, has been an orchestral feature for many centuries. In the past, of course, before the technological enhancements of the last two centuries, the instrument might have been used purely primarily for volume and had a reputation for clumsiness. A change of key might even need a different instrument. No more.</span></p><p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Chick Corea was a famous performer. His most familiar style was jazz, performing as a soloist or alongside the great names of the musical language. Chick Corea the bandleader and improviser we know from recordings, but Chick Corea the composer is less well-known. The trombone concerto that Joe Alessi commissioned from him turned out to be his last composition. Chick Corea apparently wanted to end the work quietly, but Joe Alessi plucked up the courage to ask him to change approach and up the excitement at the end. One would never have known there had been any change, so wonderfully did the work communicate its intentions.</span></p><p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">What was so striking about the </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">music</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> was its apparently complete originality. Every phrase seemed to exist in a sound world new to the audience, to explore sonorities that even a concert goer with almost a lifetime of memories found not only surprising but striking. And these textures, generally, were delivered at a whisper, never a shout. Yes, there were jazz idioms, but there was also Charles Ives here (perhaps also walking around New York) and Copeland, amongst others. Presented as a stroll, followed by a couple of dances, punctuated by a little anguish, the music promised a relaxed meandering around tonal centres. But Chick Corea<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s rhythms, let alone his harmonies, are rarely predictable. Rhythms break, and there are hooks sticking out that catch you as you pass. The listener is constantly lulled into assured familiarity only to be presented with sonorities and trips that keep the concentration fixed on where the next step might fall. The dances and the strolls therefore force you to notice everything, because it may trip you up.</span></p><p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Memorable it was. It’s a work and a performance that will live in the mind as long as I do, not least because of Joe Alessi’s wonderful performance. It was not just virtuoso. It was committed in a way that communicated his obvious and complete love of the piece. And the ADDA audience in its entirety shared the emotion and commitment of all of the performers, who, collectively, and Joel, Alessi in particular, made their work and our evening so utterly memorable.</span></p><p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Joe Alessi played what he described as a love song as an encore, perfect he said, for a daybreak stroll along Alicante’s waterfront. And then, buy popular request, we heard the coda from Chick Corea’s concerto a second time, its high note ending asking the soloist to work hard again. I am sure it was a labour of love.</span></p><p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The rest of the concert will live alongside the memories. Mussorgky’s Night on a Bare Mountain opened the evening. The unconventional music of Mussorgsky was revelatory, if not, always competent or coherent. The piece, however, is a complete success in its orchestral version. Not all visionaries of capable of perfection, as Repin’s portrait of the composer graphically illustrates. There is a lot going on.</span></p><p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">And in the second half, we were presented with what promised to be the main event in the form of a performance of Stravinsky’s Firebird ballet, alongside a film by Lukas van Woerkum, which offered a suitably silent, balletic re-interpretation of the fairytale. The effect was spectacular, but personally, I found that the visual sometimes caught me not listening to the music. As ever, the ADDA orchestra under Josep Vicent played faultlessly and the interpretation was nothing less than both faithful and spectacular. The film did make me listen to the piece in a different way. It was memorable effect, however, on a memorable evening.</span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Philip Spires
Author of five novels, short stories and book on rugby league
http://www.philipspires.co.uk</div>philipspireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03763496062924791120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050996816419155696.post-44607202285252986722023-10-10T16:54:00.005+02:002023-10-11T16:38:11.710+02:00Stefanie Irany, Josep Vicent and ADDA orchestra in Strauss, Berlioz and Tchaikovsky<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjYKma1Q4LlCN2Bb8l_oabejMEdunYbfvvcblktvvP2-cPvwERDok-DgOV6cBYZ2z9GEskLBNlMAhfSDJrcsE0dnQR2x0dOmEWG79Vedo1JQDcy5d3GQgl0q8IfbvKfKtpVMWjpK9MvkCRXzkxBz4T5mE05NOe7pNKtUwgDiWobkL_vi_twH4WH_D6NlWY" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="299" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjYKma1Q4LlCN2Bb8l_oabejMEdunYbfvvcblktvvP2-cPvwERDok-DgOV6cBYZ2z9GEskLBNlMAhfSDJrcsE0dnQR2x0dOmEWG79Vedo1JQDcy5d3GQgl0q8IfbvKfKtpVMWjpK9MvkCRXzkxBz4T5mE05NOe7pNKtUwgDiWobkL_vi_twH4WH_D6NlWY" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Programa<p></p><p>Richard
Strauss, Muerte y Transfiguración Op.24 23:00</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;">Hector Berlioz,
La muerte de Cleopatra 22:00 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -36pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span lang="EN-US">I. </span><span style="text-indent: -36pt;">C’en est
donc fait! </span><span lang="EN-US" style="text-indent: -36pt;">03:00</span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -36pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">II. Ah! Qu’ils sont loin 07:00 </span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -36pt;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US">III. Méditation: Grand Pharaons
05:00 </span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -36pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;">IV.
Non!...non, de vos demeures funèbres 03:00 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -36pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;">V.
Dieux du Nil 04:00</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Piotr Ilyich
Tchaikovsky, Sinfonía núm. 6 Op.74 46:00 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -36pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">I.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;">Adagio
-Allegro non troppo 18:00 <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -36pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">II.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;">II.
Allegro con grazia 08:00 </span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -36pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">III.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;">III.
Allegro molto vivace 09:00 </span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -36pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">IV.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="ES" style="mso-ansi-language: ES;">IV.
Finale: Adagio lamentoso 11:00</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">A new season brings an
array of new faces. The composers and the works have figured before on
programmes throughout the world. But one of the joys of music is that in
performance it has the capacity to be different and fresher with each new
hearing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Personally, I cannot
remember having heard The Death of Cleopatra in concert. I only recently became
aware of the work via a broadcast recording. Now Berlioz is one of those
composers who nearly always fails to impress me. The works come with a
reputation for experiment, even overstatement, but too often I have found
performances very much “of their time”. The fault, I now think, lay with the
listener, who was always rather dismissive of this composer’s unique
achievement. I realised my folly last night, sitting in the audience, as
Stefanie Iranyi gave a spine-chilling performance of the work in front of
Alicante’s ADDA Orchestra.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">This music, so full of
drama and expression, was also highly surprising. It turned unexpectedly,
produced unfamiliar harmonies that seemed to communicate perfectly a sense of
antiquity both beyond reach and understanding. It might have been because the
ADDA audience was invited to participate in the story via projected text on the
back of the stage. Line by line, the words appeared as they were sung, so we
were able to share the drama and emotion of the piece more directly than if we
had to read and follow the sound. Also, Stefanie Iranyi gave a thoroughly
operatic performance which almost brought the ancient queen back to life.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Before the Berlioz, we
had been treated to a performance of Richard Strauss’s Death and
Transfiguration, a young man’s take on an imagined end of life. We were told in
the programme that Strauss himself on his deathbed told onlookers that he had
got it right all those years ago. Apocryphal or not, the young man’s take was
ultimately positive, since the apotheosis of the piece is to find peace.
Whether that peace was eternal or blissful, or just piecemeal, we will see. I
am always impressed at the range and depth of sound that Richard Strauss could
get from and orchestra.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">And so to
Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony, The Pathetique. I suppose there was a macabre
thread running through the programme – death, death and death - but in
Tchaikovsky’s case, the jury is still out as to whether the work is some form
of suicide note.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">It is a work that
simply grows and grows. The more exposure to this symphony one has, at least in
the concert hall, the better it gets. This is a work of profound intellect,
great emotion and wondrous technique, both with the orchestra and with the
structure of the piece. Personally, I could not care if Tchaikovsky did not
follow the precise rigours of sonata form. By the 1890s he had clearly
transcended such things. He had already become the kind of individual voice
that would populate the twentieth century. It is just a pity that he never made
it that far and more of a pity that the society that surrounded him had
attitudes that were backward looking. And has anyone ever written an emotional
leap like the one that happens between the last bars of the third movement and
the opening of the fourth?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">And what about the end
of the work, with that repeated motif in the double basses? Did not
Shostakovich use the same idea – even almost he same music! – at the end of the
infamous fourth? It would be stupid to suggest that some music might be ahead
of its time.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Philip Spires
Author of five novels, short stories and book on rugby league
http://www.philipspires.co.uk</div>philipspireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03763496062924791120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050996816419155696.post-74200154925045606192023-10-10T16:50:00.005+02:002023-10-10T16:50:38.148+02:00The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafaq<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgDFJIK2OpdqswAQ0Gv-dbU_7a0s7ZIlj7ZUZLTt9qnyWVLBCHo6b4kMx_pfFo_2eLubrPJ43399AGG3BYITb7pMr0qg5Ng4rJDISGy0Wv07QxTZvzXrhbo3GJk_jnjfEc7K6abeDIitGlDkkdq0QwMTK7a3QjjI38yqbwWuNQOIwRWFqwLvuaVRoL0e9w" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="218" data-original-width="142" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgDFJIK2OpdqswAQ0Gv-dbU_7a0s7ZIlj7ZUZLTt9qnyWVLBCHo6b4kMx_pfFo_2eLubrPJ43399AGG3BYITb7pMr0qg5Ng4rJDISGy0Wv07QxTZvzXrhbo3GJk_jnjfEc7K6abeDIitGlDkkdq0QwMTK7a3QjjI38yqbwWuNQOIwRWFqwLvuaVRoL0e9w" width="156" /></a></div>The
Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafaq is a novel about Cyprus and its recent
history. Via the love affair and developing relationship between Kostas and
Defne, the author examines the recent history of Cyprus during the post World
War Two period. This era included several significant events, which are still
playing out today.<p></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Cyprus
was a British colony. It was, and still is a British military base, which was
why calls for independence in the 1950s and 1960s were covered so extensively
in the British media. There were, in fact, two approaches that were dominant
within Greek Cypriot society. One was union with Greece, the other
independence. Neither, of course, was acceptable to the ethnically Turkish
population of the island. Eventual unified independence from Britain lasted
only until 1974 when Turkey invaded the north of the island, and divided it
remains today.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">All
of this is relevant to the plot of Elif Shafaq’s novel, since the book
describes a love affair between a Greek-speaking boy and a Turkish-speaking
girl. They were, of course, both Cypriots, but language confers and confirms
identity, and this liaison definitely crossed lines of taboo that were seen as
uncrossable.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Add
to that the fact that the place that allowed them to see each other was a bar
run by a cross-community gay couple and thus here are assembled all the issues
that a writer might want to address in the novel about Cyprus.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Also,
at the center of this tale, ostensibly about Cypriot politics and inter-community
relations, the character of a fig tree watches over things. The tree knows
about jet lag, can talk to mice, parrots, birds in general and many other
animals, as well as other trees. It does not seem able to communicate directly with
people, however. There is a resolution of plot, which explains why the fig tree
becomes a central element book, but the device is not at all convincing, and is
perhaps over sentimental.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">We
meet Kostas and Defne via their daughter, Ada, who lives in London, and has
suffered an outburst at school. She is of an age that initially does not
suggest that she could be the daughter of the two young lovers, but history
twists the young couple’s lives, and all is revealed. Defne has recently died
and her sister is living with Kostas and Ada because the daughter has seemed to
suffer.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Defne
drank. She suffered guilt and there emerged a need to uncover the past. Kostas,
rather surprisingly, became a botanist and truly values his trees. After a
period of separation, they meet again, by which time Defne is trying to unearth
remains of her island’s trajedy. Eventually, the reason for Ada’s outburst at
school is examined, but hardly resolved.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
Island of Missing Trees is a beautifully told story about a couple whose love
could not originally bridge the gap between the communities. The character of
the fig tree seems to emerge, however, when the author deemed she needed to
inform the reader of something related to plot, and that alone makes the book
somewhat less than satisfying.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Philip Spires
Author of five novels, short stories and book on rugby league
http://www.philipspires.co.uk</div>philipspireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03763496062924791120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050996816419155696.post-35457761951072533742023-10-10T16:48:00.003+02:002023-10-10T16:48:31.712+02:00United States - Essays 1952-1992 by Gore Vidal.<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEijfyoFyepxfqH8yb6u60Fllj6QkBwCRatfgeVWxERKxO9IL5tvUZjqgreWtcgW92HPHiKKThuZiA8M0nIyJlYCNJaGz-C8mMgN4LfwYfrsHhtwQF3fYeeDZNeIOV-NenOE5WFZ1Vvq5Poh4vo1q8yiiCpxkI5TD9hH_QIpAWO8N1Mbvt92exunVIHr4U8" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="218" data-original-width="218" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEijfyoFyepxfqH8yb6u60Fllj6QkBwCRatfgeVWxERKxO9IL5tvUZjqgreWtcgW92HPHiKKThuZiA8M0nIyJlYCNJaGz-C8mMgN4LfwYfrsHhtwQF3fYeeDZNeIOV-NenOE5WFZ1Vvq5Poh4vo1q8yiiCpxkI5TD9hH_QIpAWO8N1Mbvt92exunVIHr4U8" width="240" /></a></div>I remember watching Gore Vidal on television, usually
on one of those talk shows he seems to view with contempt. He seemed to be a
living opinion. Switch him on and opinions stream out. But usually those
opinions, though often partisan and colourfully stated, we’re always pertinent,
well-informed and incisive, despite the fact that, verbally at least, he tended
to play the Gore Verbose, often using five words where one would do. But what
words they were.<p></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">In print, he is much more economical with language,
and often delivers a point like a poniard stab. Succinct perhaps is a strange
word to describe a book that runs just short of 1300 pages and around 600,000
words. But this is a collection of essays, criticisms and occasional pieces
spanning forty years, 114 of them, loosely bound into three sections - State of
The Art, State of the Union, and State of Being. Literary criticism forms the
bulk of the material, with the politics the author became famous for largely
intruding as asides and comments. There is very little here on the process of
his own writing, so this is far from autobiography. When he does engage with
his own work, it is often to answer criticism of what he wrote. In these
instances, he does not pull the punches he throws.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The wit is certainly there, as are many of the super
egos of US politics, media and literature, not to mention a sprinkling from
Hollywood. But here Gore Vidal is mainly analysing the written word, both from
his contemporaries and from the past. Here is my own selection of that wit.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">On criticism. The best a serious analyst (of a novel)
can hope to do is comment intelligibly from his vantage point in time on the
way a work appears to him in a contemporary, a comparative, or historical light.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">On changing taste. The bad movies we made twenty years
ago are now regarded in altogether too many circles as important aspects of
what the new illiterates want to believe is the only significant art form of
the twentieth century.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">On education and Reagan. Obviously, there is a great
deal wrong with our educational system, as President Reagan recently, and
rather gratuitously, noted. After all, an educated electorate would not have
elected him president.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">On stars. In England, after Guelph-Pooters and that
con-man for all seasons, Churchill, Bloomsbury is the most popular continuing
saga for serious readers.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">On Ford Madox Ford. Certainly, Ford never lied
deliberately in order to harm others, as did Truman Capote, or to make himself
appear brave and strong and true as did Hemingway, whose own lying finally
became a sort of art-form by the time he got round to settling his betters’
hash in A Moveable Feast. Ford’s essential difference was the fact that he was
all along what he imagined himself to be that latter day unicorn, a gentleman.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">On attitudes. Today’s reader wants to look at himself,
to find out who he is, with an occasional glimpse of his next-door neighbor.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">On literacy. Having explained that rulers never wanted
general literacy, on the grounds that it might provoke ideas of revolution. The
more you read, the more you act. In fact, the French - who read and theorise
the most - became so addicted to political experiment that in the two centuries
sine our own rather drab revolution they have exuberantly produced one
Directory, one Consulate, two empires, three restorations of the monarchy, and
five republics. That’ what happens when you take writing too seriously.
Happily, Americans have never liked reading all that much. Politically
ignorant, we keep sputtering along in our old Model T, looking wistfully every
four years for a good mechanic.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">On empire. Historians often look to the Roman Empire
to find analogies with the United States. They flatter us. We do not live under
the Pax Americana, but the Pax Frigida. I should not look to Rome for
comparison but rather to the Most Serene Venetian Republic, a pedestrian state
devoted to wealth, comfort, trade, and keeping the peace, especially after
inheriting the wreck of the Byzantine Empire, as we have inherited the wreck of
the British Empire.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">On ornithologists. To a man, ornithologists are tall,
slender, and bearded so that they can stand motionless for hours, imitating
kindly trees, as they watch for birds.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">On a Moscow hotel. We had all met at the Rossya Hotel
in Moscow. According to the Russians, it is the largest hotel in the world.
Whether or not this is true, the Rossy’s charm is not unlike that of New York’s
Attica Prison.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">I confess I once
stayed in The Rossya, and for more than one night. It was colossal and was
demolished because its unimaginative glassed-in concrete box kept intruding
into pictures of Red Square, Basil’s and the Kremlin. I was told not only which
room to use, but also which entrance, with the qualification that “it might be
difficult” if we use any of the other doors. Red rag to a bull… Yes, we
accessed the place via one of those other entrances and we found that inside the
place was a veritable rabbit warren, with floors in one part of the building
not matching floors elsewhere. We got so lost that we had to find our way back
outside and approach our room from our usual entrance.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">It is an image that
informs a review of this book, in that taken as a whole, it is a very long,
arduous and at times repetitive read. I am sure that the publishers and
certainly the author wanted these pieces to be read singly, and that way the
ideas remain fresh.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Overall, we are
reminded that the standard of debate, both political and literary, has declined
since Gore Vidal left us these superb essays.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Philip Spires
Author of five novels, short stories and book on rugby league
http://www.philipspires.co.uk</div>philipspireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03763496062924791120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050996816419155696.post-69173297801914524022023-10-04T11:53:00.001+02:002023-10-10T16:55:09.497+02:00Denia International Piano Festival, 4 Oct 2023<p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiYYg9gMzejq8CzaZhtNWbbYZTkHlwhuqk_t8o_i4JlWczaE-GPfSZc2nZ_C6y5itW7jKTNcIL6m9ZwbwabGbBYz7oZivjEVirO23GuE06EmrqPRw2ahhYQh5AMe8IxuXkdp3Pg39-GEUkIsnUi9zW398UE_DdmImjtmfSP1atL1Ta_I42DAqW3spy1rtY" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="753" data-original-width="525" height="625" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiYYg9gMzejq8CzaZhtNWbbYZTkHlwhuqk_t8o_i4JlWczaE-GPfSZc2nZ_C6y5itW7jKTNcIL6m9ZwbwabGbBYz7oZivjEVirO23GuE06EmrqPRw2ahhYQh5AMe8IxuXkdp3Pg39-GEUkIsnUi9zW398UE_DdmImjtmfSP1atL1Ta_I42DAqW3spy1rtY=w435-h625" width="435" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjcx4WOsoO2r-UOPvOAzaFizz_6YvTnVvH3RPgrJQ4nbJ9UH3VLzcNV82hxK9QYJn2K9db_3EhX5ceLtuxW2YipIVvjiWwk7v0uAYot0Qir8fJ1U2wmXuuiFWrkmIKlyPcL0aRdIwjPS703WPBsJBu_uXd4lQfLU3YG4lyhFB9DxoLbBJAoSzGRFZp0bkk" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="647" data-original-width="518" height="549" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjcx4WOsoO2r-UOPvOAzaFizz_6YvTnVvH3RPgrJQ4nbJ9UH3VLzcNV82hxK9QYJn2K9db_3EhX5ceLtuxW2YipIVvjiWwk7v0uAYot0Qir8fJ1U2wmXuuiFWrkmIKlyPcL0aRdIwjPS703WPBsJBu_uXd4lQfLU3YG4lyhFB9DxoLbBJAoSzGRFZp0bkk=w438-h549" width="438" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: justify; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-word; text-justify: inter-word;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="it" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: justify; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-word; text-justify: inter-word;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="it" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: justify; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-word; text-justify: inter-word;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="it" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: justify; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-word; text-justify: inter-word;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="it" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: justify; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-word; text-justify: inter-word;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="it" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: justify; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-word; text-justify: inter-word;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="it" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: justify; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-word; text-justify: inter-word;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="it" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: justify; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-word; text-justify: inter-word;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="it" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: justify; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-word; text-justify: inter-word;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="it" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: justify; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-word; text-justify: inter-word;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="it" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: justify; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-word; text-justify: inter-word;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="it" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: justify; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-word; text-justify: inter-word;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="it" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: justify; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-word; text-justify: inter-word;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="it" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: justify; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-word; text-justify: inter-word;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="it" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: justify; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-word; text-justify: inter-word;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="it" style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: widow-orphan; text-align: justify; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-word; text-justify: inter-word;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="it" style="font-weight: bold;">Istv</span><span lang="it" style="font-weight: bold;">á</span><span lang="it" style="font-weight: bold;">n I. Sz</span><span lang="it" style="font-weight: bold;">é</span><span lang="it" style="font-weight: bold;">kely</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-word; text-justify: inter-word;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-GB" style="font-style: italic;">István is a concert pianist and internationally recognised teacher. He is </span><span lang="en-GB" style="font-style: italic;">Professor at the Conservatorio Superior Katarina Gurska in Madrid and professor at Franz Liszt Center for special talents. </span><span lang="en-GB" style="font-style: italic;"> He has been invited to give Master Classes in many countries and he is a frequent jury member in international competitions such as the Franz Liszt International Competition in Rome (Italy), the Takács Competition in Oberschützen (Austria). He is founder, president and artistic director or Ars Alta Cultural and via this group staged the first Gonzalo Soriano Piano competition in Alicante earlier this year. He is the winner of several awards in national and international competitions. Since the age of 15 he has given recitals in Europe, the United States, South America and Asia, such as Alexandria and New Harmony (Indianapolis, USA), the International Piano Festival in Bucaramanga, International Piano Festival in Barrancabermeja, the cycle "International Season in Manizales" (Colombia), and many more. He has performed in many notable venues such as the Palacio de Cibeles in Madrid, Palau de la Música in Valencia, Teatro Principal de Alcoy, congress center "Victor Villegas" in Murcia, in the "Adoc", in the University of Burgos, in the International Chamber Music Festival in Calpe, in "Dénia Classics", Aula de la Cam in Alicante, Teulada Auditorium, La Beneficencia in Valencia, in the Auditorio de la Diputación, "ADDA" in Alicante, Auditorium Mediterrania in La Nucia among others. He has performed in private concert for the Princess of Thailand S.A.R. Chulabhorn Mahidol. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-word; text-justify: inter-word;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="es">István es concertista de piano y profesor reconocido internacionalmente. Es </span><span lang="en-GB">Profesor en el Conservatorio Superior Katarina Gurska en Madrid y en el Centro Franz Liszt para talentos. </span><span lang="es">Ha sido invitado a impartir Master Classes en muchos países y es miembro frecuente del jurado en concursos internacionales como el Concurso Internacional Franz Liszt en Roma (Italia), el Concurso Takács en Oberschützen (Austria). Es fundador, presidente y director artístico de Ars Alta Cultural y a través de este grupo organizó el primer concurso de piano Gonzalo Soriano en Alicante a principios de este año. Es ganador de varios premios en concursos nacionales e internacionales. Desde los 15 años ha dado recitales en Europa, Estados Unidos, Sudamérica y Asia, como Alexandria y New Harmony (Indianápolis, EE.UU.), el Festival Internacional de Piano de Bucaramanga, Festival Internacional de Piano de Barrancabermeja, el ciclo "Internacional Temporada en anizales” (Colombia), y muchos más. Ha actuado en numerosos espacios destacados como el Palacio de Cibeles de Madrid, Palau de la Música de Valencia, Teatro Principal de Alcoy, centro de congresos "Victor Villegas" de Murcia, en el "Adoc", en la Universidad de Burgos, en el Festival Internacional de Música de Cámara de Calpe, en “Dénia Classics”, Aula de la Cam de Alicante, Auditorio de Teulada, La Beneficencia de Valencia, en el Auditorio de la Diputación, “ADDA” de Alicante, Auditorio Mediterrania de La Nucia entre otros. Ha actuado en concierto privado para la Princesa de Tailandia S.A.R. Chulabhorn Mahidol.</span><span lang="it" style="font-style: italic;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 107%; margin-bottom: 8.0pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span style="font-weight: bold; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Yaron Traub</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-GB" style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Yaron Traub, a native of Israel, is one of the most recognized conductors in Spain, was Principal and Artistic Director of the Valencia Orchestra from 2005 to 2017. Since winning the Prize at the IV International Kondrashin Conducting Competition in Amsterdam in 1998, Yaron Traub has had a very interesting international career conducting some of the most prestigious symphonic ensembles in the world. During his twelve years of leadership of the Valencia Orchestra, he contributed decisively to the recognition of the Valencia Orchestra as a high-level ensemble and consolidated the regular presence of great international soloists alongside the Valencian ensemble.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-GB" style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Committed to education through music, Yaron Traub has strongly promoted pedagogical activities in the orchestra. As an exemplary extension of his commitment to education, Traub, together with his wife Anja, founded a bilingual international secondary school in 2012 with a strong focus on music, art and drama education.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="es"><span style="font-size: medium;">Yaron Traub, natural de Israel, es uno de los directores más reconocidos de España, fue Director Titular y Artístico de la Orquesta de Valencia de 2005 a 2017. Desde que ganó el Premio en el IV Concurso Internacional de Dirección Kondrashin en Ámsterdam en 1998, Yaron Traub ha tenido una carrera internacional muy interesante dirigiendo algunos de los conjuntos sinfónicos más prestigiosos del mundo. Durante sus doce años al frente de la Orquesta de Valencia contribuyó decisivamente al reconocimiento de la Orquesta de Valencia como formación de alto nivel y consolidó la presencia habitual de grandes solistas internacionales junto a la formación valenciana.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 107%; margin-bottom: 8.0pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"><span lang="es" style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Comprometido con la educación a través de la música, Yaron Traub ha impulsado fuertemente las actividades pedagógicas en la orquesta. Como una extensión ejemplar de su compromiso con la educación, Traub, junto con su esposa Anja, fundó una escuela secundaria internacional bilingüe en 2012 con un fuerte enfoque en la educación musical, artística y dramática.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 107%; margin-bottom: 8.0pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan;"></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-GB">Ars Alta Cultural, </span><span lang="en-GB" style="font-style: italic;">www.arsaltacultural.com<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-GB" style="font-style: italic;">Presidente y Director Art</span><span lang="en-GB" style="font-style: italic;">í</span><span lang="en-GB" style="font-style: italic;">stico - Istv</span><span lang="en-GB" style="font-family: "Goudy Old Style"; font-style: italic;">á</span><span lang="en-GB" style="font-style: italic;">n I. Sz</span><span lang="en-GB" style="font-style: italic;">é</span><span lang="en-GB" style="font-style: italic;">kely</span><span lang="en-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="en-GB" style="language: en-GB; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-align: center;"><span lang="en-GB"><span style="font-size: medium;">facebook: ars.alta.cultural<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-GB">email: </span><a href="https://correo.movistar.es/appsuite/#"><span lang="en-GB" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">arsaltacultural@gmail.com</span></a><span lang="en-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-GB">Para </span><span lang="en-GB">recibir detalles de nuestras actividades y conciertos, envie un correo electronico </span><span lang="en-GB">á</span><span lang="en-GB"> </span><a href="https://correo.movistar.es/appsuite/#"><span lang="en-GB" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">arsaltacultural@gmail.com</span></a><span lang="en-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-pagination: none;"><span lang="en-GB" style="language: en-GB; mso-ligatures: none;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><br /><p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Philip Spires
Author of five novels, short stories and book on rugby league
http://www.philipspires.co.uk</div>philipspireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03763496062924791120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050996816419155696.post-42342683889486390642023-04-28T15:59:00.001+02:002023-04-28T15:59:40.047+02:00Pinchas Zuckerman with the Sinfonia Varsovia in Penderecki, Schubert and Beethoven – a real delicacy<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl6u87E54UXQTWZfhNyKp47G3Ge3W093axeyPfJlfLin8Z9pMo9DxE8qfNhP8lD1s7e7_m67nO5JnPT6oXdVGOOSFrefdwkpsHp91_PKkGXm_v9rikrd4-cV-9DmbX5pLEwEaGiwiqnZHC0hb2wUGaf593FXLmVt1p3Uubc0zk8UAGhiRJp6AT61iA/s1200/poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="870" data-original-width="1200" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl6u87E54UXQTWZfhNyKp47G3Ge3W093axeyPfJlfLin8Z9pMo9DxE8qfNhP8lD1s7e7_m67nO5JnPT6oXdVGOOSFrefdwkpsHp91_PKkGXm_v9rikrd4-cV-9DmbX5pLEwEaGiwiqnZHC0hb2wUGaf593FXLmVt1p3Uubc0zk8UAGhiRJp6AT61iA/s320/poster.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
word “delicacy” can mean many things. It can signify refinement in a
personality, something good to eat, or describe something too fragile to
handle. Situations can be delicate, also, and perhaps Pinchas Zuckerman,
despite his many years of the peak of his musical and performing powers, felt
that last night’s concert in Alicante qualified as a rather “delicate” occasion.</span><p></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
Sinfonia Varsovia’s advertised conductor,</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Tatsuya
Shomono, had to cancel his leadership of this concert, which had originally
planned a performance of Bruckner</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">s Fourth Symphony, after the first
half when Pinchas Zuckerman would play the Beethoven violin concerto. But the
conductor was ill and could not travel. So Pinchas Zuckerman picked up the baton
as well. Or, rather, he didn</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">t, because he didn</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">t use
one!</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">A
change of program saw the Beethoven Concerto moved to the second half, and the
new first half presented works by Penderecki and Schubert. The Sinfonia
Varsovia string players opened the evening with Penderecki’s Chaconne In Memoriam
Pope John Paul II. And they played it without a conductor, with apparently all
the delicate communication skills of a chamber ensemble. Delicate also applied
to the music, which seemed to examine, and then re-examine feelings of loss.
Played thus, seemingly without active direction, save for a gesture, or a bow
stroke from the lender, the Penderecki Chaconne began this evening in a
thoroughly original way, though quietly, without show, with delicacy.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Pinchas
Zuckerman then conducted Schubert’s Symphony No. 5. In this work, a young
Schubert takes his compositional lead from Mozart and Haydn. The music exudes
control, form, structure and process, rather paroxysms of emotion. And, as
such, it worked beautifully, allowing the orchestra again to play like a
chamber group with elegance, poise and, yes, delicacy.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">After
the interval, Pinchas Zukerman, was soloist and director for Beethoven</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">s Violin
Concerto. Now I have often heard the soloist treating this work as if it</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>
is</span><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span> a grandiose statement, as if every phrase needs staccato
attached. And so this evening’s performance by Pinchas Zuckerman came as a real
surprise, almost like a breath of fresh, delicate air. He stressed the shape
and phrasing of this music and, crucially, demonstrated how the soloist blends
with, interacts with, and times contradicts the orchestral accompaniment.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
first heard Pinchas Zuckeran in London’s South Bank about half a century ago
and I don</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">t remember the concert. But I will
remember this location, especially for the refined, and subtle delicacy that he
brought to the music and the occasion.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Visibly
tired by the end, he kept returning to the platform since the ADDA audience
never wants to let anyone have an easy time. He did offer an encore, a short
cradle song, to which he invited the audience to “Sing along”. It was a grand,
memorable, delicate gesture.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Philip Spires
Author of five novels, short stories and book on rugby league
http://www.philipspires.co.uk</div>philipspireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03763496062924791120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050996816419155696.post-51226408558997842172023-04-22T17:34:00.002+02:002024-01-08T20:49:51.729+01:00The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with Narek Hakhnazarayan under Vasily Petrenko in Dvorak and Tchaikovsky at ADDA, Alicante<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqTBb0Tz9_8BL5FXUX97f3p7gPBl08JOzTnOMfAL_g0BCEGMJ_q9Qspq3MDw_dObVsnBRW8rk_3M8BI-yBDrWkeSLNKeflju0C3IFGFSYJKf4a7Rj_Phhe4tTbI7bog243aW-8xpu2nOG6b0XrEcMJ9cl04Oj1VOEdHYC57ObKKQNi7MfPCZ_drAcM/s264/download.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="191" data-original-width="264" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqTBb0Tz9_8BL5FXUX97f3p7gPBl08JOzTnOMfAL_g0BCEGMJ_q9Qspq3MDw_dObVsnBRW8rk_3M8BI-yBDrWkeSLNKeflju0C3IFGFSYJKf4a7Rj_Phhe4tTbI7bog243aW-8xpu2nOG6b0XrEcMJ9cl04Oj1VOEdHYC57ObKKQNi7MfPCZ_drAcM/s1600/download.jpeg" width="264" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Mixing the familiar with the less familiar is a common
programming tool. The popular work brings them in, and you broaden the audience’s
taste - or even surprise them! - with the less well-known. That seemed to be
the theme underpinning the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s approach to their
concert in Alicante under Vasily Petrenko. Honorary Scouser, Vasily Petrenko,
presented a Czech concerto and a Russian symphony by </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">household names,
Dvorak and Tchaikovsky, but whereas the cello concerto of the former is
performed perhaps daily, the Manfred Symphony of Tchaikovsky rarely makes it
onto the concert platform. It would seem to be a matter of resources and costs,
because the work lasts for almost an hour, needs a large orchestra, including two
harps and an organ, and also the composer conveniently provided</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">lower cost alternatives in his
last symphonies, which are easier to stage. In over fifty years of concert-going,
this was my first Manfred.</span><p></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Soloist in the Dvorak was Narek Hakhnazarayan. Now
this work is so well-known, it is hard to find surprise in its delivery. What
one can do is marvel at the remarkable control, married to perfect expression
and phrasing demonstrated by a Narek Hakhnazarayan. Our soloist used to be a BBC
New Generation Artist and he clearly has good relations with other British institutions,
such as the RPO. Only in his early thirties, he is already in receipt of a national
honour from his home country, Armenia. He must have played the Dvorak Concerto
many times, but his approach displayed a freshness and vitality that completely
won over this Alicante audience.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">But what really caught the audience’s attention was
the soloist’s choice of encore. There was even a ripple of applause at his
announcement, and then he started playing the finale of the Suite for Solo
Cello by Gaspard Cassado. Much less well-known than his near contemporary,
Pablo Casals, Cassado was a composer as well as a cellist. He mixed the
identifiable Spanish with late Romanticism, and enough contemporary hard edge
to make his music much more than mere lollipop. Casado<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s
music is still not heard very much, and almost not at all outside Spain. Narek
Hakhnazarayan was inspired in his choice, as well as in his playing.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">And then we moved on to Tchaikovsky’s Manfred. The
program notes referred to Berlioz and a desire to produce a programme symphony.
Also mentioned was the fact that it was originally Balakirev’s idea. But this
is quintessential Tchaikovsky, mixed with the dark heroism and mysticism of
Byron’s heroic poem.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The result is a symphony of conventional shape and
form, with four movements, complete with scherzo and slow movement in the
interior. And does this work feel different from Tchaikovsky’s other
symphonies, given its programmatic brief</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: ZH-TW;">?</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"> The answer is “yes”, absolutely yes. But all the
compositional characteristics of the composer are there, certainly recognisable
but perhaps developed in a different way from what we are used to.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The Manfred Symphony is a perfect example of how good
a composer Tchaikovsky was. Not only is Manfred convincing as absolute music,
even for those who have no knowledge of Byron, but the skill is such that
elements of the story’s narrative become clear via the music. There is a
personal style in evidence, there is no doubt about that, but there is also the
intellectual subtlety of writing to depict something else, something from some
other imagination, reinterpreted. Tchaikovsky<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s
Manfred is an exciting, exhilarating piece that should be experienced as often
as his fourth, fifth and sixth symphonies.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Philip Spires
Author of five novels, short stories and book on rugby league
http://www.philipspires.co.uk</div>philipspireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03763496062924791120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050996816419155696.post-72449595271582112732023-04-16T13:24:00.001+02:002023-04-16T13:24:19.540+02:00Surprise, surprise – Bergmann and Baldeyrou play Sibelius, Weber and Franck in ADDA, Alicante<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiSLuTaRHojgDyp49sUKTLgP6PwgrRvMjNJS1m8a-R0kAm7t1uR8yJ3MO6rgkDPLFNQESkiXg7TTEyRnDdKH-_kZAa8Owsilu9_FIs5iWsHvwLknosaTWJkv6WFpOl9_tn-bcXq4qp6yiokI9Ht4TlobEV1sQemaYD9DB0wV7ge7rxQ092Ao9Keptg3" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="192" data-original-width="457" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiSLuTaRHojgDyp49sUKTLgP6PwgrRvMjNJS1m8a-R0kAm7t1uR8yJ3MO6rgkDPLFNQESkiXg7TTEyRnDdKH-_kZAa8Owsilu9_FIs5iWsHvwLknosaTWJkv6WFpOl9_tn-bcXq4qp6yiokI9Ht4TlobEV1sQemaYD9DB0wV7ge7rxQ092Ao9Keptg3" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Surprise, surprise might seem an incongruous title for
the review of a concert which seemed to offer a-middle-of-the-road programme.
Sibelius’s Finlandia began the evening – it often does. Call Maria von Weber’s Clarinet
Concerto is not played in concert as much as it should be, but its inclusion
raises no eyebrows. César Franck’s Symphony in D Minor, again, is not played
very often, but it’s a work that everyone knows about, though for most concert
goers it's hardly commonplace. So, given the familiar appearance of the
program, what was surprising?</span><p></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Well, the personnel were unfamiliar. We had our
regular band, our ADDA orchestra, but our guest conductor was the Norwegian
Pune Bergmann, who was making his debut in this hall. His entrance provided the
evening<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s first surprise. Rune Bergmann is
a big man, but he is also quite amazingly jovial, his smile appearing to
stretch right across the string section. It seemed like the celebration of
Finland<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s identity was being directed by a
laughing, Norwegian mountain, laughing out of the sheer joy of the music, I
hasten to add. Musically there were no surprises here, just our usual quality.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The second surprise came with our soloist, Nicolas Baldeyrou.
Few concert goers ever hear a clarinet concerto. For most who do, it<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s probably one written by Mozart, with Weber<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s work coming a distant second in the list.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Now Weber’s Clarinet Concerto was doubly surprising.
First the playing of Nicolas Baldeyrou was nothing less than outstanding. His
understanding of the music alongside his wonderful communication with conductor
and orchestra made this performance of the work I have heard in recordings and
broadcasts innumerable times something completely new. Especially surprising
was the slow movement, which times reached pianissimos that were on the limits
of hearing, and as a result, all the more dramatic and poignant. This
performance will live for ever in the memory, so beautifully crafted and played
that it became a completely new experience.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The ADDA audience does tend to bring soloists back on
stage for another bow. We are used to demanding an encore. But this ADDA
audience’s reaction to Nicolas Baldeyrou was special. The communal recognition
that this with something special was almost tangible. The demanded encore was
given, and it was again a surprise.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">It was the Habañera from Bizet’s Carmen, arranged for
clarinet and orchestra. And it was more than a showpiece, more than a lollipop
to quieten the crowd. Faultless playing, communicative ensemble, again combined
to create a new, surprising experience from what was immediately familiar.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">A symphony in name, Cesar Franck’s D Minor has only
three movements, two of which are marked allegro, thought you would never know
it. Not really a master of orchestration, Franck seems to have concentrated on
the storytelling. The musical lines evolve like the narrative of a novel, so
that this symphony becomes more like a tone poem than an argument. And, after
living in the world of minor keys for most of its duration, the long first movement
surprisingly, and without warning, suddenly finds its conclusion in a major
key. It<span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL"></span>’</span>s all quite baffling, like a
believer questioning a faith that suddenly returns, dispelling doubt.</span></p>
<p class="Body"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">And yes, there was an encore. Rune Bergmann again turned
to the audience and again smiled that broad grin. “Edvard Grieg La Mañana”, he
said. It was the first piece of classical music I ever heard, but it wasn’t <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in Spanish.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Philip Spires
Author of five novels, short stories and book on rugby league
http://www.philipspires.co.uk</div>philipspireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03763496062924791120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1050996816419155696.post-66763892577639180632023-04-04T12:07:00.002+02:002023-04-04T12:07:59.555+02:00Normal People by Sally Rooney<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbk9NDd83MXBm8alxCOye9SqPwd5xNFf2xhS3yttxNT-LdhWouRIjUx6pzJoanlO5CR_LAi9cjIDqlne8bH_0lqBFCN2Cuopvzre2oa3msvwyeehO43DUNfMa-KB2IBlnyEUljzQayFDO488GBUY6J86z-3e46FxqK-ZyMm5bknZ4SYv3YBgC0pM2s/s293/41thY9srakL._SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_FMwebp_.webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="293" data-original-width="183" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbk9NDd83MXBm8alxCOye9SqPwd5xNFf2xhS3yttxNT-LdhWouRIjUx6pzJoanlO5CR_LAi9cjIDqlne8bH_0lqBFCN2Cuopvzre2oa3msvwyeehO43DUNfMa-KB2IBlnyEUljzQayFDO488GBUY6J86z-3e46FxqK-ZyMm5bknZ4SYv3YBgC0pM2s/s1600/41thY9srakL._SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_FMwebp_.webp" width="183" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Sally Rooney’s Normal People is a hugely successful
and very widely read novel about millennials. It concentrates on the
relationships that develop in a group of school graduates as they transition
from school to university, concentrating on and then majoring in their sex
lives. It does this not to the exclusion of all else, but its preoccupation is
overt and is as all-consuming for the reader as it probably was for the
characters.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">At the novel’s core are the ongoing, developing,
changing, breaking, tortuous, steamy, lustful, intellectual, repeated, animal
though never committed relationships between Connell and Marianne. They are
from Sligo, went to school together and then migrated together to Trinity
College, Dublin. So much for their similarities.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Amongst the differences one is of paramount
importance. Connell is male and Marianne is female, a contrast that sees them
come together fruitfully and often in combination to qualify several of the
adjectives that described their relationship in the last paragraph. Important
amongst the differences, but largely unexamined in the novel, is the fact that
Connell is working class while Marianne is middle class. Connell’s academic
interests are in literature, whilst Marianne specialises in politics though, it
must be recorded, largely without focus, except for occasional side-forays into
issues related to the Middle East. Both high-flying students seem to spend more
time sleeping that is not sleeping and drinking that is drinking than they devote
to reading, or indeed the thought of it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Connell’s mother cleans for Marianne’s household and
apparently is not overpaid. Strangely, though we never learn many of the
details, neither Connell nor Marianne has a father in attendance. Connell’s
mother might just have got pregnant on a short fling of youth, while Marianne’s
father died, presumably some time ago, because she never really shares a memory
of him. Whether this common heritage might have had some psychological effect
on either of the two adolescents, we never learn.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Connell and Marianne come together, drift apart, take
up with others, break off, re-encounter. It’s rather a procession at times.
What seems to form a thread is that both always seem to be more worried about
how their behaviour affects themselves rather than others. Noone ever seems to
know what they themselves want, though everyone seems to get precisely what
they ask for. There’s plenty of booze, plenty of sex, a change of personnel and
more of the same. There’s an excursion to Sweden with stereotypical kinky photo
shoots, more bust ups, arguments, reconciliations which never seem to refer to
the past and occasionally there seems to be a kind of sincerity, though all
without speech marks.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">All pretty normal, perhaps, but always engaging.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Philip Spires
Author of five novels, short stories and book on rugby league
http://www.philipspires.co.uk</div>philipspireshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03763496062924791120noreply@blogger.com0