Euro Concert Tour # 6: Musical Fun and a World Premiere

Saturday afternoon was the last chance to have a concert in the main lounge of the AmaSerena as the ship glided serenely along the last 250 km of the Upper Rhine towards Basel in Switzerland.  River cruises can pose some interesting challenges.  In this case, the concert time ended up being dictated by the time we could pass through one of the locks on the river, so that the performance would not suddenly be shrouded in darkness, or distracted by any bumps or bangs in the locking-through process.

In the event, that proved to be shortly after 3:30 pm, and our intrepid musicians deliberately framed a programme full of fun and games, good humour and good music.  The performance began with two movements from the Suite for Clarinet, Violin and Piano, Op. 157b by Darius Milhaud.  Much of the fun in this piece comes from recognizing the different keys being used.  Much of Milhaud's writing is resolutely tonal, but he doesn't always fuss so much about everyone being in the same key at the same time.  James Campbell, Annalee Patipatanakoon, and Jamie Parker relished all the amusing key switches and rhythmic change-ups in the music, which is precisely the point of Milhaud's style here.

Next, Annalee was joined by Graham Campbell for a violin and guitar duo by Paganini.  This is pleasantly light-hearted music, neither too sophisticated (at first glance) nor too aware of its own self-importance.  "At first glance," because -- like many apparently artless musical works -- there's a good deal more to it than meets the passing glance or half-attentive ear.  Again, performed with a light touch and a light heart, entirely appropriate to the music.

The inevitable change in the programme came with the insertion of the first movement -- Bordel 1900 -- from Astor Piazzolla's suite, L'histoire du Tango.  Here, the players adapted themselves to the swaying rhythms and jazzy rhythms, and served up an authentic dose of traditional tango music with the typical individual flair of Piazzolla.

We then heard a work which began its life in the 1990s as a Festival of the Sound commission -- The Klezmer's Wedding by Canadian composer Srul Irving Glick.  Right from the opening clarinet slide we are immersed in another world, and the music is coloured from start to finish by the minor harmonies and raucous celebratory rhythms of Jewish tradition.  Once the celebration launches, there's only one way to play this piece, and that's to just go for it!  Campbell and the Gryphon Trio certainly did that, in spades.

The concert concluded with a world premiere, commissioned for this cruise tour and likely with some finishing touches added during the trip.  There was a chance to hear an open rehearsal a few days ago, but I passed -- I wanted to get the whole picture at the first performance.  

This new work, the Rhine Rhapsody by Graham Campbell, was scored precisely for the five musicians who have been with us on the tour -- so, for violin, cello, piano, clarinet, and guitar.  Although the two movements have individual titles, I felt that the overall title described the first movement to perfection.  Without being overly pictorial, this music evoked for me much of the character of this river.  It was music of considerable forward momentum, with rolling waves of sound rising up out of the lower instruments before falling back down, and with sudden changes of time signature giving an unpredictable, even wayward character.  Overall, definitely rhapsodic music, with beautiful melodic lines, but still giving an underlying sense of power.

The second movement went for complete contrast, with Campbell turning to the South American dance rhythms of which he's very fond.  This piece had a more extrovert profile, with a brighter sound picture and energy flying out from the players in all directions to give a rousing end to the concert.

Although it seems superfluous to say so, the five musicians (including, of course, the composer on guitar) gave a sterling account of this new work, and definitely appeared to be having a great time doing so.  And Graham Campbell received a rousing ovation, entirely merited.