Thursday was another three-concert day at the Festival, and I'm sorry to say that my energy level ran out after the two afternoon concerts. What I missed was a multi-media performance with poetry of the two-piano version of The Planets by Gustav Holst. If I had to miss a concert, this was the one, since I have heard the work in piano reduction before and didn't enjoy it. Some pieces can be well-served by a skilled keyboard reduction but for me The Planets, with its extraordinarily imaginative orchestration, is not one of them.
That being said, the afternoon concerts brought ample delights and wonderful music making.
I: Tapeo: The Sounds of Spain
Cameron Crozman delighted the audience with the third concert he curated, a wonderful analogy of music composed by Spanish artists, or composed in Spain, or inspired by Spain. That description covers a very broad range of possibilities indeed!
In his introductory remarks, Crozman gave us a good chuckle by explaining that "Tapeo" is the first-person singular of a very specifically Spanish verb -- it translates as "I am going to eat tapas."
The concert involved a wide assortment of instrumental combinations out of a string quartet and two pianists.
The first of Crozman's musical tapas was a delightful duet for cello and piano by Catalan cellist Gaspar Cassadó entitled Requiebros -- a word which means "compliments," but often with a strong subtext of "flirtations." It's a robust dance number and always great fun for the audience.
Next came Crozman's own arrangement for cello and piano of the famous Asturias (original title: Leyenda) by Isaac Albéniz. This work was originally written for solo piano, and in it the composer replicated the strumming of the guitar with an obsessively repeated pedal note D in the middle of the entwining melody. Guitarists immediately took it to their hearts because it's so easily transcribed for their instrument -- not surprisingly! Crozman's arrangement, for me, was a misfire. To be able to fit that D in, he had to resort to incessant high-speed crossing of the strings, and this both blurred out the sound of the pedal note and gave the music an undesirable frantic edge (ideally, the piece should sound a bit langorous -- easy on guitar, somewhat tougher on piano).
Next, we heard the Bergmann Duo in a group of works consisting of the two Spanish Dances from La vida breve by Manuel de Falla, the famous Malagueña by Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona, and wrapping up with the brilliant and vivacious España by Emmanuel Chabrier. These works inspired by Spanish dance brought a wonderful lift and flair in the playing of both pianists.
Violinists Karl Stobbe and Emily Kruspe then took the stage with a delightful take on the Folies d'Espagne by French Baroque composer Jean-Pierre Guignon. This work joins the long, long list of works which used the Folies (a.k.a. La folia) bass as a foundation for variations -- a list which includes Vivaldi, Corelli, and Handel as only a few of the more famous names. After playing the theme complete to start, the two violinists traded increasingly complex variations on the simple tune and bass, with the bass line represented in each case by just a few notes sketched in here and there by one of the two. It's surprising how clearly you can pick up and "hear" the famous bass line of La folia when so few of the actual notes are being played! The entire set of variations was a complete joy to the ear.
Next we heard a String Trio in A Minor, Op. 14 No. 3 by Luigi Boccherini, an Italian composer who spent most of his adult years as composer and musician in the court of Spain. This trio was plainly court music of the same era as Haydn and showed no stylistic differences to speak of from the German or Austrian music of the same period -- perhaps because the Swiss-Austrian Habsburg family ruled in both areas. Like much of its creator's work, it makes for pleasant, easy listening, although not overtly Spanish in character (for that, you have to go to Boccherini's guitar quintets).
The concert wrapped up with the beautiful, evocative Oración del Torero, Op. 34 by Joaquin Turina, for string quartet. The title translates as The Bullfighter's Prayer, and the music is most definitely prayerful in character, without sounding especially church-like -- an interesting feature.
II: Canadian Pianofest # 10: Schubert and Mozart
The second afternoon concert brought the tenth and last installment in this season's first part of the Canadian Pianofest (the series will continue next summer). Fittingly, then, this concert brought together two of the finest pianists we've heard: Janina Fialkowska (who curated the entire series) and Charles Richard-Hamelin. Before the concert, James Campbell (the Festival's Artistic Director) announced that this was the first occasion Janina Fialkowska had ever publicly played four hands or two pianos in her entire career. The event was certainly an auspicious debut, bringing together just two works: one of the great masterpieces for piano four hands with one of the great masterpieces for two pianos.
Franz Schubert's Fantasia in F Minor, D.940 opened the programme. It's all but a symphony for the piano, especially the final movement which, to me, cries out to be orchestrated. In four connected movements, lasting for about 20 minutes, the work moves through moods lyrical and agitated (first movement), turbulent and pastoral (second movement), lively and dancelike (third movement), before rounding off with a stern and powerful fugue, followed by a coda that ends quietly after one of the most remarkable cadences in all of music.
Fialkowska and Richard-Hamelin brought energy and poetry alike to this score, finding great power in the second movement's rigorous Largo and dancing the music away in the scherzo. The switches between power and inward reflection in the final pages rounded off a memorable performance, and the final cadence resounded in the memory.
After a short pause to rearrange the stage, the artists returned for Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, K.448. Unusually in my experience, the two pianos were here arranged facing the same way so that the two players were again seated side by side, but at different instruments.
This sonata was written by Mozart when he was 25, and the music retains a youthful energy and spring in its step, qualities which this performance shared in abundance.
The allegro con spirito first movement was all of that: quick of foot, full of spirit, an exemplary burst of galant style, and an absolute joy to the listener. The andante second movement flowed easily and with great charm. The molto allegro final movement flew by in a whirl of rapid passagework and high spirits, with playing both accomplished and stylish from both artists.
I don't know if Fialkowska's plans for next year include such an idea, but I would be more than happy to hear another joint recital from these two wonderful pianists any time they choose to give one!
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