We’re three rehearsals into this weeks classical concert (officially known as Classical 2 for those keeping score at home), and it’s an interesting, mixed bag of repertoire, with differing demands on the various parts of the orchestra.
Bandoneon
The most interesting work on the program, for me, is Last Round, for string orchestra, written in 1996 by the celebrated Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov. The first movement, entitled is a sort of proto-tango, more evocative of the existential angst of the tango than its rhythmic composition. Golijov writes far more eloquently about his piece than I ever could – here is what he says about it:
“Astor Piazzolla, the last great Tango composer, was at the peak of his creativity when a stroke killed him in 1992. He left us, in the words of the old tango, ‘without saying good bye’, and that day the musical face of Buenos Aires was abruptly frozen. The creation of that face had started a hundred years earlier from the unlikely combination of African rhythms underlying gauchos’ couplets, sung in the style of Sicilian canzonettas over an accompanying Andalucian guitar. As the years passed all converged towards the bandoneon: a small accordion-like instrument without keyboard that was invented in Germany in the 19th century to serve as a portable church organ and which, after finding its true home in the bordellos of Buenos Aires’ slums in the 1920’s, went back to Europe to conquer Paris’ high society in the 1930’s. Since then it reigned as the essential instrument for any Tango ensemble.
“Piazzolla’s bandoneon was able to condense all the symbols of tango. The eroticism of legs and torsos in the dance was reduced to the intricate patterns of his virtuoso fingers (a simple C major scale in the bandoneon zigzags so much as to leave an inexperienced player’s fingers tangled). The melancholy of the singer’s voice was transposed to the breathing of the bandoneon’s continuous opening and closing. The macho attitude of the tangueros was reflected in his pose on stage: standing upright, chest forward, right leg on a stool, the bandoneon on top of it, being by turns raised, battered, caressed.
Photo: Osvaldo Golijov – © John Sann/Deutsche Grammophone 2005
The work is in two movements, the second bearing the title “Death of the Angels”, which is as beautiful and moving a piece of music as has been composed in the last century. Last year, Third Angle and Fear No Music performed the piece in its nonet version (two string quartets and double bass), and this movement was performed in memory of beloved second flutist Martha Herby, who had died just days before the performance. Coming just a week or so after the passing of our Assistant principal bassist Ken Baldwin, it will be an emotional piece for us to play as well.
Alberto Ginastera
Also from Argentina comes a suite of dances from the ballet Estancia by Alberto Ginastera, written in 1941. Whereas Golijov weaves complex and powerful emotional images with his sophisticated writing, Ginastera goes straight for the jugular with these dances – there is little subltlety to be found here, just pounding rhythms, screaming wind instruments and scuttling strings.
Completing this Latin American survey, we come to a piece which has no violas or cellos – oh my! It’s a work by Mexican composer Sivestre Revueltas, his Homage to Federico Garcia Lorca of 1936. This is an utterly guileless and charming work, featuring some virtuoso turns by piccolo, trumpet, trombone and tuba along with divided violins and double basses. Much of the time it sounds like a cross between silent movie music and the classic Warner Brothers cartoon scoring of Carl Stalling. Not to be missed!
With all of this nationalistic music on display, why not let the Eastern Europeans get into the act, and the honors go to Czech composer (more accurately he was Bohemian) Bedr̆ich Smetana. His grand tone poem Ma Vlast (My Country) is the ultimate nationalist travelogue, and the most familiar and beloved of its movements is Moldau, which describes the course of the country’s largest river as it flows from its humble source to the sea. At the opening the first trickles of the fledling river are described by the two flutes, and you’ll be able to enjoy the mellifluous sound of our new Assistant principal flutist, Alicia DiDonato Paulsen as she seemlessly blends sinuous lines with Principal flutist David Buck. You’ll also get to see the viola section all develop tendinitis as we play thousands of sixteenth notes throughout this piece – it’s a chop buster and takes some serious stamina (though not quite as much as the overture to Tannhäuser) to get through!
Valentina Lisitsa
Last (but not last on the program) comes the great Grieg Piano Concerto. Let’s just say that Valentina Lisitsa absolutely rips her way through this piece, and you will seldom hear it played with such energy – she will bring down the house with her performance of this piece! She’s playing on a gorgeous and powerful Bösendorfer concert grand for these performances (the piano was flown in via cargo jet the morning of today’s rehearsals) – it will be something to see and hear.