{"id":978,"date":"2020-02-18T08:28:51","date_gmt":"2020-02-18T08:28:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/?p=978"},"modified":"2020-02-18T08:34:57","modified_gmt":"2020-02-18T08:34:57","slug":"978","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/2020\/02\/18\/978\/","title":{"rendered":"CONCERTS IN CAVES AND CONVENTS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

CONCERTS IN CAVES AND CONVENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

36th<\/sup> Festival International Classic\nMusic  Canarias<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BEETHOVEN AT\nEASE, MUSICIANS AT PLAY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cuarteto de Cuerdo Ornati<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inglesia de San Roque, Tinajo, January\n11th 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As genuine lovers of chamber music and as a String\nQuartet, Cuarteto de Cuerda Ornati\nfind themselves in the best space to express that love and to share that music\nwith new and traditional audiences of the genre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is perhaps not surprising, then, that in addition\nto delving into the works of the great masters of history, they constantly\nbuild and re-shape a repertoire that takes sidetracks and detours even into\ncontemporary music. They have done so with sufficient aplomb to have enough\nrecorded numerous works that will surely become great classics in the future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The quartet members have studied in various places\nwith renowned teachers and have had the opportunity to perform in all kinds of\nconcert halls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their story, though, is simple. Four orchestral\npartners gathered back in 2003 to make music and have continued to share good\nmoments both on stage and in the rehearsal room. The passage of time has\nwidened their understanding of, and facility with, chamber music and increased\ntheir desire to share it with as many people as possible. Sharing is a word\nthat appears frequently in the quartet\u00b4s vocabulary and they do mean sharing in\nthe fullest sense of the word; not only with their own audiences but also with\nthe numerous collaborations of musicians and friends that enrich the quartet,\nin classical and not so classic style; such as mezzo Nancy Fabiola Herrera,\nMichael Gieler (viola), Klaidi Sahatci (violin), Jos\u00e9 Luis Castillo (piano) or\nbandoneonists Santiago Cimadevilla and Rodolfo Mederos. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cuarteto de Cuerda Ornati\nare all members of thePhilharmonic Orchestra of Gran Canaria (OFGC). They each of them love to\nteach and do so in the academy of OFGC,  being\nteachers both on their own instruments and of chamber music in general. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are also regular collaborators of the\nInternational Bach Festival, of which CCO violist, Adriana Ilieva, is a\nfounding member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With such credentials we had a feeling that the CCO\nmight prove to be a big draw, given that this concert was, incredibly, to be\nanother free until full event, held in the beautiful church in Tinajo. So, although\nthe venue is pretty huge, with plenty of seating, we figured that if we wanted\nany kind of a preferred view rather than one from a pew behind a pillar we\nshould try to get there early. That the commencement of the concert was\nscheduled for 8.30pm meant we needed to be ready to form an orderly queue\noutside the church by around 7.45pm, and that in itself meant a little bit of logistical\nplanning, as we would be travelling from Playa Blanca, around a thirty minute\ndrive, and would want, in fact need, to eat before the concert. This would be\nslightly problematic as there are not too many restaurants in the town, so we\nwould need to drive to dine in La Santa a few miles away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mezza Luna is a lovely restaurant on the side of\nthe road on the downhill road from Tinajo . It looked inviting in the dark, was\nlovely and cosy inside and benefitted further from the happy, smiley people who\nform its young staff. We all (Dee and I had friends Margaret and Iain with us)\neach ordered a different dish off an interesting menu, and my four cheeses and\npear on a bed of rice was absolutely delicious and the brownies and ice cream\nfor pudding were pretty good too. We killed a couple of hours there, with lazy\ncoffees whilst laughing and joking with the staff, with around another twenty\ncovers already in by the time we left at 7.45 pm to arrive back at the church, where\nwe found parking already at something of a free premium. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were not surprised, then, to find several fans\nalready standing outside the church, including our friends, Christine, Dena and\nMichael who had recently enjoyed taken part in a successful series of carol\nconcerts with Voices, raising more than 2,000 euros for Calor y  Caf\u00e9 charity. We were pretty amazed, though,\nto find the church doors open, and a couple of hundred people already inside,\nas a mass was just coming to a conclusion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It then became obvious that many of those inside had\nsat through the mass in order to reserve seats for the concert to follow, so we\ndidn\u00b4t quite win our usual front row seats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Quarteto de Cuerda Ornati<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

By the time the CCO came out to play there was standing room only left in the venue, and nearly all of that was already filled with throngs of people lining the perimeters of the ornate church. What the venue adds to the occasion with its wonderful acoustics it almost subtracts with its lack of a raised platform, making \u00b4watching\u00b4 the concert almost impossible from most seated areas. The music that ensued, though, was so exquisite as to render that almost irrelevant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beethoven\u00b4s Quarteto\nnumber 4 en Do menor, Opus 18 number 4<\/em> filled the opening \u00b4half\u00b4 of the\nconcert, which Quarteto de Cuerda Ornati opened emphatically by offering a playful,\nskittish delivery of the allegro ma non\ntanto<\/em> over a more restrained cello. A short violin solo opened the Andante sherzoso quasi allegretto<\/em>,\nbefore the other instruments began swooping below and soaring above each other\nin a delightful dance, again with a strong cello presence, and the Minuet, Allegreto<\/em> was mature and full\nbodied yet refined and restrained and wonderfully delivered. The Allegro pestissimo<\/em> set off at a gallop\nand continued with each instrument overtaking the others in short sprints to\nthe finish in an exhilarating fashion. This first part of the concert was\nconcluded with the members of the CCO speaking to the audience about its\nclosing Fragmentos del period intermedia<\/em>,\nwith their wonderful sense of distance and longing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the interval we took the chance to speak with\nDee\u00b4s yoga \u00b4professor\u00b4 who told us about a classical concert that she had seen\nin Haria on New Year\u00b4s Day. She was surprised when we then told her about the\nforthcoming Haria Guitar Festival scheduled for 23rd<\/sup> to 26th<\/sup>\nJanuary, as she had not heard or seen any publicity for it, despite the fact\nthat she lives in Haria ! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we told her that we hadn\u00b4t heard anything about\nthe New Year performance she had described we realised that whether Spanish,\nindigenous Lanzaroteno, Italian, German, French or a new resident or tourist\nfrom any other country, our arts publicity on the island seems very parochial. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens in Haria stays in Haria and what is\nperformed in Playa Blanca also seems to remain private. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all resolved, Iain and Margaret, yoga lady and Dean\nand Christine that whatever our different nationalities we all need to communicate\nto each  other what we have learned in\nthe shops and from the Agenda Cultural monthly leaflets distributed around the island,\nor from Migeul\u00b4s announcements of what\u00b4s on at his on line Lanzarote\ninformation, or any news I might have published in my Sidetracks and Detours\nblog or what the choirs are hearing of what other choirs are doing. Dee and I\nare fortunate enough to see two or three events a week but we always learn,\nretrospectively of two or three a week we have missed, so as I was always told\nwhen I was working in sales teams, let\u00b4s network, network, network !!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The time for talking was over though, for now the CCO\nwere returning to the floor to perform Beethoven\u00b4s Cuarteto number 13 en Si bernol mayor opus 130.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The adagio ma\nnon trappo<\/em> and Allegro<\/em> was\nnoteworthy for its portentous opening and yearning cello, with the Presto<\/em> being all of a chase as the\ninstruments raced after one another, fluently, without ever stumbling. The Andante con mato, ma non trappo, Poco\nscherzosa<\/em> enjoyed sweeping violin and creeping cello and the Alla danza Tedesco<\/em> and Allegro assai<\/em> had the instruments\nbuilding lovely melodies that all four of us found the most enjoyable of the\nevening. Similarly the Cavatina<\/em> and Adagio molto espressiv<\/em>o was full of romantic\nmotives, dancing on a solid floor laid by the cello. The Grofse fuge overture<\/em>, played allegro<\/em>\nand fugo<\/em>, I can only describe in\nterms coined by one of favourite folk artists, the late Kate Wolf, in her song\nDancing Down These Muddy Roads. She described herself \u00b4dancing down these muddy\nroads, soft sand beneath my toes, shirt in hand and singing out in crazy\nrhyme.\u00b4 Sorry if that isn\u00b4t classical enough for the musical connoisseurs\namongst our readers, but that is precisely<\/strong>\nhow the piece made me feel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, I was thinking to myself that this evening\nhad introduced me to a quite different Beethoven to the one I thought I knew,\nand somehow his usual bombast and drama had been replaced by a joyous mischief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The closing piece, or Finale allegro<\/em>, was, though, very different. The music, rather than\nthe playing of it, sounded to me almost experimental compared to the\nexquisitely wrapped parcels we had listened to throughout the show. It was more\ndemanding than the \u00b4sit back and enjoy\u00b4 attitude of earlier but the genius of\nso many great classical composers is how they created music that could delight\nand distract, please and perplex all at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The applause and cries for more revealed that the\nfirst Lanzarote concert of this year\u00b4s 36th<\/sup> Festival Of Internacional\nde Musica de Canarias (FIMC) had been rapturously received by an audience even\nlarger than its venue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FROM CAVES,\u2026..<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duo Cassado <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cueva de Los Verdes<\/strong> Saturday 18 January 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second concert of the 36th<\/sup> Festival\nInternational Classic Music  Canarias to\nbe held here promised us a doe Internationally acclaimed for its exquisite\nmusicality and sensibility. Duo Cassad\u00f3 captivates both audiences and critics\nthanks to its originality and charisma.\u00b4An exclusive Warner Classics artist,\nDuo Cassad\u00f3 has performed in prestigious auditoriums around the world in\nIsrael, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina, Morocco, Tunisia, France, Italy,\nGermany, Switzerland, Portugal, Egypt, Jordan, China, South Korea and Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The duo\u00b4s album \u00b4Rapsodia del Sur\u00b4 received the\nsupport of the BBVA Foundation and has been chosen among the best albums of the\nyear and was awarded the Mel\u00f3mano de Oro, and the Duo Cassado cellist, Damian\nMart\u00ednez, is considered one of the best cellists of his generation, acknowledged\nas such and publicly supported by Mstislav Rostropovich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Duo Cassada<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The skill and subtlety of the D\u00fao Cassad\u00f3 is such  that are also recommended, by Alicia de Larrocha, as the brightest duo representing Spanish chamber music.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the Warner Classics record label Duo Cassado\nrecently recorded  “RED”, a\nwork that unites Spanish and Russian culture and includes the first worldwide\nrecording of “Fantas\u00eda Espa\u00f1ola” written by Ernesto Halffter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are, surely, Glastonbury-goers who reject the\nFestival\u00b4s new \u00b4glamping\u00b4 facilities and prefer instead to wallow, down in the\nhollow, in all of that glorious mud. How many of them, though, would have been\nprepared to follow sherpas with torches, down steep, winding, low ceilinged\npaths into the apparent under-belly of the volcano field that is Timanfaya.\nThis venue, at Cuevas de Los Verdes (named after the colour of the water in the\nground level lagoon) is surely unique, and the trek was made worthwhile by the\npretty, little stage illuminated by hidden, subdued lighting set in the nooks\nand crannies and crevasses of the rock walls. With a piano and two stools laid\nout on it and about three hundred people, (most of whom had overtaken we slow\ncoaches en route) sitting around it on comfortable seating, it all looked\nghostly, spiritual, ethereal and cathedral-like. We somehow found three seats\ntogether on the front row, (our pal Margaret, she with the bad back, had broken\nher own personal best in the sprint to the finish) and had only just settled\ninto position when the two musicians who are Due Cassado came down the aisle\nbehind us to take to the stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dressed in an elegant, delicate green dress (when\ncommon sense might have dictated trackie bottoms and a fluffy, fleece jacket)\nMarta Moll de Alba placed herself at her piano whilst Damien Martinez sat\nslightly to the fore with his violoncello, and a music stand in front of him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The programme notes, whilst always welcome, left me\nnot much wiser about what to expect. I apologise to our readers for not being\nfamiliar with the names of the composers G. Cassado (1897 \u2013 1966), though that\nhis surname is incorporated into the duo\u00b4s stage name was surely significant, or\nE. Halffter (1905 to 1989), or M. De Falla (1876 \u2013 1946) who was being\ncelebrated by six short pieces, and nor did I know the name of A. Piazzolla,\ncomposer of what was listed as the likely final piece. Whether or not I was in\nfor shocks or surprises I was uncertain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The concert would be a magnificent triumph that almost\nmagically matched and complemented its setting. There was a gloriously,\npolished-to-gleaming, constant background sound, reminding us of the naturally\nhoned walls down here, but there were, too, some sharp edges that further\nreminded us that this honing and re-shaping is a constant geological (and\nmusical) evolution. Occasionally, in some works, the music seemed to be\nstruggling to make its way to the light at the end of a tunnel, in much the way\nas had we the audience on our way here to listen to it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we listened, however, shadows played on the cave\nwalls. of Marta\u00b4s hands, often crossed over, as she created a sometimes solid\nfloor for the cello and at others seemed to dance away from it some careless\nrapture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It sometimes sounded like each instrument was seeking\nto make its own voice and style heard against the other. That could have led to\nan audience feeling a little insecure \nbut the truth is this was a result of, and perhaps the purpose of,  a composer and in fact each musician was\nperfectly in control of the music and their instrument and were enjoying the\nrigour of the ride.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were beautiful, hummable motifs that, had they\nbeen in the popular genre rather than the classical, would have passed \u00b4the old\ngrey whistle test\u00b4 with flying colours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Damian allowed his instrument some licence in its\nsearch for safety and beauty, and although it bumped its head along the way\nsometimes, he constantly brought it to soaring melodies that seemed to reach up\nto the natural \u00b4chimney\u00b4 holes in the cave ceiling, and fly out into what we\nlearned on exit was the most amazingly starry night. This was all delivered to\nan audience delighted by the risk-taking and security the musicians brought to their\nwork. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They were brought back to the stage for two encores by\nan audience that had listened in awe to the sounds they had made. Their encores\nwere, perhaps, slightly more recognisable pieces, less risky ventures than what\nwe had previously heard. All of it, though, concert and encores, had been\ncrowd-pleasing and played to perfection in a fine example of the ethos of the\nFestival Internacional De Musica De Canarias. It seems the organisers commit to\nmusical exploration and explanation and encourage the artists to fully express\nthemselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we made our way back up to Mother Earth, the beauty\nof this vast underground labyrinth became even more noticeable and as we\nrounded a corner at the top of a flight of deep, stone steps, we found\nourselves in an incredible cathedral of almost whitewashed rock, gently and\ndiscretely lit and as awe-inspiring and as spiritual as any man-made place of\nworship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was once invited to take part in a radio debate\nabout whether or not poetry is enhanced by music, but there is surely another\ndebate to be had, too, about whether or not music is enhanced by its setting,\nor whether the setting, no matter how incredible, is enhanced by the music\nplayed therein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Answers on a postcard please.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026. TO THE CONVENT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

36th Festival Internacional de Musica de Canarias<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cora De Camara Ainur; review<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ensemble de la O. Sinfonica de L.P; review<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Convento de Santo Domingo <\/strong>January\n2020 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AINUR Chamber Choir resumed its activities with\ngreat momentum in 2006. Initially only a group of nine at its conception the\nCoro has gradually increased its members to around thirty, that allows, within\nthe capacities of a chamber group, the Coro to address demanding repertoires.\nThe group’s own idiosyncrasies makes addressing new challenges, and revisiting\nscores of great complexity, a motivation in itself to face ever more daunting\nchallenges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several successes obtained in national competitions\nculminated in the national Grand Prix of Choral Singing in 2012 and in 2018.\nThe evaluations of the different juries have as a common denominator the\nelegance with which Ainur approach different styles, musicality and vocal\ntones. This recognized quality is endorsed by invitations to participate in the\nmost prestigious festivals and competitions such as the International Festival\nof Canary Music or the Festival of Religious Music of this same community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The repertoire usually stands out for the variety and\ninnovation, as it is common to incorporate pieces of recent compositions by the\nmost prestigious composers of the choral world, as well as to give special\nattention to the new works of emerging musical authors from the Canary Islands.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The choir’s career to date could not be more\nglittering, obtaining first prizes in the contests of “Antonio Jos\u00e9”\nin Burgos, “Fira de Tots Sants” in Alicante, the second golden lira\nof the contest of San Vicente de la Barquera in the special edition of winners\nfor its fiftieth anniversary, and the National Grand Prix of Choral Singing won\nin 2018 in Burgos, complemented by the “Antonio Jos\u00e9” award. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The activity of the choir is not limited to the\ninterpretation of choral music but goes further in the dissemination of this\ntype of music, promoting a composition contest of a biennial nature, currently\nin force, with several awards and the boost to the Canarian Week of Cor Music\nin which it participates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cora de Ainur<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Ainur Chamber Choir has counted on the collaboration of guest conductors to face different programs, including. El\u00edas Rodr\u00edguez, Angel Camacho, Emilio Tabraue and Laura Gonz\u00e1lez Mach\u00edn and Eligio Quinteiro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So,\nour trek all across the arts this week would end with us following signposts\nand signals that would lead us back to the third event of five on Lanzarote of\nthe 36th<\/sup> Festival Internacional de musica de Canarias. This time we\nfound ourselves at their camp at Convento de Santo Domingo in Teguise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nhad arrived in the former capital of the island in time to have a meal before\nthe concert, though we realised we might have to be at the venue quite early to\nsecure seats at another free to full event. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nfine-dined in The Palmera, a bar and music venue at the other side of the town.\nThis strange, slightly bohemian, beatnik, bluesy music kind of venue is staffed\nby smiley people and the food deserves my description of fine-dining. Omelette\nand cheese baguette might not sound to be so, but it would take several\nofferings from a five star chef to tempt me to part with this dish here. The\ncheesecake and cream is really special, too, and they know how to serve their\nbeer and wine. The three of us, me, my wife Dee and our friend Magrait\nMargaret, were sitting back replete and relaxed when Dee suddenly alarmed us to\nthe time to be going that it had become. We drove back the half mile across\ntown so that we could park close to the venue, but when we arrived in the dark,\nwe could nevertheless make out the silhouette of a very long but orderly queue\naround the walls of the building. By the time I had parked up and joined said\nqueue I was already afraid we might be too far at the back to gain entry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then,\nto our delight, a member of the staff from the Department of Culture at the\nCabildo was walking down the queue giving everyone an admission pass. Surely he\nwouldn\u00b4t reach us, I feared, but he did and we became three of the last few to\nof the three hundred and fifty people who managed to see what would be the third\nwonderful concert in this festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They Cora was\nconducted tonight by Mariola Rodriguez, and in their first half of ac appella\nmusic, they gave a sparkling performance. They have an expansive and beautiful\ntonal range and the thirty or so members are capable of making all sorts of\nmusic, with their first number sounding somewhat of Gregorian Chant in its\ndelivery. Their second delivery captured their ability to create high and low\nbetween male and female voices, with the latter soaring to wonderful heights.\nThe next in their repertoire again proved to be both gentle and powerful within\nthe same song and their fourth song gloriously highlighted harmonies within he\nfemale vocal work. The male section of the Cora De Camera Ainur excelled in the\nchoir\u00b4s next offering, and indeed in their penultimate offering, when they\nprovided a powerful opening for what became a female only piece. They closed\ntheir set with a full ensemble sound of enormous might and majesty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within a couple\nof minutes they had reassembled at the back of the stage to collaborate with photo <\/strong>4 Ensemble de La O. Sinfonica de L.P., a group of\nmusicians from The Las Palmas Symphony Orchestra. Their recital of Faure\u00b4s\nwonderful Requiem, would remain faithful to an 1893 version with its celestial\nending. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This chamber\nmusic arrangement included a huge harp, violins, violoncello and bass\ninstruments, and would also introduce us to the marvellous voices of soprano\nTania Lorenzo and Baritono Fernando Camper. All this was directed Jose Brito\nLopez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their first\nnumber, of Fauve\u00b4s set, was gentle and extremely musical and on the second,\nOfertoria, they were joined by the Cora. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had two such\npowerful ensembles here that I feared they might drown out one another, but\nskilful and knowledgeable musicians that they all are, they instead provided a\nbeautifully modulated ensemble work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What followed\nwas one of the most beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard. Sanctus was,\nof course, a requiem but the voices and the sounds of the instruments seemed ethereal,\nalmost literally hanging in the air, crisp, clean and pristine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tania Lorenzo\u2019s\nsolo performance had her voice soaring around the walls right up to the high\nceiling of this beautiful former church, and the strength of her vocals bellied\nher tiny frame. The same could be said, too, of Fernando Campero who was\nnothing like the stereotypical baritone. Tall and slender, he amazed us with a\ndeep voice that roared, in a very musical kind of roar albeit, right around the\nauditorium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coro and\nEnsemble had worked together in perfect synchronicity all evening and the\ndemands for more, (although unrewarded) were long and loud. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was,\nhowever, a glorious It\u00b4ll Be Alright On The Night moment when, during the calls\nfor an encore, the two musical directors embraced, only to become entangled and\ntrapped by her long, feathery scarf, much to the hilarity of the audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we all\neventually dispersed it seemed almost half of us were chatting excitedly about\nthe musicianship of the ensemble and the other half were waxing lyrical about\nthe voices of the Coro. Our particular threesome, one the way home in the car,\nagreed that perhaps this wedding of music and vocals would be a long and happy\nmarriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still two\nconcerts still remain on the agenda to be performed on Lanzarote and we shall,\nof course, bring you our reviews but given that the festival has already scored\nseventeen and a half out of ten on the all across the arts accumulator, we dare\nnot hope for anything better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CLASSICAL\nCAMERATA CONCERT IN CAVES<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CAMERATA\nDE LA ROYAL CONCERTGEBOUW ORCHESTRA DE \u00c1MSTERDAM<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jameos del Agua<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Date: Friday 31\nJanuary at 20.30 h <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Camerata RCO is a unique group made up of members of\nAmsterdam’s famous Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Camerata RCO performs chamber\nmusic in multiple formats ranging from duet to chamber orchestra, with a\nspecial focus on the classical and romantic repertoire of winds and strings,\nand at the same time, with an active relationship with living composers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They have an absolute love of chamber music, and that\nis what drives this formation to devote time, with their busy schedules, as\nmembers of one of the best orchestras in the world, to perform together with\nthe Camerata RCO. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cameratera de RCO<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Praised by the New York Times for its “warm and\nbrilliant performance”, the ensemble has enjoyed great success in the\nNetherlands and abroad and now performs around 50 concerts per season in music\ncapitals such as Amsterdam, Vienna, Tokyo , Seoul, Madrid, Rome and New York.\nHis ever-expanding discography on Gutman Records includes recordings of works\nby Corelli, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Mahler and Ravel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They have recently featured for the critically\nacclaimed Tour in South Korea; the residence at the Musika-Music Festival of\nBilbao; concerts in the halls of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw; its UK debut at\nCambridge; and a benefit concert conducted by the head conductor of the New\nYork Philharmonic and former Concertgebouw concert pianist Jaap Van Zweden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Camerata RCO toured North America in the 2017-18\nseason, with works by Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Schubert and Schumann, as well\nas Dutch composer Tristan Keuris and composer-in-residence RCO Detlev Glanert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February and April 2019 they toured the United\nStates with works by Dohnanyi, Bartok, Brahms, Mozart and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tonight, the approach to the theatre once we were in\nJameos del Agua took us through the foyer, down the rock staircase, then down\nthe twisting white painted steps to the swimming pool, with the whole walk way\nbeautifully, but discreetly lit. There was quite a buzz in the air and much\nanimated chatter, in several languages, about the incredible natural rock cave\nthat the theatre is set in and about the many great musicians who have played\nhere in the past. Set in the North of the island, the sky above the venue is\nalmost unblemished and many people were craning their necks to see the cosmos\nseeming laid out on the flat. As Tom Paxton once said in song, \u00b4we listened to\nstars spreading rumours.\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The theatre doors opened. There was no crazy stampede,\nthough, just a hushed and civilised murmuring of \u00b4after you,\u00b4 followed by a\n\u00b4no, please after you.\u00b4 We entered the auditorium, from the top at the back and\nas every group of people looked down from the top step there was an audible\ngasp. The stage is set in a bowl at the bottom of huge rock walls, and a\nsubdued lighting system gives it even added gravitas. The rows are laid out as\ncushioned benches in a huge cemi-circle that serves as almost a wraparound blanket\nfor the stage and as Dee and I took our seats for the recital I was thinking to\nmyself that surely, of all the great players who have performed here, not many\ncould have ever previously seen such a magnificent and unique performance area.\nIt seemed to be some sort of Tolkien-esque great hall where the hobbits used to\nhold their feasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the end of the evening, though, I was thinking, not\nonly to myself but also aloud to anyone who would listen, that regardless of\nall the great musicians who have played here, surely none could have ever given\na performance so uplifting, so moving and so absolutely sublime as this. The\nquartet\u00b4s opening offering invited us to a picnic with Dvorak and to high tea\nwith Berg. Later we were invited by a fuller line-up to taste, delicious,\ntantalising tapas from Mahler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These recitals of exquisite playing simply took the\nbreath away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The vocal delivery of Soprano Judith van Wanroij was\nnever either overpowering noir overpowered. Instead she skilfully slid her\nlines in and out the music and each instrument treated those lines not as a\nhuman voice but as another integral instrument in the ensemble. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have seen several and several more classical\nconcerts in the seven years that have elapsed since, but I did not engage with\nclassical music at all, because of some vague sense of reverse snobbery (and\nfear) until I was sixty years old. Before that I had had only a brief encounter\nod the third kind with Holst and his planet suite, a Dulux colour coated notion\nof Dvorak and a vague awareness of Copeland through some old black and white\nwesterns on TV that plagiarised his soundtracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What a different Dvorak I discovered here when a piano\naccordion, two violins and a violoncello played Bagatelles opus 47 B79 as four\nmembers of Camerata de la Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra de Amsterdam delivered\nthe kind of echoes and chases that are heard too, of course, in the New World\nSymphony. There was, too, much of the excitement of new frontiers and the\nnostalgia of looking back on old homelands that we find elsewhere in Dvorak.\nThe almost Dali-sequel attire of a female violinist added much to the parades that\nDvorak seemed to invariably plant in our minds eye, and that same outfit would\nalso later perfectly complement the playfulness and frivolity of Mahler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her clothing, all jazz and pattern, was in direct\ncontrast to the somehow beautifully still but nimble directing of musical\ndirector Lucas Macias, who totally enabled his ensemble in creating three very\ndifferent moods. This ninety minute programme was the third concert on\nLanzarote of the 36th<\/sup> Festival Internacional de Musica de Canarias.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the most difficult of the pieces to control\nmight have been the work of A. Berg (1985 \u2013 1935). His was not a name or a\nmusic known to me before tonight, but I will give you my impression of his\nmusic before I look him up on Google or any of the other fine search engines\navailable to the public, as I am legally obliged to say. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seemed to me his work was rather melancholy and\ncarried a sadness of regret. The contributions of the Soprano seemed to confirm\nthat to me, but it is easy to run away with an idea in your head if you are not\nan accomplished listener. So let\u00b4s see, yes here it comes. Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer of\nthe Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism\nwith the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively small oeuvre, he\nis remembered as one of the most important composers of the 20th century for\nhis expressive style encompassing “entire worlds of emotion and\nstructure”. OK, Norm, close but no cigar. However, I ought to say that\nwhat I heard here tonight will certainly send me out in search of more of his\nmusic, and that must be part of the raison d\u00b4etre of this wonderful festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo 5 Camerata de la Royal Concertgebouw\nOrchestra de Amsterdam There was then a short break, and after only a few minutes the four\nmusicians from the first segment of the concert came back out now as part of an\nensemble of twelve or more.. There were added now woodwind instruments,\npercussion of triangle and a huge drum, an upright double bass and a piano, and\nan incredible instrument I did not recognise so I cannot name it for you, but\nit went bop when it stopped, and zip when it moved and whirrrr when it stood\nstill, just like Tom Paxton\u00b4s Marvellous Toy, and was the main maker of\nmischief and mayhem in an ensemble that seemed full of such characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we were hearing was en Sol mayor of Sinfonia\nNumber 4, by Gustav Mahler, who is described by Wikipedia as having been an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of\nthe leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge\nbetween the 19th century Austro-German tradition and the modernism of the early\n20th century. While in his lifetime his status as a conductor was established\nbeyond question, his own music gained wide popularity only after periods of\nrelative neglect, which included a ban on its performance in much of Europe\nduring the Nazi era. After 1945 his compositions were rediscovered by a new\ngeneration of listeners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mahler then became one of the most\nfrequently performed and recorded of all composers, a position he has sustained\ninto the 21st century. In 2016, a BBC Music Magazine survey of 151 conductors\nranked three of his symphonies in the top ten symphonies of all time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can listen on You Tube to a dozen\ndifferent offerings of the piece, but I doubt any would match this because; a)\nlive is always better than recorded and b) this live performance was as much\nsoundscape as classical music, and celebrated some of the works more populist\npassages as being exactly that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The massive applause from the\naudience to the musicals at the end was returned in kind from the stage\u00b4, as\nwere the rounds of applause from conductor to his soprano and, individually to\neach of his players. The players and vocalist all gave visible evidence of\nhaving enjoyed the evening and certainly Dee and I left believing we had seen\nand heard something very special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a slight shame that the\ntheatre was less than 100% full, and it was difficult to understand why that\nmight have been the case. On such a small island, there is a plethora of art\nofferings that any event invariably has competition for its audience from\nevents that are more easily geographically accessible and are perhaps less\nexpensive in their admission cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In reply to any of that, though, let\nme assure any reader still here that we drove up from our home in the\nsouthern-most tip of the island. The roads were clear and we had time for a\nsnack at the beachside bar in Arietta on the way in. Car parking stewards were\nsuperb and there were none of the exhaust fumes and beeping horns that we\nassociate with such events in the UK. As for the price I would say it was\ncertainly less costly than seeing concerts of this quality in most other parts\nof the world. At this event alone we had seen a dozen and more world class\nmusicians brilliantly bring classical music to contemporary relevance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the way into the theatre we were\ngiven free copies of Textos Cantados (lyric sheets) and a free programme, and\non the way out our paths were lit by ushers with torches and only ten minutes\nafter leaving the theatre we were out on to the road and on the way home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is part of the purpose of\npublishing these reviews to encourage people to feel more able to join in these\nevents. We would like to see more new residents joining the indigenous\npopulation in attending these concerts, and even to attract the tourists who\nare only here for a fortnight and otherwise might not think that events like\nthis are available to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We should be enormously grateful to the\ngovernments and Departments of Culture around The Canary islands and to our own\nCabinda for making this wonderful annual event possible, so if you\u00b4ve missed it\nthis year, try joining us next, and feel free to bring a friend. This was a\nworld class concert in a world class cave, and that is certainly a sentence I\nnever thought I would write.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our 2020 36th<\/sup> Festival Internacional de\nMusica de Canarias, however, had one more concert to offer us with a final\nevent at Teatro El Salinero in Arrecife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ORQUESTA <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

DE C\u00c1MARA RUSA DE SAN PETERSBURGO<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

36\u00ba\nFestival de M\u00fasica de Canarias<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teatro\nV\u00edctor Fern\u00e1ndez Gopar \u201cEl Salinero\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Russian Chamber Orchestra of St. Petersburg, founded in 1990 by\nmusicians graduated from the renowned Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St.\nPetersburg, is undoubtedly one of the most important musical ambassadors in his\ncountry. The orchestra impressively reflects the musical talent and high level\nof musical education of his city. An extraordinary and extensive repertoire spanning\nBaroque to contemporary music has made it one of the most sought-after chamber\nformations in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their numerous concerts in Europe, which have earned them the praise of critics and audiences, are complemented by record productions. The orchestra’s recent CD with works by Weber, published by Sony Music, received the coveted Editor’s Choice from Gramophone magazine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Russian Chamber Orchestra of St. Petersburg<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Russian Chamber Orchestra of St. Petersburg has performed in\nrenowned halls and festivals such as the Gewandhaus Leipzig, Alte Oper\nFrankfurt, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Gasteig in Munich, Opera de Bayreuth,\nTeatro Real de Madrid, Teatro de la Sociedad Filarm\u00f3nica de Bilbao, Theatre\nMunicipal Luxemburg, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Rheingau Music\nFestival, Izmir International Festival, Musique Festival in Vend\u00e9e and Music\nSummer Weggis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That would make a neat little package tour of most of the world\u00b4s great\nconcert venues, wouldn\u00b4t it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

El Salinero held its own in the company of other such illustrious venues\nin so much as it drew a full house to the capital city\u00b4s theatre and the staff\ndid a great job in quickly getting the night\u00b4s walk-on crowd, arriving without\ntickets, into the arena. It must be said that a good size audience can make car\nparking awkward and time consuming when there is a football match in the\nDeportivo stadium across the road and \/ or basketball in the sports hall, next\nto the theatre. Tonight we had it all, and things were a bit chaotic, but fortunately\nthe prompt and friendly service by the staff in The Davina Restaurant at san\nGines had enable us in time to claim the last parking space outsoide the\nfootball ground at 8.15 and so, being a season ticket holder at the club, I did\nso.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dee and I, and friends Iain and\nMargaret, had been settled into the armchair comfort of our theatre seats for\nabout five minutes when the musicians of Orquesta de Camara Rusa de San\nPetersburgo took to the stage, followed by their musical conductor Juri Gilbo\nin black tie and tails. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Juro Gilbo<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A frequent guest with orchestras around the globe, Juri Gilbo is one of Russia\u2019s foremost and distinguished conductors on the international scene. He has been music director and principal conductor of the Russian Chamber Philharmonic St. Petersburg since 1998 and is credited with building this orchestra to the high standard it enjoys today. Born in St. Petersburg, his studies took him to the well-known St. Petersburg State Conservatory and subsequently to the University for Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt, Germany. He studied viola with the celebrated German violist Tabea Zimmermann and conducting with Luigi Sagrestano.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Juri Gilbo\nmade his conducting debut in 1997. Since then, his concerts have taken him to\nthe USA, Europe, Latin America, Japan, China, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey and the\nUAE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standing\novations have celebrated Juri Gilbo and his orchestra in sold-out halls such as\nthe Berlin Philharmonic Hall, the Salzburg Festival House, the Munich Philharmonic\nHall, Tonhalle Zurich, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Alte Oper Frankfurt, the\nBayreuth Opera House, el Teatro National de Costa Rica and Istanbul Is Sanat.\nHe has also performed at numerous renowned international festivals, including\nthe Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Rheingau Music Festival, Festspiele\nMecklenburg-Vorpommern, Izmir Festival, Haydn Festival Seoul and Al Bustan\nFestival Beirut, amongst many others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were whispering to each other that Iain thought he looked\n\u00b4non-Russian\u00b4 and a bit like Arthur Askey and I thought he looked like a very\nyoung and misheivous Eric Morecambe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had noted from the programmes, being given out for free by theatre\nstaff as we had entered, that tonight\u00b4s reciotal included works from three\ncomposers. Noting the name of one of them Iain said his work sometimes sounded\nlike he was describing in music the act of sawing wood, and one of the\ncomposers was an unknown name to any of us. The Schubert work, with its\nfamiliarity, held the most promise for us, but that would be in the second\nhalf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For now, as the lights dimmed and the musical director poised his baton\nand his orchestra of twelve for action, we were about to hear Stravinski\u00b4s\nApollo Musagetta (Ballet en dos actos).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I loved it, and it later transpired that we had all loved it. The\naforementioned m.d. was something of a star; a Fred Astaire with a baton, all\nskips and jumps and twirls and sudden dramatic swoops. Far from in any way\ndistracting the players he kept them alert and fully engaged and there were interesting\npizzicato inclusions and clever works on the lower toned instruments. Sometimes\nthe music felt to be chasing down marbled halls and at others relaxing in elycian\nfields. The Variacione de Pollinio, so full of grace and exciting pace, seemed\nto sag slightly in the middle, though surely as indicated in the score rather\nthan any fault of the players. Juril Gilbo, though, constantly allowed a\ngentility of delivery that had us all holding our breath at the piquancy of\nsome notes and had us thrown back into our seats at the power of others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The twentieth century piece by Bonini was slightly too clever to be\nconsidered in any way carefree and slightly too disconnected to tell any\ndiscernable narrative. The instrument were occasionally used to represent the\nsounds of contemporary life in a busy world that, as such sounds often do,\ndisturbed us as we made our way through the piece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, the musicians delivered the work with aplomb and we were\nleft to reflect on music that had, to me, managed to sound both sweet and\nsomewhat sinister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We spent a five minute \u00b4pause\u00b4 in our seats chatting not only about what\nwe had heard but also about what we had seen. I certainly felt that the nimble\nperformance (and be in no doubt that it was a performance) by the director had\nenhanced the music for me, and even for his orchestra to be honest. By watching\nhim from our place in the audience I was beginning to learn which of his\nmannerisms and signals were preparing certain parts of the ensemble and how he led\nthe tempo and rise and fall of volume, even as he enabled the players to\ndeliver their interpretation of the mood of the music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was then again illustrated, even more clearly I felt, in the pieces\nby Schubert in the second half. Here we had more recognised and identifiable\nmotifs than in the first half of the recital. Here each instrument had its say\nand the strings of the violins often spoke of one accord sometimes running\nskittishly away from us, as if tittering with laughter, and at others seemingly\nwhispering gossip to each other. The musician on the upright bass sometimes was\nsneaking up on them, sometimes seeking to almost silence them, but on other\noccasions seeming to comfort them whenever anything disturbed them. The\nvioloncellos were, we might imagine, warning of a need for discretion and\nreflection, and this orchestral sound filled this lovely theatre,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It being the final Lanzarote performance this year of the 36th<\/sup>\nFestival Internacional de Musica de Canarias it was fitting that the audience\nrose as one to call, in several languages, for more. We heard identifiable\nroars in French, German, English, Russian and Spanish as this audience demanded\na well-earned encore that delivered to us a prancing polka and a thrusting\ntango from an ensemble that seemed to have fully enjoyed its evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Festival had brought to The Canary Islands musician from all over\nthe world, and composers from all across the classical music time spectrum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here on Lanzarote they had been rewarded by rapt attention from the traditional\nclassical music followers on the island, some of it very knowledgeable, but\nalso by some by people like us, still discovering what we missed in our youth\nby listening to Agadoo and The Birdy Song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cabildos and the organisers must be encouraged to return next year,\nand we hope that in 2021 you will remember these positive reviews and feel\ndetermined to join us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CONCERTS IN CAVES AND CONVENTS 36th Festival International Classic Music  Canarias BEETHOVEN AT EASE, MUSICIANS AT PLAY Cuarteto de Cuerdo Ornati Inglesia de San Roque, Tinajo, January 11th 2020 As genuine lovers of chamber music and as a String Quartet, Cuarteto de Cuerda Ornati find themselves in the best space to express that love and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}