EDITOR'S KEYBOARD: AUGUST 2003
Seattle's Guitar Summer
Summer is fast waning, at least for those of us with children heading for school or college. An unusual one for good weather as our sunshine and blue skies contrasted the swelter in much of the rest of the hemisphere. Musically it has been a good time: the roster of recitals in Seattle showed no sign of letting up in anticipation of The Season coming this fall. And in addition there are all the festivals, especially in Europe, which by their programs seem to combine great performers and instruction with some old-world ambiance. Here we have seen Mark Wilson continuing Guitar Orchestra activities while concertizing and also teaching a summer workshop in Victoria which, by all accounts, was a great success. It's hard to find time for the other parts of the musical spectrum, but we managed to attend the Port Townsend Jazz Festival and another weekend the Fiddle and Traditional Music Festival there, hearing many guitars of another feather.
Is there such a thing as summer music? Cuban Landscape with Rain by Leo Brouwer? Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun by Debussy? Mendelssohn's Overture to a Midsummer Night's Dream complete with Hermia, Titania and Puck? There is a consensus that summer reading exists and is pressed on school English classes and often written up in the more learned corner of the newspaper. Here's a suggestion: Abel Carlevaro's Preludios Americanos. Not a 4th of July thing or a summer band concert, but an adventurous trip, in Scherzino (No. 2 of the series) with mixtures of intense rhythm, atonal and quirky, lapsing in and out of a comforting almost-classical cadence. In Campo (No. 3 of the series) Carlevaro gives us the most amazing tapestry of high-pitched pairs of notes (often in major 3ds) wending their way round a deep, sonorous, song-like theme. Listen to Jessica Papkoff's CD Impressions, for a magical performance (available at Rosewood Guitar: see the Northwest CD collection on this site). Carlevaro was born in Uruguay in 1918, and died in 2001 on his way to teach a master class in Germany (note the festival that bears his name on our summer calendar). He was a teacher of renown, aiming for 'maximum results through minimum effort'. This shows well in his Campo which is fluid to play, and less difficult than it sounds. This should be another quality of summer music! Please send us your ideas for a summer dalliance with the guitar.
Matthew McColl played to nearly full house in St. James Cathedral on August 8...not in the Nave but a smaller side chapel. The acoustics were splendid, and his rendition of four pieces by Alonso Mudarra's (Tiento V, Fantasia XXii, Glosa sobre el Cum Sancto Spiritu and Fantasia XXV) with their strange (to me) dissonances resounded marvelously (Mudarra's well-known Fantasia has similar moments). Mudarra published these in 1546, in sets beginning with a tiento (prelude) followed by fantasias and vocal works, according to the program notes. The concert included works by Scarlatti, Sor, Pierre de Breville and Stephen Kenyon.
The SCGS Summer Picnic under the splendid old trees in Dick and Barbara Sacksteader's back garden was great fun, with a full contingent of music. Imagine walking up to give a recital, looking out and seeing everyone in the audience holding a guitar in their lap. A sort of Ingmar Bergman dream sequence. That's how it looked though, and we will prove it soon with some photos. There were nice performances, including a special treat when Michael LeFevre played some spirited Cuban music on a guitar constructed by Dick Sacksteader: his first, with rather beautiful padouk sides. It competed well and gracefully with the birds and winds. The Guitar Orchestra played, and more or less continously food and drink were made to disappear.
The 2003-2004 season of concerts is now organized: counting the SCGS Benaroya Series, the Frye Sunday Concerts ('Free at the Frye') and Seattle Symphony's own series in the Big Benaroya hall, we have something like 13 concerts coming up. Attendance has been good at all these events in the past year: the Society and the growing enthusiasm of the Seattle Symphony itself, have very clearly awakened an interest in classical guitar in a huge number of people. Consider: on July 10, 11, and 12 the Big Benaroya hall was nearly sold out for three performances of the new Concerto Originis for Violin, two Guitars, and Orchestra composed by Sergio Assad. The work in five movements had its premier in January, in St. Paul. Nadja Solerno-Sonnenberg was the violin soloist with the Assad brothers and the three are an explosive grouping: her playing is strong, dynamic and expressive, and setting a balance for Sergio and Odair Assad's intensely rhythmic, speedy execution. The Seattle Symphony was led by guest conductor Alastair Willis. The new work is complex, dance-related, and contains the kind of quick and intense material you would expect of these fine musicians, with cadenza-like solo opportunities for both violin and guitars. One felt that the guitar was having a strange and interesting effect on the entire evening. First, the conductor and performers gave relaxed, amusing commentary, which revolved round Latin music..beginning with Aaron Copeland's Danzon Cubana followed by Mexican composer Arturo Marquez' Danzon No. 2. Second, a sveltely clad couple were summoned on stage. They presented an elegant danzon as an introduction to sophisticated Latin ballroom dance, gracefully moving among the musicians who seemed strangely rooted in place. (Has anyone seen the Australian film Strictly Ballroom?) The program included three Argentine dances of Ginastera, two tangos by Astor Piazzolla, Manuel de Falla's Three-Cornered Hat, and a (surprising and) fine collection by Charlie Chaplin, better known for his silent comedy films.
Acoustic balance is always a challenging problem when the guitar joins either orchestra or the power of the violin. This particular evening it was not perfect despite the plethora of microphones, yet to see the finest of guitar duos in company with such an exceptional violinist and orchestra, and to see the joyful response to 'our' music: well, we have arrived! Here is a link to a review in the Seattle Times.
-Peter Rhines