Concert Review by Clare Martin:
Bach Musica NZ presented a NZ premier and a rare opportunity to hear classical guitar and piano accordion with choir and orchestra on Sunday evening in the Auckland Town Hall. First up, Joaquín Rodrigo’s Fantasia para un gentilhombre written at the request of the guitar virtuoso André Segovia and composed well after the huge success of Rodrigo’s first guitar concerto, the Concierto de Aranjuez. Each of the four movements were developed from traditional Spanish dance forms and the music of Baroque composer Gaspar Sanz.
The Fantasia opened with Villano y ricercar with sweet pastoral colours and great warmth from guitarist Barkin Sertkaya and the chamber-sized Bach Musica Orchestra. Crisp ensemble from the woodwind and brass sections and rhythmic playing from the strings gave life to the second movement, the Fanfarria. The next Danza de las hachas, a traditional dance performed with torches had fiery Spanish flair. Sertkaya’s every note, chord and flourish had presence and beauty as colours and rhythms danced between guitar and orchestra.
The final movement, the Canario was exquisite. Director Rita Paczian drew heart-melting sounds from the orchestra and the guitar answered with sincere delicacy. With a little gentle amplification, there was a perfect balance of acoustic between guitar and band. A solo encore from Sertkaya of Francisco Tárrega’s Recuerdo de la Alhambra was a spellbinding finish to the first half.
After the interval we heard the NZ premier performance of Misa Tango by Argentinian composer Luis Bacalov. Composed in 1997 Bacalov removed explicitly-Catholic references from the Mass to make it universal to all faiths. Sounds from the streets of Buenos Aires combined with the large choral and orchestral forces creating an almost operatic style. Also scored for baritone, mezzo-soprano and the bandoneòn (an Argentinian piano accordion), it was a unique instrumental line-up.
What a devilish score to tame with wild changes of rhythm and key and dynamics. Rita brought all the parts of the Misa together into a work of power and cohesion. Each section had interest and searing emotion from the plea for mercy in the opening Kyrie to the scorching Credo. Not a long work, at just over half an hour, you could say it’s a Mass for our modern length of focus. But it was full of meaning and often deeply touching.
The work began almost out of nowhere, building from quiet depths to a full dark chord answered sorrowfully by the piano accordion. The second movement, Gloria was triumphant from the start all the way to the final scorching fortissimo. The Credo was almost defiant with it’s Milonga-like syncopated rhythm- “I believe in a single omnipotent God”. The Sanctus movement was made more eerie with the hugely accomplished accordionist Stephanie Poole’s extraordinary runs and mercurial phrases.
Soprano Felicity Tomkins sang the mezzo-soprano part with gallons of voice and glowing and emotional phrases. Baritone Andrew Conley gave us intelligent and expressive Spanish with a pleasing lyric tone. In the final duet section of the work, Bacalov writes the mezzo line on a lower pitch than the baritone line, bringing out the soft warmth of the woman’s voice and the fragility and emotion of the upper range for the man’s voice. This was a beautifully compassionate moment.
The final Agnus Dei was stunning, a spacious and searing movement, the orchestra a framework for beautiful solo lines from piano accordion, soprano and baritone. Pianissimo phrases from the voices pleaded – “Cordero de Dios … Lamb of God have mercy on us” and the tango-like gestures from the accordion deepened the sense of grief, it truly felt that the troubles of the World were being prayed for on the stage that night.
This was appealing programming, a chance to hear less usual repertoire performed with great care and passion performed by wonderful musicians drawn together by the dedicated talent of Rita Paczian, Concertmaster Yanghe Yu and Bach Musica NZ.
PIctures: Peter Jennings Photography
