Reviewed Thursday 17th July, 2014
Slava Grigoryan, Artistic Director of the Adelaide International Guitar Festival, has done it again. This year's programme is another that covers so many genres, brings big names with long careers, and newcomers, and offers something for everybody. Each concert features two contrasting performers, either side of the interval, and the first of my visits this year had French classical guitarist, Judicaël Perroy, and Argentinean Tango composer, Máximo Pujol and his trio.
Judicaël Perroy has been given numerous prestigious awards, won many prizes, teaches, holds master classes and, now, his students are also winning prizes. As he began to play, it was easy to see why. No matter how good a recording might be, there is a lot more detail to be heard in a live performance, as well as the added advantage of seeing how those sounds are produced, the precise fingering and the delicacy of touch.
Perroy began with the
Fantasia in A Major, Op. 19, by Luigi Rinaldo Legnani, and then turned to
J. S. Bach's
Suite in C minor, BWV 997, and
Fantaisie sur les motifs hongrois, by Viennese composer, Johann Dubez. For the remainder of his part of the concert he turned to the South American and Spanish repertoire, with
Choro de Saudade, by Paraguayan composer, Agustin Barrios Mangore, and the famous
Seville, by Isaac Albeniz. Over two centuries and a wide range of genres were covered in this fascinatingly diverse concert
Perroy more than lived up to his reputation in a wonderful display of virtuosity, capturing the subtleties of each era and genre and infusing them with a great depth of feeling and understanding.
If you love the music of Astor Piazzola, then you would also have loved the performance by the Máximo Pujol Trio of a selection of his compositions. Piazolla's influence can be heard in Pujol's work, but is not just a copy. Pujol takes Piazzolla's lead of embracing the Tango as the basis for his compositions, but his style is all his own. Pujol, too, has won plenty of awards for his playing and compositions.
Added to his superb composing style is his wonderfully exciting playing, full of life, energy, and especially passion, like the dance itself. The ebb and flow of dynamics, the tempo changes, and the complex rhythmic devices make one wish to visit Buenos Aries to hear more of this music and to watch the dancers who really understand the tango.
As well as Pujol on guitar are bassist, Daniel Falasca, and bandoneonist, Eleonora Ferreyra, creating that authentic sound of a Tango trio. The bass is mostly played with either the bow producing short, detached notes, or by plucking, both contributing to the rhythmic pulse of the tango. Falasca is no mere timekeeper but also an inventive musician who often adds a subtle melodic line of his own.
The bandoneon, especially, is now almost entirely restricted to playing Tango. Its concertina like structure, but much greater size, giving it as many notes as a grand piano, makes it unique and allows for far greater expressiveness than other free reed instruments. Ferreyra is a walking advertisement for the instrument, her playing bringing out so many delicate nuances as well as exciting bursts of energy, exploring all of its capabilities.
The three together are completely captivating, but it does not end there. They have also enlisted the help of two marvellous dancers, David Backler and Dianne Heywood-Smith, who join them for a couple of numbers to complete the picture by demonstrating just how Tango should be danced.
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