Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Saturday 10th July 2021.
The appearance of the innovative, Melbourne Guitar Quartet, was to have been a part of the Guitar Festival, but it was not to be. Andrew Blanch, winner of the 2019 Adelaide International Classical Guitar Competition, was also to appear, but he, too, had to cancel. COVID-19 has caused the lockdown of much of Australia, preventing interstate travel. The Adelaide Guitar Festival Orchestra still performed, as planned, but a collection of other performers stepped in to replace those who were unable to appear.
With the title of the event changed to,
A Classical Celebration, local musicians were recruited to replace those who were unable to attend. We are extremely fortunate that there are some world-class musicians here in Adelaide and, more than that, they are dedicated to their music, and generous enough with their time to appear with only two day's notice. The Guitar Festival's Artistic Director, Slava Grigoryan, and his wife, 'cellist, Sharon, were amongst those stepping in, as well as Manus Noble, Mike Bevan, and Alain Valodze. Internationally acclaimed artist, Oliver Fartach-Naini, who is teaching at the Elder Conservatorium of Music, was also a featured performer.
Queenslander, Dr. Paul Svoboda, is a regular and highly popular visitor to this Festival, but he was unable to be here this year. Thanks to Zoom and a large screen television, though, he was still able to act as the musical director of the Guitar Festival Winter School, the participants of the classical stream coming together here to open the concert as the Guitar Festival Orchestra. Andras Tuske, who was also a tutor in the Winter School, and Lincoln Brady, shared the duties as conductors of the orchestra in the absence of Dr. Svoboda. This is the students' concluding concert as part of that School, performing works that they have learned and rehearsed during their week together. This is the way in which the Festival gives back to the community.
The orchestra performed five contrasting pieces, two written by Dr. Svoboda,
Aurora, and
Fingal Head, and three that he had arranged, the pop song,
Rasputin, with added 'percussion' and vocal effects,
Water Colours, composed by his son, Simon Svoboda, and a lively rendition of
Crazy Little Thing Called Love, by
Freddie Mercury. The orchestra, as usual, was very well-received and their efforts were acknowledged by great applause from the audience.
Oliver Fartach-Naini was next, with two works by local guitarist, teacher, and composer, Ian Seaborn, who was in the audience and encouraged to take a bow at the end of the set. First was the world premiere of
In Memory of Julian, a tribute to the late, great Julian Bream who died on 14th August 2020. Like me, Bream was born in Battersea, South West London, so he came a long way from those humble roots. This was a piece of great beauty, beautifully played.
There was a very different feel to the second very interesting work, the three-movement piece,
A Day in Rio, which is divided into three distinct time periods,
Favela Dawn,
Ipanema Sunset, and
Carnaval Night. The Latin influence led nicely to what would be performed after the interval.
That dynamic duo, Mike Bevan and Alain Vālodze, opened the second half of the concert with a well-balanced selection of pieces, starting with
Lamentos, a lively Brazilian choros composed by Pixinguinha. Their long-term collaboration was very evident in the tightness of their playing, two performers being of one mind. Next was a calmer pace with
Emotiva #1 by another Brazilian composer, Helio Delmiro.
Then came a fascinatingly intricate work,
Guajia, composed by Alain Vālodze, which required the evening's first change of tuning by Bevan. Standard tuning, of course, is EADGBE, but there are others that are used, DADGAD being quite common, particularly in Celtic music. Both guitarists specialise in the fields of jazz and Brazilian music, as well as numerous other influences.
Icarus, by Ralph Towner, which he recorded in 1971, moved them into the jazz genre. A crater on the moon is named after this composition. One of the Astronauts on the third Apollo mission took along a cassette of Towner's album, Roads, on which this was one of the tracks. The two guitarists made this very complex piece sound simple. To finish, they turned to
Lamentos do Morro (laments of the hill), by another great Brazilian guitarist and composer, Anibal Augusto Sardinha, known as Garoto. The driving rhythm and rich harmonies made this a memorable conclusion to their marvellous set.
The Irish guitarist, now living in Adelaide, Manus Noble, began with a piece titled
Sakura, Japanese for cherry blossom, something which is an important part of Japanese culture, almost an obsession. An annual festival, Sakura Matsuri, involving hanami (flower viewing), revolves around the appearance of blossom on the cherry trees at the start of spring. Tea ceremonies are held under the trees, which are festooned with paper lanterns to gently illuminate the blossoms at night. The tonality of this work, by YuquijiroYocoh, gives it a distinctly Japanese feel and, with great skill, he drew forth timbres that sounded remarkably like that iconic instrument, the koto. Noble, incidentally, is also a luthier and played on one of his own guitars.
Neil Gow's Lament for the Death of His Second Wife, a slow air in ¾ time, written by Scottish fiddle player, Neil Gow, and arranged by
David Russell, was next. It celebrates Gow's long and happy marriage to his second wife, Margaret Urquhart, whom he married in 1768. She died in 1805. there is both joy and sadness in the tune, and these are nicely captured by Noble.
He closed his set with
Railroad, from
Scenes from the Wild West, by Gary Ryan, the first of the six movements in the suite. The suite employs a wide range of styles and techniques, including imitating banjo and mandolin. There is certainly an evocation of, if not necessarily the authentic 'wild west', at least the image that we get from cinema and television.
Slava and Sharon Grigoryan closed the production with three short duets, beginning with Bolivian composer, Jaime M. Zenamon's
Reflections, movement 3., a strong, driving piece. This was contrasted against Mário Laginha's
Tanto Espaço (so much space), a far less dense orchestration in which the 'cello imitates the sound of a harp. Turtle Island Quartet's original 'cellist and cofounder, Mark Summer's
Julie-O, began as a 'cello solo, then a duo and was, here, rearranged in an exciting version for guitar and 'cello. This was the end of the printed programme, but there was more to come.
Manus Noble then joined them for an encore, an exquisite
Ave Maria by that great Argentinean tango composer, and master of the bandoneon, Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla. That, unfortunately, was the end.
With only two days notice that the Quartet and Andrew Blanch were unable to travel, Slava Grigoryan and his team went a long way above and beyond the call of duty in putting together another concert, rather than taking the easy option of cancelling the performance. All concerned deserve our gratitude for the enormous effort involved, and our congratulations for creating such a superb concert.
