The Museo de Arte Hispanoamericano Isaac Fernández Blanco has had during about two decades the luck of being directed by Jorge Cometti and having Leila Makarius in charge of musical activities. Together they are responsible for hundreds of worthwhile concerts both in the mother house (Suipacha half a block from Libertador) and in the Hernán Vigo Suárez at Hipólito Yrigoyen. To boot the Fernández Blanco has a lovely main hall of warm acoustics.
But two special projects stand out; one has been going on for many years: La Capilla del Sol, a vocal and instrumental group led by Ramiro Albino (collaborator of the Herald during a long time) specialized in Baroque Latinamerican music. The other, after exhaustive preparation, was born last year and should be a staple of our musical life: Fernández Blanco was a great collector of string instruments of the master Italian luthiers of the Eighteenth-Century and eventually it became the best collection of its kind in South America.
The Colón had it in loan from the Fifties to 2007, when the Museum recuperated it and started a curatorial team featuring Horacio Piñeiro (restoration) and Pablo Saraví (violinist and connoisseur of the great schools of North Italy, particularly that of Cremona: Stradivarius, Amati, Guarnerius). Last year two things happened: a room adjoining the main hall was dedicated to show the collection under the best possible conditions; and a cycle of four concerts was organized so that the audience could hear them played by outstanding artists. This season a similar series was given and I caught the last one: it proved a memorable evening of exquisite Mozart.
Both Cometti (giving a general survey) and Saraví (explaining each instrument) added greatly to the enjoyment: they were models of useful information. And we had the best local quartet, the Petrus, playing at their highest level, plus a guest of star quality: oboist Néstor Garrote, first desk of the Buenos Aires Philharmonic. The Petrus is made up of Saraví and Hernán Briático, violins; Adrián Felizia, viola; and Gloria Pankáeva, cello. It would be churlish to make any distinction: all were inspired.
The Divertimento K. 137 is generally played by a string ensemble but the option for quartet was sanctioned by the composer. Then, Quartet Nº 16, K.458, "The hunt", one of the mature six dedicated to Franz Joseph Haydn, and they are a wonder of perfection: chamber music at its best. The sole Quartet for oboe and strings is so beautiful that one can only be sorry that Mozart didn´t write another.
The outstanding instrument was a Guarneri del Gesù, but the others were also specimens of wonderful tone, round and true: from Guadagnini, Storioni, Cappa, Grancino, Steffani, Mantegazza, and Piñeiro on a model by A. Guarneri (the cello).
For Buenos Aires Herald
