The richness of the choral-symphonic repertoire

In recent weeks the music lover has had occasion to appreciate a good deal of the best of the beautiful choral-symphonic repertoire , albeit in different levels of interpretation. Hereby a synthesis of events.

Pride of place goes to the end-of-season concert of Festivales Musicales at the Auditorio de Belgrano, where the much-loved veteran maestro Michel Corboz showed yet again his acumen as a specialist of this texture. The programme combined two scores of different composers: Francis Poulenc´s "Gloria" and Puccini´s 50-minute "Messa di Gloria". The former lasts about 25´, dates from 1959 and is typical of the author in its beauty of melody and harmony and its contrast between sublimated numbers and others of jubilant nature and syncopated rhythm, which accords with the celebratory character of the Gloria. The Messa on the other hand is an early work (1880) by the future master of opera and responds to the family tradition of sacred music at his home town, Lucca. It shows the sureness of hand of the composer, even in elaborate counterpoint, although what we hear is the 1893 revision, surely more polished than the original. As was to be expected, there´s ample melody and warmness in this music, not transcendent but surely very pleasant to hear.

The Colón Orchestra didn´t sound completely assured in some moments of the Poulenc but seemed good enough in Puccini. The Colón Choir under Salvatore Caputo was strong and brilliant though not quite subtle enough in slow hushed passages. Soledad de la Rosa was admirably musical and crystal-clear in Poulenc, and in Puccini baritone Víctor Torres sung with his wonted refinement and tenor Enrique Folger forced his fine timbre with verismo excesses.

Johann Sebastian Bach´s Mass in G minor is the most monumental work of the repertoire and one of the most difficult, only surpassed by Beethoven´s shorter but mighty "Missa Solemnis". In the last three decades Bach has gone though a historicist revolution and we no longer accept versions of admirable beauty and accomplishment but with a Romantic outlook such as Von Karajan´s. On the other hand I feel that interpretations with modern instruments but with Baroque "manners" such as Karl Richter and early Helmut Rilling are still valid and moving. Late Rilling, Harnoncourt, Gardiner and others give us swift tempi, historical instruments and very transparent textures. It´s a streamlined Bach, to my mind less communicative but attractive in its exactness and timbres, but it demands a very high grade of professionalism.

This marvellous Catholic Mass produced by a Lutheran , incredibly unitary although it is a patchwork of new music and recycled material from earlier cantatas, is always astonishing in its unbounded imagination and superlative contrapuntal technique. It´s a tall order to offer it, but La Bella Música resolved to present it. The institution has presented valuable choral-symphonic works in recent years, generally with good results. This time they were mixed. Andrés Gerszenzon conducted some time ago a "St. Mathew Passion" that followed historicist principles but was often devitalized, and this happened again with the Mass. His tempi were generally well-chosen, he used trumpets and horn on the mold of the Baroque period, he innovated by assigning to soloists (on the basis of sparse accompaniment) fragments generally done chorally, but there was little tension and expression in the phrasing. When one isn´t moved by the "Crucifixus", something is wrong.

Care had been taken to try to assemble good players and singers but results weren´t quite what was expected. I do single out the notable first trumpet Valentin Garvie, Argentine though living in Europe, for his precision and intonation, but the horn player, imported from Brazil, was lamentabl The Baroque Ensemble "de la Bella Música", 26-strong, had well-known players (Marchesini, R. Rutkauskas, G. Massun, Barile, F. Ciancio) but the total result wasn´t as satisfactory as the work demands; I was surprised by considerable lapses of intonation and some playing didn´t have the right timbre (Barile). The Coral del Siglo XXI (40 singers) conducted by Guillermo Dorá acquitted themselves rather well, though they were the victims of inappropriate phrasing.

It was audacious to assign the contralto parts to a countertenor, something that both Harnoncourt and Leonhardt have done in the casting of cantatas, so I suppose there´s some basis for it. The very young Damián Ramírez has a beautiful timbre and he did an expressive "Agnus Dei" but I found him hesitant in "Qui sedes". Víctor Torres was admirable in "Et in spiritum sanctum" and less so in "Quoniam", perhaps upset by the horn player. I found Ricardo González Dorrego charmless though accurate in "Benedictus". The participation of sopranos Silvina Sadoly and Marisú Pavón was correct and that of Lídice Robinson as second soprano, unnecessary. The venue was the Coliseo.

About 35 years ago Purcell´s semiopera "Dioclesian" had a good premiere, I believe under Raymond Leppard. Its revival by the Sociedad Händel led by Sergio Siminovich was warranted by the quality of the piece but unfortunately was very poor due to the quite mediocre orchestral ensemble (intonation was awful) and the amateurish though enthusiastic chorus. Siminovich´s technique was as always confusing in its ample but imprecise gestures, though I grant him the merit of bringing to us interesting and neglected pieces. There was good work from sopranos Silvina Guatelli and Natalia Salardino and countertenor Damián Ramírez, less good by tenor Mario Martínez and bass Francisco Bastitta.

For Buenos Aires Herald

Kodo, the name for wondrous percussion

Many years ago, in 1969, the Mozarteum Argentino brought us a superb ensemble, Les Percussions de Strasbourg, and they came back about a decade ago, giving us the very best resources of percussion music in the Occidental tradition. Now, closing their season at the Coliseo, they left the audience spellbound with a marvellous Japanese ensemble, Kodo, bringing the utmost perfection in Oriental percussion.

"Kodo" means two things: the heart-beat, origin of all rhythm, heard by the foetus in the mother´s uterus ; and "children of the drum", a reflexion of Kodo´s desire to play with a child´s simplicity of heart. Although they preserve and reinterpret traditional Japanese arts, they are also influenced by the frequent "tournées" that Kodo has made since its already far-off inception, in 1981. It has offered about 3.100 performances in 45 countries; their year divides into three equal parts, 1/3 to their voyages abroad, 1/3 to performances in Japan and 1/3 to preparing new material in Sado Island.

In their repertoire there are three main elements: pieces based on traditional popular art; works by friends and mentors of the organisation (Maki Ishii, Shinichiro Ikebe), the Kabuki artists Roetsu Tosha and Kiyohiko Senba and the jazz pianist Yousuke Yamashita, and creations by members of the group incorporating inspirations from their trips all over the world.

The Artistic Director is Mitsuru Ishizuka and there are 13 interpreters: 10 men and 3 women. They are listed in the hand programme heading, but not identified in the various numbers. The show was continuous and comprised eleven numbers.

Before I go on to describe individual pieces, a general impression. As a Westerner with a superficial familiarity with the Japanese ethos, I was deeply impacted by the tremendous discipline and visceral power of the players. My images of Japan come from their drawings which were such an influence on the Impressionists, by their films, especially those of Akira Kurosawa, and by some books. An insular country, it has kept fiercely to its traditions, particularly in rural areas, but in the big cities has had a powerful input from the USA MacArthur plan after World War II, so that Tokyo is a strange mixture of profoundly dissimilar views of life. The composite image is that of an ethos in which we find side by side powerful images of the samurai past with its code of honor, its martial arts, the command of every fibre in the body (in common with the Chinese), its hara-kiri or seppuku, its kamikaze soldiers, along with delicate paintings, exquisite and morose soft music from the koto or the flute and women in elaborate and beautiful kimonos and heavily whited facies.

Kodo asks from its players awesome stamina and total precision. They certainly give of themselves generously, with "esprit de corps". Their main instrument is the "taiko", a drum that comes in very different sizes, from small to a gigantic one that presides over the proceedings from the back of the stage. They are aesthetically beautiful and the artists elicit from them an enormous variety of sounds, from extreme "pianissimo" to granitic "fortissimo". The Artistic Director knows how to dispose them with a true sense of show. The massed sound is overwhelming, although there are segments where the unrelenting battering gets monotonous, for they tend to stay in one rhythm for long periods. But when the drums tend to outstay their welcome comes the contrast of a ruminative soft flute, or of sweet-voiced singing (not the nasalized shrillness of the Chinese).

The programme starts with a thrilling number, "The tribe" by Leonard Edo, a telluric outburst of fantastic power. Then, "Door to the unknown" by Tsubasa Hori, where a metaphysical contact with other worlds is attempted. "The woodcutter´s song" is traditional and has at first an antiphonal vocal structure which leads to "Miyake", where the men strike implacably drums set in the ground. "Monochrome", by Maki Ishii, is a mixture of regular and irregular rhythmic patterns in a constantly spiralling dynamic progression. "Cymbals", by Ryutaro Kaneko, is a subtle interplay of small cymbals linked to Buddhist religious practices. "Three cold days, four hot days", by Eiichi Saito, refers to the end of winter and is a powerful piece of strong contrasts. "Butterfly", by Saito, has a refined choreography by Ayako Onizawa and offers a moment of poetic respite. "The path of dew" refers to the journey through life and prolongs the charm and subtlety of the preceding work.

But now came the greatest possible contrast. In a display of extreme strength and endurance, a half-naked player, all fiber, played during about 15 minutes the gigantic drum mentioned earlier in this review with almost terrifying speed and enormous sound. Frankly I feared for his heart. The training of such players surely implies special techniques of control and concentration.

The final number, "Taiko in festive chariots", is traditional, and makes a grand celebration to crown a very special experience. The communication with the audience was vivacious and authentic, the success particularly important considering that these were people attending a subscription series of Occidental classical music.

In fact, this was quite a gamble for the Mozarteum, but their instincts were unerring: they gave us a show of marked aesthetic and cultural value, moreover quite accessible due to its paradoxically primitive impact. They got us in touch with the real Japanese character. Thanks for that gift.

For Buenos Aires Herald

Worthwhile music from the XXth and XXIst centuries

Although the bulk of the concert repertoire remains the music of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, we certainly need to know –and know well- the music that is closer to us in time, if not in sensibility; some musics of recent decades ("recent" meaning the last ten) remain problematic for the average audience, and some are so even for those of well-honed taste. But it´s certainly aesthetically unhealthy for the listener to remain isolated from the music of his contemporaries and even from that of his grandfathers´ time.

Fortunately this year there has been a good deal of interesting music from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. I will give pride of place to the concerts of the series "Classics of the twentieth century" organized by the Fundación Encuentros de Música Contemporánea which celebrates its forty years under Alicia Terzian´s direction. And her Grupo Encuentros commemorates its thirty years of activity. At AMIJAI they offered three concerts complementing the group with "friends" and totalling 17 players. I´m commenting on the first two; I couldn´t hear the third, dedicated to "Borges and the music of Buenos Aires".

Programmes were long and extremely varied. The first started with one of the most hermetic pieces of Ravel, the "Three poems of Mallarmé", sung by mezzo Marta Blanco rather reticently and accompanied by ten players. Seven instrumentalists gave us the fascinating "Chôros No. 7" (1924) by Villa-Lobos. Then, a world premiere, "Tenue brillantez" by Patricia Martínez (1973), a commission from Encuentros, deploying with professionalism the paraphernalia of the avant-garde. I was happy that one of the nicest pieces of our repertoire got a merited revival, Virtú Maragno´s "Baladas amarillas" (1952), well-sung by Blanco. The strangely called "Dramatic Polimaniquexixe" by the Chilean Jorge Antunes (1942) is a short suite billed as "largely erotic" and written for cello, clarinet and piano. Then, a very interesting experience, one of the first pieces conceived for quarter-tones, the Mexican Julián Carrillo´s "Cristóbal Colón" (1925) for voice and seven players. Followed the half-hour cantata "El martirio de Santa Olalla" created by Rodolfo Arizaga in 1952, a valuable composition in stylized Spanish archaism too long absent from our programmes (I was present at its premiere but had never heard it since). Finally, the clearly Armenian "Chant to Vahan" by Terzian herself, a suggestive composition with five small bells.

The often done "O King " by Luciano Berio is a homage to Martin Luther King and it started the second concert. The difficult "Dérive" (1984) is one of the few works by Pierre Boulez heard here, his symphonic works apparently beyond the possibilities of our orchestras; the ensemble played it well, quite a feat. The early "Cabaret songs" (1937-39) by Britten are light and agreeable and were well done by Blanco. Next, a revelation to me, the post-Romantic and very expressive "Der Wind" (1909) by Franz Schreker. Some of Shostakovich´s "Poems by A. Block", spare and stark, were heard, by voice and a piano trio that played separately or jointly in different poems. "Ascolta l´uccellino" is a commission by the Fundación Encuentros to Chilean composer Boris Alvarado and it mixed whistling, singing and avant-garde trademarks. I found Terzian´s "Les yeux fertiles" on Paul Éluard a bit too attuned to current European fingerprints, I prefer her in the Armenian-influenced scores; the piece is sung and spoken, a combination I find forced.

The ensemble is very professional and solid, and was well-rehearsed by Terzian, who also did the somewhat excessive comments. Make no mistake, these concerts were very useful and interesting and prove yet again that Terzian is a major figure in the promotion of the music I´m commenting on.

Apart from the AMIJAI concerts, the 40^th International Festival of Encuentros included other sessions. I found particularly important the one dedicated to twentieth-century French music and basically featuring Olivier Messiaen. It happened at the Auditorium of the Consejo Profesional de Ciencias Económicas, a chamber venue of good acoustics at Viamonte 1549. The main work was the transcendental "Quartet for the end of times", an eight-movement instrumental work of moving mysticism written for clarinet, violin, cello and piano and composed at a relatively benign concentration camp in 1941, where it was premiered with the author at the piano. The proficient players were Claudio Espector (piano), Sergio Polizzi (violin, the only one with some difficulties not quite solved), Carlos Nozzi (cello) and Eduardo Ihidoype (clarinet). Also by Messiaen were "Three Melodies" from 1930 and "Le merle noir" for flute and piano. It was interesting to hear "Viens! Une flute invisible soupire…", a piece written for flute, piano and voice by André Caplet in 1900, and Roussel´s "Two poems of Ronsard" (1924) for flute and voice (without the habitual piano). Good jobs from mezzosoprano Marta Blanco and flutist Fabio Mazzitelli. Terzian coordinated.

An independent homage to Messiaen, and a very good one, was the premiere of his "Les corps glorieux", a 1939 score splendidly played by Argentine organist Diego Innocenzi, who resides in Switzerland. In 50 minutes and seven movements we hear "seven brief visions of the life of the reborn". This was at the basilica of the Santo Domingo convent, which holds a splendid organ of very full and varied registers, fully used by Messiaen. The work was impressive, especially in the "Combat between Death and Life". It was certainly useful to see the player via closed-circuit TV.

For Buenos Aires Herald

Nuevo curso: Antonin Dvorak

A partir del próximo martes 4 de noviembre se dictará en el Club del Progresoun curso sobre la vida y la obra de Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904), a cargo del lic. Pablo Bardin.

Serán 4 clases los martes 4, 11, 18 y 25 de noviembre en el horario de 18.15 a 20.15.

Arancel total $100.

Sarmiento 1334

inscripciones: institucional@clubdelprogreso.com

www.clubdelprogreso.com

Great symphonic experiences

Nuova Harmonia ended its season with a marvelous symphonic experience at the Coliseo: the only concert of the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra Moscow under Vladimir Fedoseyev. It used to be called the Moscow Radio Symphony and it visited us under that name some years ago, led by the same conductor, who has been with it for 34 years and is now a spry 76-year-old. They brought us two standard Russian masterpieces: Rimsky-Korsakov´s "Scheherezade" and Tchaikovsky´s Fifth Symphony. Under normal circumstances I would attack the yuxtaposition of two such well-known scores and would call for something more innovative, but after hearing them I stand not only content but enthusiastic.

The orchestra has had great Russian conductors since its inception in 1930: Orlov, Golovanov, Gauk, Rozhdestvensky and for more than the last three decades, Fedoseyev. It was in 1993 that it took the current name. The fact that its 95 players have interpreted the chosen scores dozens of times under the same guidance certainly gives them an assurance that is reflected in the sovereign quality of phrasing they show. Fedoseyev isn´t a precisionist and this is felt in minuscule misadjustments that however don´t affect the paramount interpretations, of an authenticity in both composers that made for a memorable occasion.

The players are individually virtuosi and have both that unmistakable Russian expressivity and great discipline; it is uncanny to hear the massed violins to play with exactly the same bowing and attack. In "Scheherezade" both the concertino, Mikhail Shestakov, and the first cellist, Vladimir Nikonov, were wonderfully sweet and accurate. The myriad shadows of the score were ideally phrased, with a subtlety and beauty that made for ecstatic hearing. And Tchaikovsky´s Fifth, was simply ideal in tempi, timbres, tensions and releases, becoming a profoundly moving experience, as well as thrillingly virtuosic. A curious bit of data: both works were written in 1888.

Encores: both by Tchaikovsky: the "Panorama" from "Sleeping Beauty", too slow for comfort in Fedoseyev´s view, and the "Spanish Dance" from "The Nutcracker", on the contrary overfast but certainly exciting.

An impromptu visit was that of the Brazilian National Symphony Orchestra, 77-strong, sited in Rio de Janeiro, born in 1961 and making its local debut at the Avenida with the leadership of Ligia Amadio, well-known here for her concerts with the Buenos Aires Philharmonic. It was a pleasant surprise and it showed a marked advance in Rio´s symphonic life, which used to be quite poor decades ago . It isn´t on a par with the splendid Sao Paulo Symphony under Neschling, perhaps the best Latin-American orchestra nowadays, but the Rio players are quite good, and under the energetic and knowledgeable conducting of Amadio showed themselves very listenable.

I was sorry about the substitution of the very interesting early Ginastera work , Suite from the ballet "Ollantay", by the overdone dances from his "Estancia". And although I certainly enjoy Villa-Lobos´ "Bachianas Brasileiras No. 7", I would have preferred the originally announced Chôros No. 7, less played and quite advanced in idiom. But both were played with stamina and accuracy, except for some difficult writing in the final Fugue from the "Bachianas". I also liked Camargo Guarnieri´s "Three orchestral dances".

I was much impressed by the Brazilian pianist Linda Bustani, whom I hadn´t heard before, in a talented traversal of the scintillating Ravel Concerto, with fine style and exactitude. She was correctly accompanied. It was probably a local debut.

The Freiburg Young Philharmonic made its second visit to BA under its Chief Conductor, Andreas Winnen, at a Midday Concert of the Mozarteum at the Ópera. The disciplined orchestra showed again that it is well steeped in the best German tradition, although one couldn´t call Winnen imaginative, but I was really stunned by the wonderful playing of Annette von Hehn (violin) and Stefan Heinenmeyer (cello) in Brahms´ Double Concerto, strong, accurate and stylish. They also did themselves proud in the Handel/Halvorsen Passacaglia, adapted from the original for violin and viola.

The B.A.Philharmonic has offered some worthwhile concerts in recent weeks. Its Chief Conductor, Arturo Diemecke, showed again his mettle in the sprawling but fascinating programmatic symphony by Tchaikovsky, "Manfred", on Lord Byron´s ultra-Romantic account of an antihero, and the orchestra responded well to the very hard challenge. Before the interval we heard an accurate though a bit mechanical account of Schumann´s Piano Concerto by Evgeny Mikhailov, somewhat lacking in the poetry that Nelson Freire had offered us earlier this season.

Although I only heard the general rehearsal, I was very favourably impressed by the perfervid traversal of Rachmaninov´s intense First Symphony under Roslen Milanov. There was also a correct version of Alberto Williams´ First Concert Overture, and an agreeable one of Poulenc´s Piano Concerto, with very professional but rather heavy playing from Akiko Ebi.

The following concert was really important. Günther Neuhold directed with firm hand a very tough programme, eliciting good playing from the Phil, not quite perfect but always respectable. The pleasant Violin Concerto by Alicia Terzian, redolent of Armenian folklore, was splendidly played by Rafael Gintoli. Then came a very characteristic score by Olivier Messiaen, perhaps a premiere: "Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum", five fragments for winds that combine mysticism with quite modern procedures. And finally, Barshai´s string orchestra arrangement of the autobiographic Quartet No.8 by Shostakovich, which sounds well in its new attire as Chamber Symphony op. 110a. It was a co-production with the Fundación Encuentros Internacionales de Música Contemporánea.

For Buenos Aires Herald

The variegated paths of Renaissance and Baroque music

In two successive days the Mozarteum Argentino gave us the return of Hespérion XXI in Ibero-American Renaissance music (at the Coliseo) . Both events were richly rewarding and demonstrative of the immense variety of those periods.

We had earlier visits from the specialist ensemble founded by Jordi Savall; it started as Hespérion XX and as the new century began, was renamed Hespérion XXI. As it came this year, it included four "viole da gamba", led by Savall in the smallest one, the others being Sergi Casademunt, Fahmi Alqhai and the Argentine Juan Manuel Quintana; Xavier Díaz-Latorre and Enrique Solinis in guitar and the "vihuela" (its cousin, so to speak); David Mayoral and Mehmet Yesilcay in assorted percussion; and Adela González-Campa in period castanets. The instrumentalists were complemented by another Savall-led ensemble, La Capella Reial de Catalunya, a flexible vocal ensemble that has often done choral work in its augmented form. Soprano Montserrat Figueras, Savall´s wife, was taken ill and splendidly replaced by the Argentine Adriana Fernández, who is having a fine career in Europe. The others were all men: countertenor David Sagastume (Basque), tenor Lluís Vilamajó (Catalan), Italian baritone Furio Zanasi, the stunning Venezuelan bass Iván García (with a curious hairdo) and bass Daniele Carnovich (Italian). As you see by the surnames Alkhai (probably Maghrebian) and Yesilcay (Turkish), and by the Italians and Latin-Americans, this is certainly a cosmopolitan ensemble based at Barcelona. By the way, Hespérion comes from Hesperia, an ancient name of the Iberian Peninsula.

Savall has been responsible with his different groups for a staggering 170 CDs, all of them highly professional in execution and musicologically up-to-date. The particular programme I heard is called "Encounters of musics of fire and air, from Old Iberia to the New World", and is designed in a total of twenty pieces, each part containing successively groups of four, two and four works. They purport to be good samples of musical hybridization ("mestizaje") between Spain and Latin America from the 16^th to the 18^th century. And viceversa, the influence of Latin American musical idioms on Spanish composers residing in Spain. Mostly this traversal was both instructive and enjoyable.

There was a cunning alternation of vocal/instrumental and purely instrumental pieces, almost all rather short. The first group began with a "Moresca" (Moorish-style) by Pedro Guerrero, followed by a hybridization: "Negrilla a 4", that is, a piece in Negro style for four singers, called "San Sabeya gugurumbé", by that great writer of "ensaladas" (quodlibets of melodies), Mateo Flecha, also author of the so-called "Dindirindin a 4", so-called because of the repetition of that onomatopoeic phrase, "Ande pues nuestro apellido". A Pavane and Galliard by Luis de Milán (here Catalanized as Lluís de Milá) completed the group. Milán started the second group of two with an imaginative "Fantasía VII". Bartomeu Cárceres curiously combines Gascon and Catalan in a dance of French origin, the "branle", called "Tau garçó la durundena". The final group of the First Part combined two Spanish resident composers , Diego Ortiz in two dances, "Romanesca y passamezzo moderno", and Antonio Martín y Coll in "El villano", with two transplanted Spaniards: Juan Pérez Bocanegra wrote down in 1631 an indigenous Quechua piece, the expressive "Hanacpachap cussicuinin", and from Juan García de Zéspedes (Mexico) came an astonishing villancico (Christmas carol) on the guaracha rhythm (!), "Ay que me abraso", written before 1678.

The second Part started with the "Obertura/Corrente italiana" by the great Catalan Joan Cabanilles, followed by "Todo el mundo en general", an anonymous piece praising the Virgin, "concevida sin pecado original" (period orthography). Then, "Glosas" (variations) on that same work written by Francisco Correa de Arrauxo, and a typical Spanish "Romance", "Desde las torres del alma", by Juan Blas de Castro. Then, from Martín y Coll, the exciting "Danza del hacha", and an anonymous piece, "Seguidillas en eco: De tu vista celoso". The final group began with an improvisation on the dance called "Canarios", with a funny false start by the guitarist, and virtuoso playing by Savall; there followed a piece characterized as "Mestizo e Indio": "Tleycantimo choquiliya", in a mixture of Spanish and Nahuatl (the Aztec language), by the Portuguese Gaspar Fernandes; a fine "Gallarda Napolitana" by Antonio Valente; and an overlong "Negro a 5" by the Portuguese Frei Filipe da Madre de Deus: "Antonya Flaciquia Gasipà", which means "Antonia, Francisca, Gaspar". The encore was an improvisation on the only four notes we have of the musicalization of the "Romance del Conde Claros".

Turning to the interpretation, Savall decides everything and does it admirably, for he is an expert musicologist as well as a first-rate virtuoso. All players are very good, but I would single out the percussion group (what an assortment of castanets and drums!), the principal guitarist and Casademunt. Of the singers I preferred Fernández, García and Zanasi; the others had flaws, such as breaking the vocal line or crooning too much.

The following day they gave a totally different programme with a very long title: "Lights and shadows in the century of Colón: History and poetry in dialogue with the Arab-Andalusian, Jewish and Christian musics of old Hesperia until the discovery of the New World". It would have been fascinating to attend, but I had an important date elsewhere: Festivales Musicales offered J.S.Bach´s "St. John Passion", and that is unmissable.

Once again, Hespérion XXI gave us much to enjoy.

For Buenos Aires Herald

Opera: admirable Gluck, flawed Rossini

Buenos Aires Lírica (BAL) and Juventud Lyrica proceeded with their seasons, the former with much better results. I don´t think that the inclusion by BAL of Gluck´s "Iphigénie en Tauride" was warranted, because last year we had a very worthy revival from the Compañía de las Luces led by Mauricio Birman. Much more necessary was the other "Iphigénie", "en Aulide", last seen at the Colón in 1949. But this said, I do admit that the BAL revival was valuable . I might add that the absence of the Colón has left the field wide open for BAL to be our most important BA opera organisation. It doesn´t mean that they are the equal of the Colón when this theatre is fully operative; of course, the resources available to a municipal theatre with a big budget aren´t comparable. And they, as the other companies that use the Avenida as venue, have the disadvantage of a small pit (45 players) that the Avenida´s owners stubbornly refuse to enlarge. But they have a consistently better level than other groups, for by careful planning and marketing they have managed to have full houses in all five performances of the operas they offer.

I have great sympathy for the aims of Juventus Lyrica (JL) founded before BAL by Ana D´Anna: to promote young singers is certainly laudable. Also, there´s great warmth and sincerity in what they do, which creates a specially nice ambience. Alas, they have two problems: they are underfinanced and that shows in the insufficient means for such items as scenery and clothing, and D´Anna has sometimes chosen badly her producers (other than herself). In the particular case I´m mentioning, producer Horacio Pigozzi ruined a "Barber of Seville" very well conceived musically by maestro Antonio Russo and with several worthwhile singers.

Now back to "Iphigénie en Tauride". The opera is the best of the "tragédies lyriques" composed by Gluck for Paris and made him the legitimate successor of Rameau. It was written in 1778 on a libretto by Nicolas Francois Guillard based on Euripides. The libretto is good and the music, noble, inspiring and dramatic.

The musical side of this revival was quite satisfying. I was really surprised by the sense of style of the young Argentine conductor Alejo Pérez, who is having a fine career in Europe, though associated rather with contemporary music. The result here, with an augmented Camerata Bariloche, was splendid: intensity, precision, beautiful playing and a dramatic approach that never went off bounds.

There was a fine cast. Virginia Correa Dupuy showed yet again that she is a special singer; the role is apt either for a dramatic mezzosoprano or soprano, and her voice has the timbre of a mezzo in the middle and low ranges but clears up in the high range and sounds like a soprano. Her musicality is refined (lovely pianissimo) and she acts with involvement. Tenor Carlos Ullán had one of his best nights in his well-sung and –acted Pylades, the bosom friend of Orestes, played and sung with excessive emphasis by baritone Luciano Garay but undoubted commitment. A new voice, Ernesto Bauer, sang an impressive Thoas, the Scythian tyrant. Crystalline singing from Eugenia Fuente (the goddess Diana), nice work from the Priestesses (Vanesa Tomás and Vanina Guilledo), a correct Greek woman (Andrea Nazarre) and forceful appearances of Mariano Fernández Bustinza (Scythian) and Claudio Rotella (temple minister). The young and well-chose finely prepared by Juan Casasbellas. The six dancers did agreeably in Cecilia Elías´ sober choreography.

Which brings me to the production and stage designs of Rita Cosentino. It was a mix of right and wrong. Right: the expressive interchange among the singers, always dramatic; the evolutions of the Chorus, functioning according to the Euripides play. Wrong: the use of a unit set (the ruins of a palace) to be both beach, prison, temple and room; the absurd stylistic solecisms, such as putting a twentieth-century armchair in a crucial scene. The costumes by Stella Maris Müller were pleasant for the women but unlikely for the men; the Greeks looked like informal boys of our age and Thoas was most un-kinglike. The lighting by Horacio Efron exaggerated the initial storm.

About the "Barber" I´ll be brief. Laura Penchi was a delightful Rosina, pert and fluid. Fabián Veloz was a convincing Figaro, no mean feat for a singer of little experience; he has a fine lyrical timbre. Duilio Smiriglia is overweight for Almaviva and hardly suggests a Count, but he has a nice voice, still undertrained. Alberto Jáuregui Lorda made an unconventional though credible Don Bartolo. Mario De Salvo is a good singer but lacks volume and presence for Don Basilio. Santiago Tiscornia was a sonorous Officer, Leonardo Menna a pleasant Fiorello, and poor Silvana Gómez had to deal with an outlandish marking of Bertha by the producer but sang acceptably. Very good playing from the orchestra and appropriate work from the Chorus under Miguel Pesce.

The production was unretrievable in every imaginable aspect. The completely incongruous Flamenco ballet (not bad in itself) in the Storm, the ridiculous restriction of space in the First Act, the tasteless, even obscene markings of the singers, the absurd clothes (the Count as a coya), the incredible transposition of the action to the twentieth century, etc.,etc. Mini Zuccheri is just as guilty in her clothing designs and the stage décor (Juan José Cambre) was very poor.

For Buenos Aires Herald

Pianists galore this season

A salutary trend of recent seasons has been the comeback of piano recitals. Not in the big cycles (Mozarteum Argentino, Festivales Musicales, Nuova Harmonia) who keep to one pianist per season (I would say that two is the right proportion) but in smaller venues and organizations. A major factor has been the appearance of Chopiniana, the cycle led by Martha Noguera in which there is always something of Chopin, but no longer exclusively as at first. Now we have eclectic programmes, which I find much better. Also, there is the increased activity of the Museo Fernández Blanco and other places. Truth to tell, in full season there are about 35 concerts a week of varied types, and no critic can –or should- cover all of them (some are below par), but there remains a substantial quantity of good concerts.

First, a Big League one. I have stated before my belief that Nelson Goerner is the best Argentine pianist of his generation; he is now 39. This was triumphantly confirmed by his wonderful concert for Nuova Harmonia at the Coliseo. I now raise the odds and place him as among the very best of the globe. He unites in ideal proportions transcendental technique and a deep maturity in phrasing and style. He may look unprepossessing but don´t be influenced by this: just listen to him five minutes and only the music will matter.

His programme was solidly Central European and nineteenth-century, and as usual, he chooses well. The 31 minutes that Schubert´s extraordinary Three Pieces (D.946) lasted convinced me again that this very late piano music from this composer, considered extended Impromptus, is among his most innovative and personal. Marvellously apposite and thoughtful interpretation, note-perfect to boot.

I have heard Beethoven´s Sonata No.26, wrongly called "Les adieux" (it should be "L´adieu"), quite often in concert, but this one stunned me, especially the fantastically difficult final "Vivacissimo", played with uncanny precision. Very slightly controversial was his version of Brahms´ late "Fantasies" op.116, three fast and virtuosistic Capricci interspersed with four contemplative Intermezzi; I hold no reserves about the beautifully intimate version of the Intermezzi, but some of the phrasing in the Capricci seemed to me a bit awkward.

Liszt´s "Petrarch Sonnet No.2" was simply ideal; his frenetic and almost impossible to play "Spanish Rhapsody" had the most fantastic execution I´ve ever heard; yes, Goerner is the mature artist that can gives us a reference Beethoven sonata, but he is also the coruscating virtuoso in showpieces. One string broke during it but he proceeded unfazed; however, apart from comprehensible exhaustion, it was apparently the reason for not playing an encore.

I was very angry when a freak and uncomprehensible call "from Martha Noguera" left me a message telling me that the concert by Libor Novácek was cancelled; it wasn´t! Apparently a boycott? Noguera of course was sorry and flabbergasted. I had good references from his concert, however. But I could hear the following pianist, the Canadian Daniel Wnukowski (debut), of Polish descent, 27-years-old. After agreeable versions of two arranged (well) pieces based on J.S.Bach´s originals (Busoni´s version of the chorale "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland", and the famous arrangement by Myra Hess of the chorus "Jesu, Joy of Men´s Desiring" from Cantata No. 147) we heard an appropriate but not impeccable Sonata Nº 10, K. 330, by Mozart, and a meritorious traversal of Beethoven´s last sonata, No. 32, where the initial movement seemed a bit too forceful and brusque but the second movement took its rightful time to develop from the initial slow theme to the intricate variations and innumerable trills of the last pages, finely done.

He came into his own in the enormously variegated 24 Preludes op.28 by Chopin, where he displayed not only his affinity with the style but also the big guns to deal with some of the atrociously difficult ones as if they were child´s play; this was great playing and show Wnukowski to be a distinguished Chopinian. And he manifested his virtuosism in the encore, the fun variations by Horowitz on Mendelssohn´s "Wedding March". The venue is unpleasant, the Teatro Santa María, dark and rather ugly, but the acoustics are good. After abundant vicissitudes, this third concert of the Chopiniana seemed to find a third and final piano for the cycle, a 1908 Steinway in good condition with its original ivory keys.

Another fine experience was offered by Ukrainian pianist Julia Bochovskaia at the Gran Rex/ Mozarteum Midday Concerts, a return visit since her 2006 local debut. Fresh, young and beautiful, she is solidly grounded and intelligent. Her traversal of Austro-German repertoire was both sensitive and solid, with finely honed technique and a keen sense of style. I could only hear the third movement from Haydn´s Sonata Hob. XVI:24 (due to BA´s infernal traffic), but it was clean and invigorating. She chose three beautiful Brahms pieces: the Intermezzi op.119 in C and op.117 in E flat and the strong Ballade op.118 in G minor; she handled them with expertise. Then she did a strange thing: she allowed no time for applause and went on directly to Schumann´s interesting "Humoresque" op.20, a mosaic of contrasting music: the Apollo/Eusebius introspective side and the fast, exhilarating Dionysos/Florestan side. Lovely playing all the way, complemented with two other Schumann pieces: the sanguine "Aufschwung" from "Fantasiestücke" op.12, and a slow one that my memory refused to identify.

For Buenos Aires Herald

High times for symphonic music: the Hallé visits us

The third visit over the decades of the Hallé Orchestra from Manchester has marked an especially high spot in the musical scene. As the "biography" in the hand programme of the Mozarteum Argentino says nothing about earlier visits to our country (a common trait in material from abroad, but also an undiplomatic one that should be corrected) it must be stressed that the Hallé was here under the great Sir John Barbirolli (1968) and much later under Stanislav Skrowaczewski. Those with Barbirolli were memorable, those with the Polish conductor very professional but less interesting. Both were Principal Conductors of the Hallé, as is the case with Sir Mark Elder (local debut) since 2000. They offered two subscription concerts and a Midday Concert (the latter for free) all at the Coliseo.

Elder has had a substantial career marked by his years as Music Director of the English National Orchestra(1979-93) and guest conducting with prestigious concert and opera orchestras. He has an eclectic taste and a big repertoire.

The Hallé is the oldest professional orchestra in England and this year celebrates its 150^th anniversary. In its current shape it is fully equal to its 1968 incarnation under Barbirolli, which is saying a lot. The Orchestra isn´t one of the biggest, but its 82 players sound like a hundred, are 100 % professional, keep a nice balance of ladies and gentlemen and of youth and maturity. Under Elder´s fine conducting the orchestra solves with perfect intonation and true virtuosism the greatest difficulties. It has a beautiful collective sound and a triggerlike response to every gesture of the Maestro.

I unfortunately couldn´t hear the first concert, which included Richard Strauss´ "Don Juan", Grieg´s Piano Concerto, Wagner´s First Act Prelude to "Lohengrin" and Elgar´s "Enigma Variations". Happily I caught the latter when it was included in the Midday Concert. The second concert started with Verdi´s Overture to "The Sicilian Vespers", followed by Liszt´s First Piano Concerto, four Preludes by Debussy (originally for piano, orchestrated by the Hallé´s composer-in-residence Colin Matthews and an Argentine premiere; both facts were omitted in the programme page) and Shostakovich´s First Symphony. The Midday Concert had "Don Juan" (which I couldn´t hear), three of the four Debussy Preludes and the "Enigma Variations". Along for the tour we met for the first time 27-year-old Polina Leschenko, a beautiful blonde born in St Petersburg that has built a solid career since her debut at 8-years-old; only 27 and almost 20 years of experience.

Now to what I heard. A sanguine, forceful and precise account of Verdi´s Overture. An admirable version of Liszt´s Concerto, adroitly accompanied and played by Leschenko, who showed not only a masterful technique but an approach both subtle, elegant and full of strength, almost like a young Argerich (who has promoted her). The encore was quite unusual: music lovers know well Chopin´s "Andante spianato and Grand Polonaise", but as a piano piece; here we were offered the piano and orchestra version! The orchestra hasn´t much to do, however, so we marvelled again at Leschenko´s delicacy in the "Andante" and strong rhythm coupled with the effortless solving of the many intricate passages of one of Chopin´s great showpieces, this particularly scintillating Polonaise.

It was the Orchestra that asked Mathews to orchestrate the Debussy Piano Preludes, and he did all 24. Frankly I see no need for this exercise, for the shimmering Debussy pieces are truly pianistic and orchestration (even a good one, as Mathews´), far from enriching them changes their essence. For the record, they were: "Homage to S. Pickwick, Esq., PPMPC", "Canope", "La puerta del vino" (in Spanish in the original) and "The hills of Anacapri". But the evening ended with a very detailed view of Shostakovich´s so impressive First Symphony, written at 19-years-old, still a student but already a master. The strongly contrasted score was rendered in all its sad nostalgia and ferocity with feats of very fine playing.

The encores mitigated a complaint of mine: no British music in the programme. But then, as Elder himself acknowledged, the logical British quota came to the fore in Elgar´s lovely "Sospiri" for strings (which I can´t remember having heard here) and the entrancing "Knightsbridge March " from Eric Coates´ "London Suite", heard only once here (Bedford with the B.A. Phil). It was a charming end to a significant concert. But on the following midday I was completely bowled over by a much bigger Elgar score, the wonderful "Enigma Variations" premiered here by Sir Malcolm Sargent. This has long been a Hallé specialty, and the Barbirolli version, along with the Boult, retain their places as the great references. But Elder´s minute control and total understanding, and the coruscating brilliance of the orchestra in the terribly difficult fast bits coupled with their full and noble sound in such a variation as "Nimrod", made for a fantastic version that had me in tears. It was the final cap on a great visit.

A personal wish which I hope will come true: we know admirable London orchestras as the Royal Philharmonic, the Philharmonia and the BBC, but we have never been visited by the other two superb organisms, the London Symphony and the London Philharmonic; I´ve heard them in their home city, but I do believe the Argentine public will welcome them with open arms.

For Buenos Aires Herald

Diversity in Opera: Purcell and Perusso

The fascinating diversity of opera was well illustrated in recent weeks by two very different shows. La Plata´s Teatro Argentino, as it has done in recent years, presented a premiere by an Argentine composer: Mario Perusso wrote the music and his son Marcelo the libretto of an opera based on Jean Cocteau´s "The two-headed eagle" ("L´aigle à deux têtes") called "El ángel de la muerte". At the refurbished Teatro 25 de Mayo in Villa Urquiza the Colón Institute of Art presented the semi-opera by Henry Purcell "The Fairy Queen", quite loosely based on Shakespeare´s "A Midsummer Night´s Dream". First, a personal caveat. As readers know, I´m not usually late for the events I cover, but this time I was…twice. In the case of La Plata, I really feel I´m not to blame: it was a long-weekend Friday, so I planned two hours to get there instead of one; it took me an unconscionable two hours 20 minutes. In the case of the Theater 25 de Mayo, I plead guilty of ignorance. I had never been there and I don´t know the area. I looked at the Filcar and Juramento seemed the right way to get there from Palermo; alas, Juramento is obstrued by the railway; I was deviated by diagonals and couldn´t find my way back for a full 40 minutes. So I got there 20 minutes late. I´m sorry, then, but this review misses from 20 to 25 minutes of each show, and my verdict is on what I could hear. Argentine opera is more abundant than generally known; there are over hundred operas written, though not all are available (many were lost). There have been too tendencies: Argentine or Pre-columbine subjects, or European ones. Mario Perusso has written in both. He has created four, widely spaced chronologically: "La voz del silencio" (1969), an experimental work that was recorded; "Escorial" (1989) on an Expressionist play by Ghelderode; "Guayaquil" (1993) on the crucial meeting between San Martín and Bolívar; and the one I´m reviewing on a famous historical play by Cocteau. His play was premiered in 1946 with Edwige Feuillère y Jean Marais and the film was made in 1948 with the same actors. The play is loosely inspired in the murder of the famous Sissi, wife of the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph. An anarchist tries to kill the Queen in the opera, but she, a recent widower of her husband, assassinated on the very day of her wedding, finds in the anarchist an amazing physical resemblance to her husband; both fall in love at first sight, and the story goes on with many surprising twists. The principals are mezzosoprano and tenor, and other characters enrich the action: the Queen´s mother (Archduchess), the director of the secret police, Oskar de Grössenbach (important member of the Court) and Noemí (lady in waiting). The libretto innovates from time to time on the original play, but the general traits remain. The music is accessible, with a combination of tonality and atonality that is never aggressive and often lyrical; the vocal lines are quite melodic in such pieces as the love duet. The orchestration is attractive though not original. In all, this is a reasonably good opera that combines love and politics adroitly. For me Perusso´s best was "Escorial", but I have a bent for expressionism. The production was very good, with beautiful scenery by Marcelo Perusso and convincing moves for the singers. There were also lovely clothes by Stella Maris Müller and fine lighting by José Luis Fiorruccio. The orchestra was prepared and led with great understanding by Guillermo Scarabino. There was no chorus. The lead singers were interesting. The experienced mezzosoprano Alejandra Malvino dealt finely with her vocal lines and cut a beautiful figure. Young tenor Marcelo Puente certainly has talent, good looks and an attractive voice, but he lacked the big guns for some of the music. A pleasant Patricia González (Noemí), an expressive though uneven Enrique Folger, a very strong Leonardo Estévez (Richard of Streber, the chief of the Secret Police), a well-sung but undramatic Archduchess (Alicia Alduncin) and three bit singers, Oreste Chlopecki, Claudia Montagna and Roxana Deviggiano, made up the good cast.

"El ángel de la muerte" de Mario Perusso

Henry Purcell´s "The Fairy Queen" (1692) is a series of "masques", that typically English semiopera that combines music with dances and Baroque scenery and has the character of a divertimento. It used to be combined with the plays. It has little argumental relevance and no dramatic coherence, so its charm comes from the beauty of the different fragments, very high in this case. It was premiered years ago by a British group of great quality. I was unprepared for the very nice and serious results of this production of the Colón Institute, although I had seen a good condensed "Orlando" (Handel) two years ago, supervised (as in this occasion) by the notable countertenor Jeffrey Gall. A valid orchestra very well led by Bruno D´Astoli, with the assistance of a true specialist like Igor Herzog, a stylish production by Lizzie Waisse, agreeable choreography by Margarita Fernández, funny and expressive puppets by Adelaida Mangani (a curious but convincing addition) and a particularly beautiful stage design by Gerardo Pietrapertosa, plus a decent cast and the adequate restauration of the well-appointed small theatre, all summed up made for a fine evening. Among the singers I single out Andrea Maragno, Damián Ramírez, Soledad Espona and Lucas Somoza. For Buenos Aires Herald

Varied symphonic activity in BA

I will start with an interesting visit, that of the Liège Philharmonic under Pascal Rophé(debut) and featuring the first appearance in BA of the great USA mezzosoprano Susan Graham. Two different concerts for the Mozarteum at the Coliseo with French-Belgian programming. Naturally enough, being born in Belgian Liège, César Franck was featured in both nights: in the first, his impressive symphonic poem "Le chasseur maudit" ("The damned hunter"); in the second, his great Symphony. Many forgot that the Liège Philharmonic has already been here, and that it played the Franck Symphony; it was in 1998 and it was led by their then Principal Conductor, Pierre Bartholomée. In both concerts the audience heard "Nuits d´été", the introspective, refined song cycle written by Berlioz on lovely poems by Téophile Gautier, such as "Le spectre de la rose". Although written for voice and piano around 1840, it was orchestrated in 1856 and became thus the first song cycle with orchestra. The first concert also included Debussy´s "La Mer" and the second, the "Roman Carnival" by Berlioz. I could only hear the second .

Rophé is a sanguine but accurate conductor, capable of giving plenty of dynamism to that fantastic overture "Roman Carnival" and also to build a convincing whole in the Franck Symphony, quite tricky in some aspects due to its heavy texture. The Orchestra seemed to be vastly improved since 1998, with fine intonation, an attractive and intensive collective sound and a good deal of discipline. But the gem of the evening was "Nuits d´été", accompanied with taste, and sung with superb style and beautiful voice by the admirable Susan Graham, a major artist , the outstanding vocal visitor of the year (as was Hampson last season). I was told she had bronchitis, but it didn´t show, a token of her fine technique.

Arturo Diemecke is a strange conductor: he is a thorough professional with a gift for integration of vast aural canvases, he has a fantastic memory, he is undoubtedly concentrated and communicative, and the B.A. Phil likes him; but the moment he turns to the public he becomes a clown with glam gestures; it almost seems a double personality. I appreciated his art recently in a general rehearsal and a concert. The first started with a 20-minute discussion about working conditions, a sign that all is not well at the Phil. But once the music started, I heard a committed conductor and orchestra. In particular, the virtuosic and extended symphonic poem by R. Strauss, "A hero´s life"; I was really impressed by the power and accuracy of the playing, including fine solos by Pablo Saraví, the concertino. That programme also included "Three songs" by Osvaldo Golijov, an Argentine having a big success in USA; they were very well sung and interpreted by Virginia Correa Dupuy. And also one of the best works of Ginastera, the "Variaciones concertantes", cleanly played.

The following Diemecke concert was also very good. Russian pianist Evgeny Mikhailov, in his second visit, played with fine mechanism the Schumann Concerto; the lack of greater tone quality was, I think, the fault of a rather metallic piano. Tchaikovsky´s "Manfred Symphony" is a controversial long score which I personally admire a lot. It is based on the ultra-Romantic work by Byron and the antihero goes through many vicissitudes admirably reflected in the texture and organization of the music. Diemecke´s conducting was taut and dramatic , as well as colourful , and the orchestra responded quite well.

The National Symphony has also given us some valuable experiences. I could only hear part of the general rehearsal of a concert conducted by Pedro Calderón. I missed the Dvorák Overture "In Nature´s realm" and most of R. Strauss´"Death and transfiguration", though I heard its last minutes and I liked the interpretation. The Wagner Prelude to the Third Act of "Lohengrin" was forthright and brilliant. And the Khachaturian Violin Concerto had a very able interpretation by concertino Luis Roggero, well accompanied by the Orchestra.

The audacious program imagined by conductor Luis Gorelik was a stimulating experience. The First Part was given over to Luciano Berio, with the premiere of his "Rendering" and the revival of his "Folksongs". "Rendering" is a strange and not quite convincing score, for it tries to complete the Schubert Tenth Symphony with Berio´s clouds of indeterminate sound and it doesn´t jell; also, the rescued Schubert is pleasant enough but very far from the Eighth and Ninth Symphonies. On the other hand, the "Folksongs" are very expressive and resourceful reworkings of folksongs from many parts of the world. I though Vera Cirkovic´s performance too uneven vocally and full of theatrical gestures. Gorelik handled both scores very well. The second Part allowed us to hear Prokofiev´s cantata "Alexander Nevsky", a masterpiece of tremendous power and imagination. Alejandra Malvino sang her Lament with intensity and the National Polyphonic Choir was outstanding, producing massive and well-tuned sound. The Orchestra responded with great punch and professionalism to Gorelik´s fine conducting.

Carlos Vieu also got good results in an interesting programme. After a correct version of Wagner´s Prelude and Love-Death from "Tristan and Isolde", we heard a valuable revival, our Luis Gianneo´s Piano Concerto, a score of considerable elaboration and very pleasant to hear, very well played by Fernando Viani. Finally, the charming and rarely heard Symphony No. 5 by Dvorák in an idiomatic and well-wrought interpretation.

For Buenos Aires Herald

Great chamber music from Zukerman and friends

We´ve been lucky recently. Music lovers have heard lots of great chamber music played by sterling artists. Pride of place goes predictably to the Zukerman Chamber Players, in a very welcome return visit at AMIJAI. They are led of course by the great violinist Pinchas Zukerman, who in recent years does more chamber music than recitals or orchestra dates. And he has the right way with it. He has chosen admirable players to form a string quintet of very high rank formed by Jessica Linnebach (violin), Jethro Marks and Ashan Pillai (violas) and the extraordinary cellist Amanda Forsyth, who is Zukerman´s match.

The programme was very attractive, with fine works from Dvorák (the Terzetto por two violins and viola), Mozart (the wonderful Quintet op.516, one of his most advanced scores) and Brahms (his second Quintet, op.111, strong and purposeful music). The mutual understanding, the refined style and instrumental perfection of these players were sheer pleasure all the way. I have only one caveat: the advance programming gave us the Bruckner Quintet instead of Brahms, and I would have much preferred that they stuck to Bruckner as announced, for this is a 50-minute creation of much interest, his only chamber piece.

The Zukerman Chamber Players gave another extraordinary concert at the Coliseo for Nuova Harmonia. And again the programme gave us lovely nineteenth century scores rarely heard and from great composers: Dvorák´s Quintet op. 97, full of Slavic character; Schubert´s one-movement Trio No.1; and Mendelssohn´s energetic and imaginative Second Quintet op.87. The encore was Mozart´s Menuet from the op.516 Quintet. Again the players worked wonders, led by the very sober playing and stance of Zukerman, who needs no carnival gestures to impress.

AMIJAi was also the venue for a major discovery, the Bernini Quartet, who started with their concert the series called Latina 2008 sponsored by the Italian Ministry of Culture. Their programme was uncommon but it proved very interesting: quartets from Haydn (No. 78, op.76 No. 4) and Mozart (No.17, K.458, "La Caccia") representing the very best of the Classic period, and accessible contemporary Italian pieces: three Adagios by Ennio Morricone arranged from his film scores ("C´era una volta in America", "Vatel" and "I promessi sposi"), charming and melodious, and a curiously named score by Sergio Sollima: "Cretto-Federico II", apparently from another film, "Viaggio in Italia", made up of a short Adagio and a long Allegro very rhythmic and Oriental, with percussive effects. The playing was astonishingly good: violinists Marco Serino and Anna Chulkina (the latter stunningly beautiful, by the way), violist Gianluca Saggini and cellist Valeriano Taddeo are major young artists of great technical and stylistic prowess, immaculately clean and precise in the Classic composers, and involved and communicative in the Italians.

The piano duet made up of Laure Favre-Kahn (French) and Marcela Roggeri (Argentine) gave a fine recital for Festivales Musicales at the Avenida. There are reasons to believe that J.S.Bach´s Concerto for two pianos BWV 1061 was conceived without the orchestra. Indeed the orchestral parts are merely supportive and at times they disappear completely. So it was acceptable for the players to do it as a piano duet, and they played with good mechanism. I dislike changes, especially unannounced (I was told the organizers weren´t advised). As it was they mixed things up. After Messiaen´s short Prelude No.7, "Plainte calme",nicely played by Favre-Kahn, came Satie´s "Gnossiennes", a clean performance, but they weren´t played all together as announced, rather one at a time, alternating with a stunning performance of Debussy´s Prelude "Feux d´artifice" by the French pianist and of Rachmaninov´s Prelude op. 32 No.l2 by Favre-Kahn substituting for Debussy´s "La puerta del vino".

In the Second Part we heard two brilliant piano duet works, Rachmaninov´s Suite No.1, "Fantaisie-Tableaux", with its colourful , rich writing, and Milhaud´s witty and sparkling "Scaramouche". I liked the playing a lot, combining as it did accuracy, good integration and style. Good encores: the four-hand Menuet from Debussy´s "Petite suite" and Brahms´ Hungarian dance No.2, for piano duet.

Chopiniana is a series of piano recitals organized by Martha Noguera. This year the venue is the Teatro Santa María, of adequate acoustics although rather unattractive. The start was the debut of the 22-year-old Ingolf Wunder, Austrian, and he proved indeed a wonder. In the First Part he gave evidence of a big technique but there were some stylistic matters that seemed wrong to me: although the first movement of Beethoven´s "Moonlight Sonata" was beautifully quiet and controlled, the rhythm of the second seemed rather excentric and the third was brilliant but had exaggerated fortissimi. I disliked the phrasing and violence of his rendering of Chopin´s Mazurkas (op.7 Nº3, op.30 Nº4, op.33 Nº 4). He added (unannounced) Chopin´s "Raindrop" Prelude, and played nicely Chopin´s "Andante spianato"; the following virtuosic "Grande Polonaise" was stunningly played, and from then on all was, well, wonderful. He has the big guns but also the subtlety to play Rachmaninov´s Preludes op.32 Nº5, op.30 Nº 4 and I especially enjoyed a thundering performance of the march-like op. 33 Nº 4. But Liszt proved even better: lovely phrasing and attention to detail in "Sposalizio" and "Petrarch´s Sonnet No. 104", fantastic virtuosity (a young Horowitz) in "Funerals" and "Rhapsody No.2". Imaginative encores: a fascinating arrangement of Mozart´s "Turkish March", Rachmaninov´s "Polka of W.R." and Moszkowski´s "Étincelles", all played with great panache.

For Buenos Aires Herald

El Colón sigue en descenso

Parece la máquina del tiempo. En el número anterior figura lo siguiente: “Escribo esta nota el 20 de junio. A la fecha las dos situaciones fundamentales –la consecución de las obras y la Ley de Autarquía- están en período de espera”. Hoy, 21 de Agosto, debo repetir las mismas frases. Consecución de las obras: el 30 de Julio llegó una orden de Martín Boschet (Director Ejecutivo) a diversas dependencias del Colón: hay que dejar vacío de su personal al Colón por requerimiento de la empresa gerenciadora SYASA avalado por Mauricio Macri. Esto debía hacerse de inmediato, pero sin instrucción alguna de adónde irían a parar los 1.100 empleados actuales; típico caos “coloniense” actual. (De paso, observarán que los 1.300 bajaron a 1.100 por atrición jubilatoria y otros motivos). En la práctica, esto no se cumplió por razones poco claras (otra constante de la situación que se vive ahora). Se anunció en La Nación que habría una conferencia de prensa describiendo los planes futuros, pero ésta no tuvo lugar. A la fecha se sigue cabildeando y nada se define, pese a que Sanguinetti designó a dos funcionarios de su confianza para coordinar la compleja situación: su asesor Eric Le Comte y un ex ingeniero de Siemens apellidado Lang. Por otra parte, se habría tomado dos decisiones positivas (pero no confirmadas): la construcción del controvertido montacoches que permitiría la tercerización de la producción quedaría sin efecto; y se restauraría el telón en vez de hacer uno nuevo. En un encendido discurso delante de la Jefatura de Gobierno, el delegado de ATE Máximo Parpagnoli acusó a Macri de querer sacar a los empleados del teatro para que no puedan monitorear el progreso de las obras. Ley de Autarquía: supuestamente se trataría en Agosto, pero las diferencias de opinión y los arreglos entre los bloques de la Legislatura demoraron las cosas. También hubo cambios de frente: Inés Urdapilleta, Presidenta de la Comisión de Cultura y del Frente para la Victoria (kirchnerista), se negaba a que hubiera una Ley de Autarquía; ahora la acepta. El despacho de mayoría, pese a las modificaciones de redacción, sigue teniendo graves inconvenientes puntualizados por el despacho de minoría de Patricia Walsh; he aquí algunos ejemplos. Objetivos de tercerización y privatización parcial: según el Despacho de mayoría , los bienes del Colón “pueden ser destinados a producciones y espectáculos realizados por terceros”; un inútil Directorio que sólo trabará al Director General podrá “aprobar las prestaciones de servicios gratuitos a terceros”. Los cuerpos artísticos y escenotécnicos no están incluídos en forma explícita en el articulado. El colmo: no habrá Dirección Artística global, sólo la de los distintos organismos, cuando la Artística es la dirección clave. El Jefe de Gobierno designa tanto al Director General como al Director Ejecutivo y les da el mismo término a su tarea que el suyo propio: politización total y vertical. También se crea un absurdo Consejo Asesor Honorario, que sólo dificultará las cosas. Por todo ello Walsh pide que se archive el proyecto. Y tiene razón. Pero lamentablemente el 18 de agosto la Comisión de Cultura lo aprobó; éste debe pasar por las Comisiones de Presupuesto y de Asuntos Constitucionales antes de bajar al recinto. Llegaría allí en algún día de Septiembre y presumiblemente sería aprobada esta enormidad pese al petitorio de 15.000 firmas, muchas de ellas ilustres, a actos públicos profundamente críticos y a rechazos directos a Macri por su política hacia el Colón. Sólo se podría evitar el mal resultado cambiando voluntades en la Legislatura, pero esto es arduo de lograr si ya hay arreglos previos. Noticias de bajas y altas. Dos funcionarios que habían tenido ríspidos intercambios con Boschet renunciaron o se les pidió la renuncia. Carlos Vieu, que hace sólo dos meses se había prestado a una entrevista en la revista del Colón donde parecía dispuesto a hacer una gestión de largo alcance, mandó una lapidaria carta a Sanguinetti donde dice claramente que fue engañado, que se le prometieron múltiples cuestiones que no se han realizado y que no quiere cargar con problemas que le son ajenos. Un tonto rumor pretende que sería nombrado Franz-Paul Decker, a 85 años… El Director de Danza Guido de Benedetti había hecho quejas públicas con respecto a los recursos asignados al Ballet (no hay dinero para zapatillas ni para un piso que nivele la superficie poceada del Opera, decía). Boschet, con la asombrosa prescindencia de Sanguinetti, cada vez más “dibujado”, nombró a la muy prestigiosa y casi octogenaria Olga Ferri como Directora de Danza y a Jorge Amarante, bailarín y coreógrafo de 38 años, como Director del Ballet. Ya reprogramaron lo que había pergeñado De Benedetti con pocos cambios; ojalá se note su labor en el espectáculo que en estos días se presentará con “Las Sílfides” como obra principal en el Coliseo. Se agrega a los problemas que el Teatro Bristol de Martínez cortó relaciones con el Colón por su imprevisibilidad. Una última noticia, totalmente contradictoria con la Ley de Autarquía: como acto de servicio, Mario Perusso aceptó la Dirección Artística (no había nadie nombrado pero Salvatore Caputo tenía la mayor influencia como Director de Opera; la lógica sería eliminar ese inventado cargo). Formará equipo con Guillermo Opitz, Director de Estudios. La amplia experiencia de Perusso debería ayudar a suavizar la situación en esta etapa tan conflictiva.

Para Cantabile