Rody van Gemert

Rody van Germert (Somija) koncerts Baldones baznīcā
Piedalās Andris Grīnbergs
Programmā dzirdēsiet Friderika Šopēna, Viljama Bērda, Taru Takemica, Jāņa Mediņa un citu komponistu skaņdarbus.
Koncerta laikā saņemtie ziedojumi paredzēti baznīcas atjaunošanai
* Baldones evaņģēliski luteriskā draudze
* Reģistrācijas nr.: 90000739936
* Konts: LV81 RIKO 0000 0834 2369 1
Programma:
Frédérick Chopin (1810-1849)
Arranged by Francisco Tárrega 24’
Prelude op.28 no.7 (little Mazurka)
Mazurka op.33 no.4 (Grand Mazurka)
Prelude op.28 no.6 (The Bells)
Nocturne op.9 no.2
Prelude op.28 no.20 (Funeral)
Prelude op.28 no.15 (Raindrop)
William Byrd (1540-1623)
Arranged by Rody van Gemert 11’
Preludio MB12
Fantasia MB13
Intermission
Juan José Eslava (1970-)
Pulsar (Latvia premiere) 11’
Francisco Tárrega (1852-1909) 8’
Serenata Española (Dedicada a Don Pedro Aguilera)
Guitar Duos with Andris Grinbergs:
Toru Takemitsu (1933-1996)
A Boy named Hiroshima 4’
Jānis Mediņš (1890-1966)
Ārija Arranged for two guitars by Andris Grinbergs

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Paldies visiem kas bija atnākuši uz koncertu! Lūdzu padalieties ar saviem draugiem!

[@dashasi83]

So beautiful!!!

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Program text:
Dear listener,
Thank you for coming and spending this evening together.
Let us start with music by Chopin arranged for guitar by Francisco Tarrega. Chopin and Tarrega both preferred to play in small intimate gatherings rather than big concert halls. Their playing was by all accounts extremely refined and detailed, as are their compositions. Since Tarrega was also a professional pianist I’ve been wondering why he arranged Chopin’s works for the guitar when he could play them directly on the piano. I think the answer lies in the fact that Tarrega perfectly understood the guitar’s unique instrumental abilities to have a bit of the best aspects of both keyboard and string instruments. Like the piano, the guitar is able to produce full musical textures of both accompaniment and melody, and in addition , like string instruments or voice, the guitar offers control of the sound after its initial attack by using vibrato and glissandi, techniques that where very much imbued into the aesthetic ideals of the times. This, combined with the intimate, deeply resonating sound of the new guitar model developed at that time by Antonio de Torres, offered Tarrega the chance to shed new light on these pieces and enhance the singing qualities of the melodies. Singing after all was the point of departure for Chopin in all his work. Tarrega used Pablo de Sarasate’s arrangement for violin and piano as a base for his own arrangement of the famous Nocturne opus 9 nr 2 . Preludes 6 and 20 were performed by Liszt on the organ during the funeral of Chopin in Paris. Tarrega made many arrangements of Chopin’s music but these 6 pieces performed tonight are the only ones he published during his lifetime.
Byrd was in his twenties when he composed this fantasy about 450 years ago. The mere scope of this work is huge, it is twice as long compared to the average fantasies of this time and it contains almost every compositional skill in use in those days; fugal writing, imitations, canons, complex rhythmical proportions, incorporating tunes and dances borrowed from folk music and tossing it all off with an impressive instrumental virtuosity and command of overall form. It is as if the young Byrd wanted to really show off all his compositional skills in this work. Needless to say that it puts extremely high demands on the performer, especially when played on only 6 strings instead of the keyboard instrument it was initially conceived for. This is the first time I ever perform this Fantasy in concert but it has been on and off my music stand for the last 17 years or so. This year we celebrate the 400th anniversary of William Byrd’s death.
The next piece on the program was composed by Spaniard Juan José Eslava in 2009 while he was living in Tokyo. The percussive sounds that you will hear in the piece were inspired by the hammer blows of carpenters that were building a traditional house near to the place where Eslava was composing. Due to his use of very high overtones and a special guitar tuning, the composer has at his demand much more pitches than only the regular 12 pitches that for instance the piano offers per octave. I like to think of it in this way: nature doesn’t limit itself to only 12 different pitches that may be used, on the contrary, nature always strives for endless variety, so it is only natural to try and do the same. I was delighted when I realized that the circle of fifths, so rigidly taught at music schools, is in fact not a circle at all but a spiral, endlessly continuing and touching upon an infinite amount of pitches along the way. The title Pulsar means ´plucking´ in Spanish, but it also refers to the type of stars in space that have a pulsating twinkling. This music, for me, has a very spacious and timeless character.
The Serenata Española is a previously unknown composition by Tarrega. Its manuscript came to light in 2018. Most of Tarrega’s known compositions are little gems; preludes, valses or other dances, character pieces and the like. We actually do not have many larger scale works by Tarrega so the Serenata Española is a very welcome addition to our repertoire. It starts with a long introduction after which comes a serenade which bears resemblances to Mendelssohn’s Lieder ohne Worte. Then the music changes into lighter spheres and I feel it imitates the funny and tragic or dramatic personae of the Spanish operatic Zarzuela style which was hugely popular at that time. Finally at the end of the piece we return to the initial Serenata theme.
On the title page of the manuscript it reads that Tarrega dedicated the Serenata Española to Don Pedro Aguilera, student- and later friend of Tarrega. Aguilera was from Almeria and in 1882 he bought a guitar named ’La Perla’ directly from Antonio de Torres. This guitar, an instrument that surely Tarrega also knew, remained in the same family, a family with many professional artists, for the next 140 years, until via the great- great- grandson of Pedro Aguilera, Juan José Eslava (who composed Pulsar, the previous piece on this program), the guitar came into my possession in March 2022. In the last 140 years the guitar had undergone many damages and repairs, good ones and bad ones, and it was very laborious and took a lot of research and skill to return the instrument as much as possible back into its original state. The luthier who worked tireless for more than a year on the restoration is Uwe Florath. Since I first met Juan José Eslava in Tokyo in 2009, we have had the mutual desire to give the original Torres guitar a new musical life. After 13 years of thinking, discussing and researching it finally happens and we can listen to the voice of the ’La Perla’ again.
What better way to finish this musical evening making music with a friend and wonderful musician Andris Grinbergs, enjoying together the wonderful film music of Toru Takemitsu as well as the very beautiful Ārija by Jānis Mediņš