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Alix Goolden Performance Hall
March 6, 2006
Every other review of a Paul Galbraith concert will mention his unusual guitar, and his still more unusual playing technique. So let's get that out of the way: he plays an 8-string instrument (with strings that extend the normal range of the guitar up and down: an extra low B string, and an extra high A), and he holds it like a cello. But the guitar is just a tool with which to express the music, and we should consider the music first and how the musician creates that music second.
So how was the music? Galbraith has a real affinity for baroque music, and a substantial portion of the programme sparkled. Galbraith opened with an arrangement of Rameau keyboard music, titled "Keyboard Suite in A", that closed with the famous "Le Rappel De's oiseaux" ("The Call of the Birds") movement. The program notes offered no clue as to the mixed heritage of the suite, but it's clear it's a bit of a Frankenstein monster: "Le Rappel" is originally from a suite in E minor (even if it's transposed, it stays in the minor!), and it doesn't contain dance movements of the same type that Galbraith performed. A bit of clarity would be of help to the audience.
The first half of the programme ended with a lovely performance of the fourth of Bach's Cello Suites (BWV 1010). Galbraith also played a hybrid suite of Mozart keyboard music that was heavily influenced by Bach and Handel, which had the Suite K.399 at its core. (Unlike the Rameau, there was no question about the mixed heritage of the suite.) In these pieces, Galbraith played with a wonderful combination of clarity and musicality.
Less successful to my ears were the pieces from the 20th century. While the dramatic chords in an arrangement of Ravel's "Ma Mere l'Oye" allowed the fullest use of the broad range of Galbraith's guitar, little of Ravel's music sounds idiomatic on a guitar - it's just too orchestral, even in the original piano forms, and loses too much of the original character in what is essentially a reduction. Frank Martin's "Quatre Pieces Breves" and the encore, Federico Morreno Torroba's "Burgalesa", were both nicely played, but weren't as outstanding as the baroque and baroque-influenced pieces.
My only concern was the hall, which has a tendency to swallow up a guitar's modest dynamic range.
In all, a fine evening of solo guitar music.
MiV HomeLast modified: Thu Mar 9 20:40:23 PST 2006