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Phillip T Young Recital Hall
September 25, 2013
From the moment the Galiano Ensemble walked onto the stage, each member in their own version of black, highlighted with a brilliant red brush stroke in the form of a tie, a belt, a shirt, and even a delicious pair of imposingly high scarlet heels, they exuded a joy and confidence, grounded in their history of music-making both as individuals and as long established collaborators in the art of chamber music. Four of them have an unbroken twenty years together as founding members of the Lafayette String Quartet, and this concert marked the beginning of the fourteenth season for Galiano.
As the title suggested, there was no particular thematic connection between the items on the programme - Janacek, Astor Piazzola, and Mozart, so it didn't matter that the director chose to open with Mozart's Serenade in Bb. Arranged from a quartet by an anonymous musician from Mozart's time for 13 winds, this was to be a new transcription for string ensemble.
The opening Largo was characterised by full, rich tones, delicate sensitivity in the violin, lightning shifts to bright enthusiasm, the four cellos and bass providing a gorgeous swaying before achieving an emotionally satisfying climax. The Menuetto evoked the satiny elegance of a ballroom with broad and stately gestures, lyrical melodies between violins and cellos suggesting sweet questions and reassuring answers. In the elegant finish one could almost see the gentlemen bowing. The Adagio had the quality of a slow moving river, a yearning quality in the violins like the plaintive cry of a bird, the cellos flowing like water through a romantic city at night. I saw myself in Paris, but perhaps it should have been Salzburg. The dying final high note was perfect. The almost breathless high energy of the Rondo brought everything back to life with the unselfconscious energy of children at play, building to a great final flourish - a thrilling rich sound with each instrument having its own voice, yet one.
The Idyll by Leos Janacek is the composition of a young composer ... 24 years old at the time, and clearly influenced strongly by Dvořák, who was present at its premiere performance in 1878. As Yariv Aloni introduced it, it is full of good ideas and heart, and is really an expression of love for his country. Its seven movements took us through the robust joy in open spaces underscored by the very present bass in the andante, the light dancing and step by step rising melody of the allegro, beautifully folded phrasing of the moderato before returning to another allegro evoking the certainties of timeless rural ways with an almost Oklahoma! rusticity. The fifth movement Adagio, the most well known part of this suite, built on a haunting five note descending figure, gave nostalgia to the violas, sweetly sweeping phrases to the cellos and exquisite confidence to the violins. As the lightly jumping turns of the scherzo returned to the sweeping cellos, culminating on a gorgeous final low note with the contrabass, I felt an overwhelming desire to see this beautiful country for myself - Czechoslovakia, as it then was. The remainder of the composition had a tying it all together quality, something like unpacking at the end of a trip - not the most exciting part, but what lovely memories.
In complete contrast, with an imaginary glass of Argentinian Malbec in hand - as suggested by the director, Yariv Aloni - we were then launched into the glorious urban cacophany of Piazzola's Tango Ballet, the introduction and opening street scene setting the stage for the whole dramatic encounter that he, perhaps more than any other composer or musician, has established as an integral part of the world of serious music. Thank goodness he met Nadia Boulanger in Paris as a young composer about to turn his back on his ‘colonial' roots, and was forcefully dissuaded from doing so.
The tension and menace of the opening, the flurry of movement, the emerging melody in the viola, the answering variations in the violins, the circlings, the cello statements, the same phrase in four voices, the self celebratory dance of the violin ... how did she keep those high red heels on the floor? The drama, the percussive staccato ... the paradox of the co-existence of brutality and beauty, and finally the assurance that the dance itself survives everything. The engagement and precision of the Ensemble was so sustained, centred in the mountainous stillness yet intense fire of Aloni's economical yet passionate direction, that I had the momentary conceit that if I had brought a deaf companion along, he would have enjoyed the performance as much as I did.
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