Music
Spanish connections
Peter Phillips
There was some solid enthusiasm on display in the Queen Elizabeth Hall last Saturday evening (15 March) to mark the end of the Joaquin Rodrigo Festival. The demonstrations reached their height when Rodrigo himself ascended the platform, 85 years old this year and totally blind since the age of three, the culmination of a fortnight of concerts dedicated to his music and to that of the composers who influ- enced him, including Ravel, Falla, Re- spighi and Beethoven (in that order of presentation). I wondered whether the applause was caused by the appearance of this venerable figure, love of his music or appreciation that the piano soloist, Joaquin Achucarro, had come through a perform- ance of the unusually taxing Concerto heroico almost unscathed. Rodrigo is known chiefly for one of his guitar concer- toes, the Concierto de Aranjuez, which conveniently sums up all that the casual listener might wish to know about modem Spanish music. It contains some broad, sad, open-air melodies supported by bright orchestration and a great deal of guitar figuration, all contributing to a rounded view of the culture which produced it. The purpose of the recent festival has been to augment that picture, and I am not con- vinced in the face of the evidence that Rodrigo is capable of sustaining any such augmentation.
The very existence of this festival was an eye-opener. How is it possible in this tight-fisted and specialist age for a modem languages don at Warwick University to find the backing for four symphony con- certs and two recitals, all at the South Bank, involving the Bournemouth Sinfo- nietta, with some distinguished soloists, much of it broadcast, most of which he conducted himself? At the very least this must have been a triumph of persistence and idealism. Knowing the trouble that follows any attempt to stage even one concert of Tallis in this country, I am deeply impressed to find that six of an elderly and fairly obscure Spaniard can command so much attention. Raymond Calcraft (the persistent idealist in question) had two notable advantages: Rodrigo is both alive and very old, and Tallis does not have the Institute of Spain behind him. I suppose the sponsorship of Citicorp could have gone either way, but then Mr Calcraft was able to batter his way to the bank's reserves while I was still falling all over the first hurdle collating manuscripts, and that's all there is to it. After that he deserved to conduct. He also planned the concerts well and wrote an informative brochure, which will remain a major land- mark in Rodrigo scholarship, at least in English, until Calcraft's own promised biography of the composer is published. wish he would not write such things as The beauty and inspiration of the natural world, together with a respect for cultural tradition allied to human relationships are, the two focal points of this third concert 01 the Festival.' After reading a sentence like that I feel as though I have been bashed politely over the head with a blunt object. But the sequence of pieces in the concerts and the connection between Rodrigo and his mentors was clearly illustrated, where such connections are not always easy to make. For instance in the last concert the Concierto heroico for piano and orchestra was introduced by Beethoven's Coriolan overture, and the Cantico de San Francisco succeeded by Beethoven's Mass in C. Each item in the two pairs describes a different facet of the same impulse — respectively heroism and honouring God in the face of creation — and that proved to be an effective way of explaining Rodrigo's Mes* sage. Both of his compositions were receiv- ing their UK premieres, and the latter' written in 1982 and apparently the last that Rodrigo intends to compose, its world Pre- miere. Their performances were marred by Calcraft's impassive conducting an the imperfect ensemble of the Bourne" mouth Sinfonietta which may have been caused either by a lack of faith in the whereabouts of the baton, or by being 'ire from giving four of these rather over-long shows in a fortnight. I have heard the' play much better than this, and I wonder what enticed them to give over so many f their infrequent London appearances to this kind of series. Probably the Citic°''' factor. It was not apparent that there was a lot in it for them otherwise. To quote Calcraft again, compared has Rodrigo 'no other Spanish composer drawn on such varied manifestations Of country's spirit as sources of inspiration; One of these sources reaches as far back a.; the Roman occupation of the penirist (the Concierto heroico refers to Hannibal : siege of Sagunto and the inhabitants' deter t mination to commit suicide rather than surrender), which certainly reflects ° 1,4 terest in nationalism beyond the scope .v,, most composers of this century. It i5 straightforward Spanish element white. makes Rodrigo's music hard to apprecia its On the surface it is too obvious, in to melodies, its effects and its harmonies, retain the interest for more than a fe minutes. Maybe the very process of cos, position for a blind man, dictating his idea fed. and cuts out subtleties of thou5_ and technique which we take for grant"., If Rodrigo's considerable reputation sw_ vives his death it will be a triumph rare qualities in music: naive atmosP the only and colour. Until now really for thhoersve h Frenc Impressionists have adequately come to terms with these, often indeed with quasi-Spanish backdrops, but surely on a much more sophisticated level.
Previous page
