"Lohengrin" enchants audiences in Athens!

By Thanassis Vavlidas

1/2/2017, "Lohengrin" by Richard Wagner (Athens Concert Hall, known as Megaron Moussikis of Athens)

It is quite encouraging that during the last years the Greek National Opera reset its relation with Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883) and started performing his operas. "Lohengrin", a romantic opera in three acts, is based on a libretto by the composer himself. His inspiration came from a song of 12th century's troubadours. The story begins with a historical hint: King Heinrich arrives in Antwerp in an effort to assembly all the German tribes in order to expel the Hungarians from his dominions. He asks why the Duchy of Brabant is suffering from disorder. He learns that Elsa is accused of having murdered her brother and he asks her to defend herself or choose somebody else to defend her. Elsa then speaks of a dream where a knight appears and saves her. The dream comes true with the appearance of Lohengrin in a boat drawn by a swan. So, the romantic story injected with fantasy begins. Elsa accepts to be saved on the condition that she will never ask the name and origin of the knight, and she becomes attached to him with the threads of love. The psychological factor now enters the story. Evil forces, represented by Count Telramund and his wife Ortrud, fight against this relationship. The dramatic factor is ready to play its decisive role in the story's evolution...

The music reveals here some of Wagner's innovations: The introduction, played by the orchestra, has a continuous musical flow; the same stands for the arias, duets and ensembles. The chorus has a significant role in the opera, like in the ancient Greek drama. The technique of the Leitmotiv is sorted into groups, while the timbre becomes an important defining element of the structure of the music in order for the latter to contribute to the perception of the text by the audience. "Lohengrin" was first performed in Weimar at the Grossherzogliches Hoftheater on 28 August 1850. The musical director was Franz Liszt, Wagner’s future father in law. This is why the performance of 1894 at Bayreuth, staged by Cosima Wagner, daughter of Liszt, had the air of authenticity and contributed to the popularity of this great work.

The performance of the Greek National Opera was a new production that originated from the Welsh National Opera and the Teatr Wielki - Opera Narodowa (Warsaw). The British director Antony McDonald was responsible for the sets and the costumes. He set the story in the nineteenth century, implying facts that Wagner himself might have experienced. He managed to direct our attention to the characters of the story and the relationships among them with a discrete aesthetic effect (associate director: Helen Cooper). The chorus-master Agathangelos Georgakatos succeeded in presenting a well-balanced effect regarding the chorus musical lines. Peter Wedd (tenor), as Lohengrin, sang with clear vocalization expressing the mystery of both the heroic and the erotic element of his role. Jolana Fogasova (soprano) as Elsa of Brabant, with her voice in its acme, transfused to her role the hidden energy of Elsa, especially in the first act. Martina Dike as Ortrud and Dimitri Platanias as Friedrich of Telramund forcefully transferred to their arias the menace of their roles, shading them with red and grey colors. Myron Michailidis conducted the Orchestra, the Chorus and the singers of the Greek National Opera vividly and consistently, approaching the Wagnerian style in a way we have never heard before from them; he preserved the constant musical flow with the necessary outbreaks and he gave prominence to the special timbre of this music. We are looking forward to their next performance of an opera by Wagner!

Thanassis Vavlidas
Member of the “Union of drama and music Greek critics”

Life is a wonderful adventure as seen by a vixen!

By Thanassis Vavlidas

Following a series of successful productions, such as “Gioconda’s smile” by Manos Hadjidakis and “Tristan und Isolde” by Richard Wagner, the Greek National Opera presented a marvelous new production of Leos Janacek’s “The cunning little vixen” in collaboration with the “Welsh National Opera” and the “Scottish Opera”. This opera, composed by Janacek between 1922 and 1923, is based on a serialized novella written by R. Tesnohlidek and illustrated by St. Lolek, which was first published in the newspaper “Lidove Noviny”. The composer himself wrote the libretto, creating a fairy tale suitable for the whole family. A female fox is captured by a forest ranger and is obliged to learn to live among humans. The vixen finally escapes to freedom, grows up, falls in love, creates a family and finally meets an unexpected death. The forest ranger is the only person who really feels sad for her death. Each animal in the opera has its own behaviour and is not just a naturalistic or smart sketch of an animal. The colourful music includes folk music and rhythms, leitmotivs transformed skilfully and themes of a nostalgic atmosphere created by instruments such as harp, celesta, horn and viola. It is an insightful study of the relationship between the restrictions of human life and the freedom of the animal kingdom.

There is a lot of discussion regarding the opera’s name. There is no mention in the Czech title of a diminutive ("little"), although this term appears since the 1980s in both the German (Das schlaue Fuechslein) and the English version of the opera's name. It was, however, the German name, used for a movie (1965), which established the English "cunning little," ignoring the important double meaning in "Sharp-Ears" of the original title. The first three audio recordings, all from the Czech company Supraphon (Neumann 1957, Gregor 1972, Neumann 1980) used, naturally, the original Czech name. Then, Decca recorded the opera with the Vienna Philharmonic in 1981, and this widely circulated release made the “cunning little vixen” its standard name.

The director David Pountney, assisted in the wonderful sets and costumes by Maria Bjornson, created a land of dream, a symphonic fantasy of voices and colours. At the same time, the cunning vixen becomes the model of a woman who is trying to emancipate at the beginning of the 20th century, trying to control her own life without external restrictions. There is a fine line between tragic and comic actions and Pountney decided to move this line back and forth. The choreography of Stuart Hopps created a moving vision of the music and we are thankful to Elaine Tyler- Hall who revived successfully both the director’s and the choreographer’s ideas.

The young conductor Ondrej Olos took advantage of most melodies in order to show the broad range of orchestral colours while keeping in touch with every single note of the voices. It is not surprising that he was rewarded for conducting this very opera in 2006. All the singers, as well as the choir, made every effort to give an excellent performance. Although it was the first time this opera was staged by the Greek National Opera, one can certainly admit that the vocal parts were successfully performed.

The composer himself described “the cunning little vixen” as “a comic opera with a sad ending”. However, we left the theatre with a feeling of love for nature, as well as a feeling that we love life more than ever!

Thanassis Vavlidas
Member of the “Union of drama and music Greek critics”

“Winter Journey” at the Greek Festival 2014

By Thanassis Vavlidas

14/7/2014, “Winter Journey” in the Summer (D. Mitropoulos Concert Hall at Megaron Moussikis of Athens – Greek Festival 2014)

In its summer program, Greek Festival 2014 included only a few concerts of classical and contemporary (not pop) music. However, all concerts were more or less of high quality as far as interpretation standards are concerned.

Hans Zender (Wiesbaden 1936 - ) is an esteemed German composer and conductor who composed, under the title “Winterreise - eine komponierte interpretation for tenor and small orchestra” (1993), a new version of the well-known song cycle composed by Franz Schubert in 1827, one year before his death. The cycle was published as Opus 89 in 1828 and was based on 24 poems written by Wilhelm Mueller, who followed the romantic style of his time, paying much attention to the inner self and its sentimental reflections to Nature. This cycle is considered as a “colossal peak in art song” and audiences always confirm its great appeal.

Hans Zender’s version managed to filter the romantic spirit of the cycle into a summary of the twentieth century’s conquests concerning the art of composition. He also managed to produce a transcription from piano to a small orchestra, although he changed a few key tones and created new sounds. One of Zender’s aims was the accurate description of natural, as well as psychological, phenomena through these new sounds. And although one might object to the need for such an expression of the original composer’s feelings, we must admit that these sounds revealed new paths to the wanderer of music. Zender’s composition was recorded for the first time by RCA with Hans Peter Blochwitz (tenor) and the Ensemble Modern, the composer himself conducting.

At the concert we attended in July, the famous Greek conductor Theodoros Kourentzis collaborated with the Afro–American tenor Keith Stonum and the music group “Kyklos Ensemble” which was founded in 2013 and consists of experienced Greek musicians. “Kyklos Ensemble” has already given performances of classical and avant–garde music and is taking part in educational programs. The conductor, Th. Kourentzis, is currently living in Russia. He is the artistic director of the Opera House of Perm and the principal conductor of the orchestra “MusicAeterna”.

The collaboration of the above-mentioned musicians led to an interpretation of high level, which has undoubtedly imposed new standards for the performers of such music in Greece. It was obvious from the start that accuracy and clarity were the main characteristics of their interpretation. The conductor took care of every single detail and no mistake was detected, even when some of the musicians had to change positions playing from different sides of the music hall.

Keith Stonum (tenor) also sang with clarity and his voice seemed to be closer to the original score’s demands. But he did not hesitate to use a... loudspeaker when there was a need to emphasize on extreme desperation arising from the verses!

The verses were translated by the poet Alexandros Issaris and the translation was shown, with adequate synchronization, on a board above the musicians.

We are confident that conductor Kourentzis can perform even the most complicated contemporary compositions and make them attractive to a wider audience, since his great abilities are combined with a strong image promotion.

Thanassis Vavlidas
Member of the “Union of drama and music Greek critics”

“City Lives”: Fascinating Music Theater by Alexandros Mouzas

By Thanassis Vavlidas

9/5/2014, “City Lives”: Fascinating Music Theater by Alexandros Mouzas (Athens Concert Hall known as Megaron Moussikis of Athens)

Music Theater is one of the newest operatic forms, which flourished during the second half of the twentieth century and still gives birth to remarkable compositions. Kurt Weil and Bertold Brecht could be considered as the European forerunners of this form. Maurizio Kagel, Peter Maxwell Davies and Yannis Christou are held in great esteem for having presented the first and most successful pieces of this form. Quite recently we attended the performance of “Miss Donnithorne’s Maggot” and “Vesalii Icones” by P. M. Davies at Megaron Moussikis of Athens. The composer Alexandros Mouzas was responsible for the artistic supervision of this production. It cannot be considered as a coincidence that three months later, Mouzas presented a fine example of this form entitled “City Lives”. Apparently, he must have been working on this composition for a long time. It consists of eight parts, each of which presents an aspect of city life in relation to important factors affecting it:

1. Introduction
2. Street Life
3. Social Life
4. Money Life
5. Media Life
6. Early Life
7. Inner Life
8. After Life

The composer himself wrote a functional and rather philosophical libretto based on the ideas of modern intellectuals such as Castells, Simmel, McLuhan and Auge (Introduction), which is epitomized by the phrase: “Foreigners in the global village”. Extracts from Hugo, Baudelaire, Barthelemy, Mead, Bakhtin, Gergen, Giddens, Sennet, Bauman, Old Testament, Apocalypse, Koran, Tibetan Bible of the Dead, Kybalion, Ars Moriendi, Financial newspapers and Fairy tales can be traced among the phrases of the libretto. The performance was supported by rather overloaded theatrical scenery, as well as by images (video art, animation, digital painting and sketches) created by Viki Betsou and Alexia Othonaiou. The images sometimes tended to exclusively attract our attention but they functioned quite well with music, especially in the Introduction and in the four last parts.

The musical part took advantage of several styles such as jazz, minimalism, theatrical songs, lyrical parts and religious music, all filtered through the personal style of the composer who managed to create the universe of city life without missing his main point. The singers Myrsini Margariti, Artemis Bogri (sopranos), Maria Vlachopoulou (mezzo soprano) and Tassos Apostolou (bass) were quite expressive and accurate, although they had to overcome frequent changes of scenes and costumes. However, the intensity of music did not always give space for their voices, especially at Street Life and Money Life. The conductor Andreas Tselikas seemed to follow closely the instructions of the composer. He successfully coordinated the singers with “Ergon Ensemble”, a group of musicians specializing in modern music and Music Theater (“Ergon Ensemble” had also taken part in the performance of P. M. Davies’ compositions three months earlier). The composer himself participated in the group by creating special sound effects through the computer.

Our city life has been enriched with new sounds!

Thanassis Vavlidas
Member of the “Union of drama and music Greek critics”

French avant-garde at the beginning of two centuries

By Thanassis Vavlidas

17/2/2014, Athens State Orchestra in connection with Paris (“Onassis Cultural Center” known as “Stegi Grammaton ke Technon”)

The musical avant–garde in France and, in particular, Paris at the beginning of both the 20th and the 21st century was the underlying subject of the compositions performed by the Athens State Orchestra on 17th of February. This concert inaugurated the collaboration of the Orchestra with the “Onassis Cultural Center”. At the beginning of the program, the pianist Titos Gouvelis vividly presented a brief analysis of the compositions.

The first composition, “Incompatible(s) IX for large orchestra” (dedicated to Nikos Mamangakis) was commissioned by the Orchestra and was performed for the first time worldwide. The Greek composer Nikolas Tzortzis (1978- ) studied music in France and currently lives there. The influence of Peter Eotvos’s example is obvious – the piece is also dedicated to him and to Konrad Stahl, who gave the composer the opportunity to stay at Edenkoben and write this piece. Original sound effects derive from the different position of some instruments like the clarinets in the orchestra, or from instruments consistently playing high notes. The third part, which comprehensively represents the composer’s ideas, is the most interesting one.

The second composition performed was the “Piano Concerto for the left hand” by Maurice Ravel (1875 – 1937). The work was commissioned by the Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein (1887 – 1961) who was wounded during World War I and lost his right arm. Ravel was inspired by the technical challenges of the project. As the distinguished French composer stated, “In a work of this kind it is essential to give the impression of a texture no thinner than that of a part written for both hands”. Wittgenstein himself stated, “Only much later, after I’d studied the concerto for months, did I become fascinated by it and realized what a great work it was”. In 1933, Wittgenstein played the work in concert for the first time. Stefanos Thomopoulos, the concerto’s pianist at this present performance, who has also worked in France for many years, succeeded in transmitting to the audience the stylistic mixture of jazz influences and dramatic elements with excessive clarity well supported by the orchestra.

The third composition was a pleasant surprise: “Rage in the heaven city” by Raphael Cendo (1975 - ). The composer, who studied music in Paris and followed a class of computerized music at IRCAM, has developed his own theory about music: “The phenomenon of satiation in the acoustic field is an excess of material, of energy, of movements, of timbre.” The piece is written for big symphonic orchestra and is dedicated to Fausto Romitelli, an Italian composer who died prematurely. It is mainly a piece of phasmatic music where the sounds remind us of the voices coming from whales, seagulls and wild birds, much like the “Cantus arcticus” by Einojuhani Rautavaara. The conductor Vassilis Christopoulos managed to bring on the surface the virtues of the piece and tame the sounds of wind instruments, which have a significant role in the piece.

Last but not least was the composition of Igor Stravinsky, “The Firebird Suite” (1919 version). Stravinsky (1882 – 1971) wrote this piece between 1909 and 1910 for the famous Sergei Diaghilev’s “Ballets Russes Company” for its 1910 Paris season performances. The ballet is based on Russian folk tales of the magical glowing bird that can be both a blessing and a curse for its owner. Based on the Russian tradition and adopting the style of Rimsky–Korsakoff’s orchestration, Stravinsky managed to present a new orchestral sound with new harmonies and complicated rhythms. Athens State Orchestra’s conductor did his best to conceal some difficulties that arose during the performance. Nevertheless, we certainly felt the pleasant odor of the piece.

Thanassis Vavlidas
Member of the “Union of drama and music Greek critics”

Rachmaninoff and Weinberg in style!

By Thanassis Vavlidas

14/12/2013, Kremer - Dirvanauskaite - Buniatishvili (Athens Concert Hall, known as Megaron Moussikis of Athens).

The concert of these three well-known and highly estimated music interpreters could be entitled “Fascinating music for piano with participation of strings”. By saying this, we by no means underestimate the contribution of strings (violin and cello). However, the role of the piano is more than essential in the pieces by Rachmaninoff and, to a similar degree, in the piece by Weinberg also.

Gidon Kremer (Riga, 1947- ) is famous for his technical brilliance and his commitment both to classical and modern compositions (violin). In 1997 he founded the “Kremerata Baltica” Orchestra and he organized many tours all over the world. Giedre Dirvanauskaite (founding member of the “Kremerata Baltica”) has recorded and performed many classical and new pieces in collaboration with G. Kremer and his Orchestra (cello). The youngest of the interpreters is K. Buniatishvili (Tiflis, 1987- ), a multi-awarded pianist, who is adding extra value to classical concerts (piano).

The concert program itself was fascinating. It included both “trio elegiaques” by Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873 – 1943) and the “piano trio opus 24” by Mieczyslaw Weinberg (1919 – 1996) in between. The “trio elegiaque No.1” is written in the form of sonata and is completed in a single movement. Its first performance, with the composer himself in the piano, was a significant event for Rachmaninoff since it was the first time he performed out of the Conservatory. The intensity and clarity of the piano part is somehow undermining the sound balance with the strings throughout the piece. The pianist, with her rather tough touché, did not try to dull this impression but the strings succeeded in transmitting to the audience the composition’s fully emotional evolution.

The “trio elegiaque No. 2” was dedicated to the memory of Tchaikovsky whom the composer respected and admired. The structure of the piece is quite similar to the trio that Tchaikovsky wrote in memory of his friend, Nikolai Rubinstein. This piece received from the three interpreters a performance with an extraordinary range of expression. Their coordination led to a fine result that brought on the surface the dramatic phrases of the piano, the contrasts between the three instruments and a suppressed lamentation coming from the strings.

Mieczyslaw Weinberg is less known in Greece, although he is a great Russian composer of Polish-Jewish origins, known also as Moisei Samuilovich Vaynberg. Like many of his compositions, his “piano trio opus 24” is a programmatic piece, which succeeded in condensing different music styles from medieval ages to twentieth century in a way that they seem to be integrated in a form with solid structure and alternating expressions. As far as musical style is concerned, the final elegiac diminuendo connects this composition with Rachmaninoff’s trios. The interpreters took advantage of the composition’s multistylistic possibilities, thus creating a poetic atmosphere that was interrupted by loud exclamations. Sometimes we were reminded of Shostakovich, who had collaborated on many occasions with Weinberg, but the latter’s style is unique. We want to mention here the strings’ approach that created, during the lyrical parts, an emotional upgrade without extreme passion.

Having listened to these fine musicians and having appreciated their perfect collaboration, we need not wonder why modern composers dedicate to them, and entrust them with, their compositions...

Thanassis Vavlidas
Member of the “Union of drama and music Greek critics”

From Lutoslawski to Piazzola

By Thanassis Vavlidas

18/12/2013, From Lutoslawski to Piazzola (Athens Concert Hall, known as Megaron Moussikis of Athens).

Modern music for a string quartet could be provocative and at the same time fascinating. The “Lutoslawski Quartet Wroclaw” consisting of soloists from Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra (Poland) prepared a homogeneous program of high interest for their concert in Athens. Composers like Lutoslawski, Schnittke, Piazzola are well known for their formalistic and stylistic innovations, but also the new generation has considerable and challenging propositions to make. Szymon Krzeszowiec (replacing Jakub Jakowicz) – violin, Marcin Markowicz – violin, Artur Rozmyslowicz – viola and Maciej Mlodawski – cello interpreted firstly the “String Quartet” (1964) of Witold Lutoslawski (1913-1994), a composition consisted of mobile elements played one after the other seeming to become sometimes aleatoric. The phrases are never completed, but their evolution comes to an end when they reach again the patterns of the violin’s monologue at the very beginning. Such a composition demands from the soloists to be very accurate and very expressive each time their turn comes to play memories from the violin’s monologue. We can certainly say that they achieved so.

The second composition was the “Quintet for piano and strings” (1972-1976) of Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998). It seems to be a piece of special importance for the composer, because it reflects his feelings for his mother who died in 1972. His pain is shown with intensity, tone clusters, dissonants, repetitions in five movements. One cannot easily forget the valse based on B-A-C-H initials (the composer admired deeply J. S. Bach) or the Lullaby at the end. The interpreters managed to create a variety of feelings from sadness to deep sorrow and mourning, although sometimes they seemed to play even louder than the pianist! Erato Alakiozidou (piano) is a member of the “Idee Fixe ensemble of modern music” as well as the other soloists who played with the quartet.

At the second part, the String Quartet collaborated firstly with Zacharias Tarpagas (alto flute) in the piece “Fragmente II” of Toshio Hosokawa (1955 - ), a piece which uses modern and old techniques which reminded us of the sound of shakuhatsi leading to a limited success. Secondly they collaborated with Theophilos Sotiriadis (alto saxophone) in the piece “Xingu” of Liduino Pitombeira (1962 - ). The saxophonist had absorbed the Brazilian rhythms of the piece in a way that he supported the strings’ sound and at the same time expressed strongly the mood that each of the three parts of the piece was written in. Thirdly they collaborated with Dimitris Leontzakos (bass clarinet) in the piece “String quartet No3” of Marcin Markowicz (1979 - ) which was originally written for string quartet and it was recently transcripted for bass clarinet and string quartet. The composer who is a member of the String Quartet managed to write a grotesque piece of low profile, transparent and luminous, although the main interpreter did not seem to share exactly this style. Last piece was two pieces from “Five Tango Sensations” of Astor Piazzola (1921 – 1922) where they collaborated with Konstantinos Raptis (bandoneon). The creator of “Nuevo tango” combined here tango and jazz with nostalgic feelings whereas the “orchestration” is full of energy and dissonances. The soloists respected the composer’s style and they leaded the concert to a triumphal end, although the last piece was titled “Fear”. With musicians like the ones we listened to during this concert, we fear not for the future of music. Modern music for strings is their voice of expression and the real voice of our times.

Thanassis Vavlidas
Member of the “Union of drama and music Greek critics”