Classical Guitar Magazine18

THE 21ST Koblenz InternationalGuitar Festival & Academy

featured three important premièresin its concert series: CostasCotsiolis played the première ofLeo Brouwer’s third solo sonata forguitar called Sonata del DecameronNegro, Zoran Dukic played thepremière of Sonata No. 4(homenaje a Luis Milan) by CarloDomeniconi and Manuel Barruecoplayed the German première ofManolo Sanlúcar’s flamencoconcerto called Medea with theStaatsorchester RheinischePhilharmonie, conducted by theBerlin-based American conductorGarrett Keast at the Rhein-MoselHalle on Friday 17 May 2013.

The flamenco guitarist andcomposer Manolo Sanlúcar originallywrote Medea for the Ballet Nacionalde España which they premièred inMadrid on 13 July 1984. On 2October 2002 Manolo Sanlúcarpremièred a new version of Medeafor two guitars and orchestra at theMaestranza in Seville; he performedit with the Philharmonic Orchestra ofMalaga, conducted by Leo Brouwer.For this solo guitar and orchestra

version, Manolo Sanlúcar gaveManuel Barrueco the freedom tocreate a suite of pieces from the fullversion with six movements: Obertura,Reencuentro y Desencuentro,Seducción, Conjuro, La Venganza andFiesta. Apart from the flamenco style,there are influences from NorthAfrican and Arabic music, particularlyin the colourful use of percussion.

Manuel Barrueco’s interpretation wasstrong and powerful – stillcomfortably in the classical genre,while capturing the essential beautyits the flamenco forces. Theperformance was part of the ‘FridayNight for Guitar & Orchestra’ concert,which also presented GoranKrivokapic, who gave a very musicalperformance of the Concierto de

BROUWER AND SANLÚCAR PREMIÈRES AT KOBLENZ INTERNATIONAL FESTIVALA Report by THÉRÈSE WASSILY SABA

Manuel Barrueco with the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie, conducted by Garrett Keast.

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Costas Cotsiolis and Pavel Steidl.

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Aranjuez by Joaquín Rodrigo, whichreceived a standing ovation.

Costas Cotsiolis’s première of theSonata del Decameron Negro by LeoBrouwer on 18 May 2013, waspreceded by a well-presented lectureabout ‘Leo Brouwer and his Music’.Costas Cotsiolis has known andworked with Leo Brouwer for over 30years, so his stories and understandingof Leo Brouwer’s music areinvaluable. He played a number ofrecordings to illustrate his points, inparticular the Omaggio a Paganini, adouble concerto for guitar and violin,written for Costas Cotsiolis and theviolinist Isel Rodríguez Trujillo, andthe guitar concerto Concierto deVolos also written for Cotsiolis. Notonly was the lecture and the musicinspiring but it was held in the newly-refurbished Rhein-Mosel-Halle recitalroom, which has floor to ceilingwindows, looking out on the beautifulRhein river and its luscious greensurroundings. The Sonata delDecameron Negro is in fourmovements: Guijes y Gnomos – withreferences to the music of Luis Milan,Treno por Oya – with an arch formbuilding to a fast and furious in thecentre, the scherzo Burlesca del Airewith quotes from Tárrega, and thefinal movement called La Risa de los‘Griots’. Costas Cotsiolis said that forBrouwer, ‘to compose is to

communicate’ and this Sonataachieves that brilliantly.

Roberto Aussel’s opening nightconcert began with four well-knowndances from Praetorius’s Terpsichorebut with such refined interpretation,that these pieces were elevated fromtheir simple dance status. The beautyof Aussel’s tone quality wasoutstanding throughout the concert;he also played a Sonata by Zamboni,Scarlatti Sonatas. The subtleinflections in the rhythmic pulse ofPiazzolla’s Cinco piezas para guitarra,which were written for RobertoAussel, were so appropriate, uniqueand masterful. Aussel’s approach tothe pieces by Atahualpa Yupanquiwere no less captivating.

Marcin Dylla’s concert on thefollowing evening was equallyinspiring but in a completely differentway. He began with a very poeticperformance of Ponce’s SonataRomantica, all played with a lighttouch and in a relaxed style. MarcinDylla always has a substantialcontemporary work in hisprogramme; this year the piece isMano a Mano by the Finnishcomposer Magnus Lindberg. It is apiece with a relentless, fast-movingflood of notes, which requires thestamina and musicianship of a playersuch as Marcin Dylla to sustain thethread of ideas successfully. His

playing of Lieder by Schubert wassuperb and Marcin Dylla ended with asensitive and very musicalperformance of Valses Poeticos byGranados.

It was a week of unforgettableconcerts and encores, eachperformers had a strongly individualstyle but all with a superior level ofmusicianship. Alvaro Pierri gave suchan excellent performance of Sor’sSonata, Op. 22 that one felt that hehad transformed it into a pianoSonata and had all the facilities often fingers at his disposal. Hismelodies sang with a beautiful tonequality and his playing was gentle andunderstated but always clear. And thushe continued with an etherealperformance of Jazz Sonatina byDusan Bogdanovic. Manuel Ponce’s

Alvaro Pierri.

Marcin Dylla.

Roberto Aussel.

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Sonata III appeared on manyprogrammes during the festival andeach time it was played so well, thatit was a pleasure to hear it repeated.

This is the first year that JudicaëlPerroy gave an evening recital,although he has been a welcomeregular in the 4pm concert series. Hegave very good performances ofSonata No. 3 and Variations from ‘LaFolia de Espana’ both by Ponce andalso introduced us to a work byJohann Dubez (1828–1891), who hadbeen a student of Mertz. These werecontrasted with fine his performancesof Saturnal, the first movement fromCadran Lunaire (1981–82) byMaurice Ohana and Equinox (1993)by Toru Takemitsu. It was a pleasureto hear these two distinctive workstogether – each with their ownatmosphere, written by very differentcomposers. After a number ofencores, he finally played Prelude andFugue from Bach’s Prelude, Fugueand Allegro.

A new venue used this year was theKreuzkirche, a modern church builtwith a circular structure, on top of hillin Ehrenbreistein, which offerswonderful views of the city from theterrace, where wine and fine food wasserved between the two concerts. Thefirst concert was given by the DelosTrio Koln, with Gudrun Hobold(violin), Dietmar Berger (cello) andHubert Käppel on guitar, who gave anenergetic and vibrant performancefine quality but rarely heard works:Divertimento in C by Josef Haydn, theAdagio from Serenata, Op. 19 byMauro Giuliani and Trio in D byNiccolò Paganini, as well as the Trioin G by the Spanish composer Isidrode Laporta (1750–1829). The secondconcert was a solo recital by DavidRussell. He gave a fine performanceof Rossiniana No. 3 by Giuliani, twosonatas by Scarlatti, Valses Poeticos

by Granados and works by Barrios;his tone quality and musical phrasingwas absolutely engaging, musicallytechnically and spiritually. With suchexcellent performances, it seemedappropriate to have these twoconcerts in front of the altar of thechurch.

In the series of 4pm recitals, whichwere held in the smaller concertroom of the Rhein-Mosel Halle withviews of the Rhein, the Croatianguitarist Zoran Anic performed forthe first time at the Koblenz Festival.His performance was a little nervousto begin with, but he had been forcedto travel without his own guitar fromCroatia because of airline problemsand had to play on a borrowed guitar.Goran Krivokapic was clearly having abusy week, performing both withorchestra and giving a solo 4pmrecital; the change in solo programmeinvolved reading from an unruly score,which would not remain on the musicstand, but as always, he gave anexcellent performance of works byPonce and Gerard Drozd.

Zoran Dukic played works byBarrios and Albéniz very expressivelyas well as the première of themelancholic Sonata No. 4 (homenajea Luis Milan) written for him by CarloDomeniconi. Another contemporarypiece was the one-movement Adagio,

Op. 44 by Gerard Drozd in homage toJ. S. Bach. Zoran Dukic’s concertended with a noticeably non-British aand heavy-handed approach toMalcolm Arnold’s Fantasy.

Pavel Steidl played pieces byaristocratic Bohemian composersfrom the early eighteenth century andworks by Mertz, Paganini and Zani deFeranti. His performance, as always,was full of dramatic expression, notonly in his playing but also visually.His moving encore was dedicated tohis father, who had died just daysbefore.

There was a warm atmosphere inthe public masterclasses which werewell-attended by both students andaudience, all eager to hear the gemsof wisdom from the performers:Konrad Ragossnig, David Russell,Manuel Barrueco, Shin-ichi Fukuda,Alvaro Pierri, Marcin Dylla, JudicaëlPerroy and Zoran Dukic. GoranKrivokapic gave a public masterclasswith the students performing JoaquínRodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez,accompanied by the StaatsorchesterRheinische Philharmonie, conductedby Garrett Keast. This was followed bythe final examinations for the KoblenzInternational Guitar Academy, whichhas the Concierto de Aranjuez as aset piece for the Soloist DiplomaExamination. Raul Arturo Gutierrez(Mexico), Unai Insausti Eguia(Spain) and Davide di Ienno (Italy)all took their examination and passed.

On the Saturday, Monika Dawidek(oboe) and Russell Poyner (guitar)gave a lunchtime at theLiebfrauenkirche in central Koblenz.Monika Dawidek has a beautiful toneand the duo worked well together,performing a Sonata by JohannChristoph Pepusch (1667–1752), aSonata by Arcangelo Corelli and, for alighter contrast, some Piazzolla andthe tango La Cumparsita.

The jury of the Koblenz International Guitar Competition.

Hubert Kappel’s Delos Trio.

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The Finals of the KoblenzInternational Guitar Competition‘Hubert Käppel’ 2013 were held atthe Kurfürstliches Schloß on Sunday19 May 2013. There were fivefinalists: Anton Baranov (Russia),Thomas Csaba (France), Xavier Jara(USA), Chia-Wei Lin (Taiwan) andGen Matsuda (Japan). The winnerswere: First Prize: Chia-Wei Li;Second Prize: was not awarded andThird Prize: Anton Baranov. ThePremio Joaquín Rodrigo for the bestinterpretation of a work by JoaquínRodrigo was awarded to Ken Inoi(Japan). The international jury washeaded by Univ.-Prof. KonradRagossnig, with Hubert Käppel, Shin-ichi Fukuda, Alfred Eickholt, MarthaMasters, Alexander Ramirez, LucioMatarazzo, Ansgar Krause, Max Opden Camp, Russell Poyner andThérèse Wassily Saba.

The flamenco guitarist RafaelCortés presented Parando el Tiempo,with his sextet in the fortress inEhrenbreitstein, perched high on acliff-face, alongside the Rhein river.The performance featured a flamencodancer, Rafaela Escoz, who wasremarkably stiff and rigid, as well ashis son, Rafael Cortés jr. and JuaneLuengo on guitars, the percussionistDavid Huerta and the singer GonzaloCortes.

The Junior Guitar Academy – achildren’s course, which ran over the

long Pentecost holiday weekendtaught by Günter Schillings, RussellPoyner and Ivar Ibanez – made upthe 30-member-ensemble, which wasconducted by Günter Schillings. Theygave an excellent performance ofAlbinoni’s Adagio, arranged for guitarorchestra, both at the final studentconcert on the Monday evening andalso during the special PentecostMass on Sunday.

A special Catholic Mass, organisedin collaboration with the ArnstenerPatres, was held at the City-Kirche,the Jesuit church in the cobble-stoned Jesuiten Platz. The parts ofthe Mass were sung by a four-voiceensemble with soprano (KirstenMaxeiner), alto (AlmutNieratschker), tenor (Thomas Kaiser)and bass (Willi Nieratschker), andguitar music was played by MarthaMasters, Sabrina Vlaskavic,Alexander Ramirez, David Russell,and in duo Russell Poyner withMonika Dawidek (oboe). WilliNieratschker gave a fine performanceof a Bach Prelude and Fugue on pipeorgan. The money collected from thisMass service will go to the ‘ONGDDavid Russell y María Jesús’ to buildwater wells in Africa.

There was capacity attendance at somany of the concerts during the week;the attendance and audienceenthusiasm seemed to crescendo tofortissimo for the final concert on theMonday evening – the prize-winnersconcert. The prize-giving ceremony forthe Competition was also held at thisfinal concert. The three prize winners:Chia-Wei Lin, Anton Baranov and KenInoi gave excellent performances,confirming their abilities and they alsoreceived great encouragement fromthe audience. The orchestra of theJunior Academy performed again andwere applauded so much by theaudience, that they repeated theirperformance. It was a satisfying endto a week of excellent music.

Many guitar makers exhibited theirinstruments in the bright and airyfoyer of the Rhein-Mosel-Halle,including: Antonius Müller, GertPetersen, Kazuo Sato, Mario Gropp,the Canadian guitar maker DarylPerry, Michael Wichmann, Jens Towet,Friedericke Linscheid, StephanSchlemper and the guitar case makerZlatko Parlov. During the summermonths, Michael Macmeeken, whorecently sold both his publishingcompany (to Zimmermann Verlag)and his Chanterelle guitar festivalshop (to Octavian Badea ofGuitarrisimo) is travelling to thefestivals with Octavian Badea to makethe transfer of ownership smoother.Other special exhibitors at the festivalwere Bernard Maillot of Savarez andProf. Thomas Offermann of D’AddarioStrings; both companies support thefestival and the competition. Nextyear’s festival will be held from 2–9June 2014 in Koblenz, Germany.

Guitar makers and Bernard Maillot of Savarez Strings.

Gunter Schillings and the Junior Academy at the Kurfürstliches Schloss.

David Russell with Georg Schmitz.

Festival & Academy website is at: www.koblenzguitarfestival.deFestival Blog: http://Koblenzguitarfestival.wordpress.comTwitter: @koblenzguitfest