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Saturday 9th April, Drayton Arms Theatre, London SW5

Opera in small spaces is not new, though I must admit I only discovered the Drayton Arms Theatre in South Kensington last winter when I attended Euphonia Opera Company’s splendid production of ‘Don Pasquale’. The space really is tiny – a handful of rows of banked benches, upholstered with old pairs of jeans, and an area not much bigger than an average-sized living room for the stage. Covent Garden it ain’t – and much the better for it, for Euphonia is a company of young professional singers who seem to actively relish the challenge of performing in spaces like Drayton Arms Theatre. Their pared-down productions, with the minimum of setting and costumes, and only a digital piano to provide the music, bring the opera right up close and personal.

Euphonia’s 2016 Spring season has included ‘La Traviata’ and a new production of ‘Iphigénie en Tauride’, Gluck’s powerful setting of Euripides’ play. I went with two opera-loving friends,  regulars at ROH and ENO and far more seasoned opera-goers than I. The narrative teeters on the brink of tragedy until almost the very end, when Iphigenia realises that the man held captive and about to be sacrificed is in fact her estranged brother Orestes. All’s well that ends well.

In the tiny space of Drayton Arms Theatre the action was intense and intimate. The singers are only a few feet away and when they sing, you can really feel the air crackle with the power and emotion of their voices. Without the support of elaborate sets and costumes, the action is far more immediate, pulling you into the heart of drama from the outset. When we went downstairs to the noisy pub for the interval, it felt as if we had been yanked out of an alternative reality, and as one of my friends remarked, you realise how removed you are from the action when sitting in the dress circle at the Coliseum. The entire cast sang with passion and commitment. Stand out performances, for me, were by Turiya Haudenhuyse in the title role, and tenor Joseph Doody, who played Pylades.

For those who are less familiar with opera, or who are reluctant to venture into ROH or the Coliseum, Euphonia’s pared down productions are a great introduction to the form. Productions are sung in their original language, with English surtitles, and you can nip down to the pub in the interval for a pint, and take your drink into the theatre.

This season’s productions have also included pre-performance interviews with legendary opera director John Copley CBE (Patron of The Drayton Arms Opera Series) and Euphonia President, the distinguished scientist, broadcaster and author, Professor Robert Winston.

Euphonia Opera Company

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script-letter-m-402608Dial M for Mompou

Whenever I introduce the under-championed Federico/Frederic Mompou (1893-1987) to friends, the reaction is often, “he doesn’t sound particularly Spanish”. This is somehow a requirement of Spanish composers; I’ve yet to see similar charges brought against, say, Boulez for faint Frenchness, or Pärt for evincing insufficient Estonianism. It could simply be that Mompou’s Catalan origins explain this phenomenon, but Albéniz was also Catalan. The difference is that he sought out Andalusian and Castillian flavours, whereas Mompou seemed more contentedly Catalan. Three Catalan folk songs, El Noy de la Mare, El Testament d’Anelia & Canço del Lladre open his ‘Canço i Danzas’ numbers 3, 8 & 14 respectively.



Mompou’s musical language? Thematic development didn’t really feature; variation fulfilled his dramatic needs. His harmony was unmistakably tonal, though you have to peer through lovely mists to site the tonic. Modes, pedals (frequently offbeat), chords built on fourths, widely spaced, extended ‘jazz’ harmonies all conspire to cloud the harmony of what is essentially simple and often innocent music.

The following example illustrates several of these points.

‘Tres Variacions’ has a short, almost childlike modal (and unbarred) Tema. The first variation, Els Soldats (The Soldiers) ends with a little fanfare whose last three notes are harmonised in fourths. Offbeat pedal notes add interest without compromising simplicity. The second variation, Cortesia has something of French Music Hall in its sad waltz gestures. I like the little pun in the score where the movement depicting ‘courtesy’ ends with the words “répétez, je vous prixe”. Mompou veers into much more modern harmony in the closing Nocturne, almost as though Keith Jarrett were paying tribute to Mompou’s beloved Chopin. The wide-spaced pianism seems to owe much to Chopin who, like Mompou, wrote mostly for piano. Notice how the appearance of a yearning inner-melody necessitates a third stave.

For more direct tribute to Chopin I heartily recommend this:

Or, again, does the subsiding nature of this remind you of a certain Prelude in E minor Op 28 No 4?

Pianists – a challenge: try to emulate the sound of bells while alphabetically avoiding Big Ben, Christmas carols, Ding-Dong etc. etc. Mompou worked in his fathers bell foundry and the resonant ratios rang on? Try the opening of this:

or the closing bars of this:

Mompou’s magnum opus is arguably his ‘Música Callada’ published in four volumes from 1959-67. The puzzlingly oxymoronic combo of silent music can be overcome simply by switching the notion of silence for stillness: ten of its twenty-eight short movements begin with a single note; ‘Calme’ and ‘Lento’ dominate tempo indications. My personal favourite is XIX Tranquilo. Its quiet yearning seems informed by that most searching of ‘jazz chords’ the minor with major 7th – all the more yearning here for the wide spacing.

Alan Coady

Further reading:
Le Jardin Retrouve. the Music of Frederic Mompou

Alan began his musical studies, aged six, on the piano and switched to guitar aged eleven. After studying at the then Huddersfield Polytechnic, Alan began life as a peripatetic guitar instructor for East Lothian Council (Scotland) where he remains to this day. Huddesfieldian modernism exerts a lasting influence and favourite piano listens include the works of Ligeti, Kurtág and Messiaen. Favourite pianists include Piotr Anderszewksi, Steven Osborne and jazz giant Brian Kellock. 

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DSC_8569

Who or what inspired you to take up the piano and pursue a career in music?

My instrument fell into my hands at the age of ten, as a present from my father. I immediately liked it and spent a lot of time practicing, attending concerts, reading books about composers, listening classical music radio stations, collecting cds… I never actually asked myself about having a career, until I reached the age where we’re asked to choose what we want to do in our lives. It just came up logically.

Who or what have been the most important influences on your musical life and career?

My professor, Agathe leimoni. She encouraged me to play in concerts, festivals and competitions, but also masterclasses where I met many other pianists and teachers. This was very enlightening.

What have been the greatest challenges of your career so far?

I consider any performance a challenge in itself. It always involves lots of stress, which adds a difficulty to daily practice. Also, being able to preserve my self-confidence while facing the audience.

Which performances/recordings are you most proud of?

Perhaps the series of concerts I gave in Moscow, at the Gnessin Academy, Tchaikovsky State Conservatoire and the Scriabin Museum.

Which particular works do you think you play best?

Although I don’t make this kind of judgment very often, I would say: L’isle joyeuse by Debussy, Liszt’s transcription of Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in A minor for organ and the Bach/Busoni Chaconne.

How do you make your repertoire choices from season to season?

I play the music I like the most. Since I already have a list, I could plan concerts until I reach the age of 120! Though I’m always likely to add some pieces to it, as I listen to a lot of music.

Do you have a favourite concert venue to perform in and why?

As long as I have a good piano and a good acoustic, I don’t really mind. But even without that, I’m always glad to be invited to play somewhere.

Favourite pieces to perform? Listen to?

The one I like to play most is Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1.

As I also dance a little ballet, so I couldn’t not love this composer and his ballet classics like The Nutcracker and Swan Lake. generally, I like all kind of ballet music.

If I had to choose another one, it would be Chopin’s Fourth Ballade, both listening to and playing as it is really wonderful.

Without naming any particular piece from this era, I listen to a lot of Baroque music. I must also add Prélude a l’après-midi d’un faune by Debussy and The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky (I recently discovered the four hands version of this last piece as well as a four piano version both of which I love).

Who are your favourite musicians?

Since I already mentioned some composers in the last question, I will mention some interpreters: Horowitz, Cziffra, Arrau, Cortot

Apart from classical, I also love jazz. I can listen to hours of Nina Simone (I particularly love her way of incorporating classical piano into jazz with her Bach-like improvisations), Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole in his early years, Bill Evans, Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson to name but a few.

Last but not least, some musicians from Chanson française like Jacques Brel and Georges Brassens.

What is your most memorable concert experience?

I will call the jury for a joker on this one.

What do you consider to be the most important ideas and concepts to impart to aspiring musicians?

The clichés are true: Believe in yourself, don’t compare yourself with the others, enjoy what you do, and work hard. Also, you have to know how to take breaks from time to time and avoid exaggerations that can lead you to obsessive compulsive disorder.

Where would you like to be in 10 years’ time?

Living in my “tour d’ivoire”.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

It’s not something I could describe with words

What is your most treasured possession?

My family

What do you enjoy doing most?

Travelling and visiting new places

Sofia makes her UK debut at the Hebden Bridge Piano Festival on Sunday 24th April in works by Scarlatti, Rameau, Bach/ Busoni, Chopin and Debussy. Further details here

Sofia Matsagou studied at the Hellenic Conservatory of Athens and at the Schola Cantorum in Paris and went on to win prizes at several international piano competitions. She has performed extensively in Greece and also in Belgium, Paris, Italy and Russia.

More about Sofia here 

 

 

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Mozart, Piano Sonata in B flat major, K570

Beethoven, Piano Sonata no. 31 in A flat major, Op.110

Haydn, Piano Sonata in D major, Hob XVI:51

Schubert, Piano Sonata no. 20 in A major, D.959

Wigmore Hall, London, Wednesday 6th April 2016

Sir András Schiff is traversing the final three piano sonatas of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert in concerts across America and Europe. Twelve sonatas in total are spread across three concerts which celebrate the sonata form, “one of the greatest inventions in Western music” (Schiff), a structure central to the oeuvres of all four composers and a means by which we can observe their development at key stages in their creative lives.

andras-schiff

The triptych of concerts also explores the notion of “late style”. In considering Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, lateness is relative, almost a philosophical construct. Haydn and Beethoven were long-lived (by the standards of their day), while Mozart and Schubert died young. But it is the intensity of their lives and creativity that matters here: for example, in the last year of his life, Schubert’s output was astonishing – the string quartets and Symphony in C major, the ‘Schwanengesang’ song cycle and many other works in addition to the three final piano sonatas.

Read my full review here