11 March 2008
World Class Pianist to Perform World Class Works
The Gibraltar Philharmonic Society, Hassans International Law Firm and Line Management Services Limited are joining efforts in bringing to Gibraltar pianist Roberto Cominati for a recital at The Convent Ballroom on Tuesday 11 March commencing at 8:30pm.
The repertoire will include works by Claude Debussy, Enrique Granados and Isaac Albeniz; who’s Suite Española Op.47 is comprised mainly of pieces written in 1886, and grouped together in 1887 in honor of the Queen of Spain. Like many of Albéniz' piano pieces, these works are miniature tone pictures of different geographical regions and musical idioms of Spain.
"When you don't have any money to go on holiday, you must make do by using your imagination"; Debussy wrote, and the first two pieces in his triptych Estampes constitute an exotic travelog; the third piece is stay-at-home music, watching the rain. "Estampes" means print or engraving, and these three pieces are musical depictions of particular moments at particular locales. Mr Cominati will perform "Soirée dans Grenade" which takes listeners to Spain, but again the tour guide is Ravel, whose Habanera covers much the same musical territory. Debussy uses the same rhythm -- which, technically, is Cuban rather than Spanish, although the French strongly associated it with the Iberian peninsula. Manuel de Falla thought highly enough of this piece to quote from it in his Homage to Debussy.
Mr Cominati will also be playing several works by Enrique Granados including the piano suite, Goyescas, which is considered by many the pinnacle of this Spanish composer's output (composed between 1909 and 1911). The work takes its inspiration from the art of the eighteenth century Spaniard Francisco Goya, specifically from a set of sketches of Spanish life that Granados had seen in the Prado Museum in Madrid. The suite is fearsomely difficult in places; its first interpreter was the composer himself, who was best known in his own day as a touring virtuoso. For modern listeners, Granados' transfer of the propulsive rhythms of flamenco guitar music to the keyboard is one of the piece's most attractive features.
There are numerous works within the piano repertoire, representing composers from virtually every era and nation, which are famous (or even infamous) by name but which, for whatever reason, are rarely played. Enrique Granados' Allegro de concierto for piano in C sharp major, Op. 46, H. 6, is such a work. The Allegro de concierto's fame is not especially difficult to understand, nor is its paradoxical obscurity: fiendishly difficult works nearly always attain a kind of legendary status, and such works are also, on account of that very difficulty, forbidden fruit for most players but not for Mr Cominati who will be performing this on 11th March.
Works by de Falla and Ravel will also be performed.
The Society’s Artistic Director commented: “Mr Cominati was winner of the 1993 Busoni International Piano Competition and the 1996 Leeds International Piano Competition – and I quote the Salzburger Nachtrichten which, after his recital at the Salzburg Festival wrote: “Endless his undertones when he explores Debussy’s precious and bewitching sound, enchanting his blend of passion and exquisite technique in Le Tombeau de Couperin, extraordinary his ardent sharpness in the undulating transcription of La Valse…” great credentials and reviews I’m sure you will agree.”
Tickets priced at 20 pounds each are now available from Sacarello’s Coffee Co in Irish Town and The Silver Shop at 275 Main Street with Credit/debit card purchases also available by phoning the Society on 72134. A limited number of tickets are also available to Senior Citizens at a reduced price via The John Mackintosh Hall at 308 Main Street.
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