Conductor Diego Matheuz
Harp Soloist Marie-Pierre Langlamet
Ginastera Concerto for Harp and Orchestra, Op. 25
Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet Suite
An Intoxicating and Emotive Concert from the QSO
The intoxication of love and tragedy was in the air at the QSO’s Morning Masterworks celebrating two renowned composers: Ginastera, famous for his set of dances Opus 2 with his Concerto for Harp and Orchestra; and Prokofiev with his delicious Romeo and Juliet Suite. Diego Matheuz, Principal Conductor of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, was the Guest Conductor bringing his Venezuelan flair and latin good looks to masterfully attune with the QSO.
Ginastera drew on his Argentinian roots to reinterpret Western classical music with a New World twist. He composed the Concerto for Harp and Orchestra in the late 1950’s, during his subjective nationalistic period. It was originally commissioned by the harpist Edna Phillips, at the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1956, but he still hadn’t completed it in time to premiere at the Inter-American Festival in 1958. It finally premiered in 1965 with the classic three-movements, featuring the solo from Spanish harpist Nicanor Zabaleta. In 2019 Ginastera’s modernist works are still appreciated and it was the opportunity of harpist Marie-Pierre Langlamet, principal harpist of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra since 1993, to showcase her remarkable talent.
Leglamet’s performance was flawless and ethereal as she cradled the harp tenderly like a mother with her small child. She has been much awarded for her incredible skills throughout her musical career, starting with the Maria Korchinska Prize from the UK at the age of fifteen. The movements were reminiscent of a 50’s action movie soundtrack, ranging from soft mystical music from the harp using harmonics, especially in the Allegro giusto, interspersed with harsh and violent outbursts from the woodwind and brass, as if it accompanied a violent tussle or chase scene. There was also a creepy spine-tingling feeling as the second movement enfolds, straight out of a scene from Hitchcock’s Psycho, where there are passages of homophony between harp and woodwind, ending with a disturbing counterpoint. The third movement is no less unnerving, after Ginastera uses the pentatonic scale to drive a dance rhythm preceded by a long cadenza from the harp testing its full musical range leading to a violent and abrupt end.
The eleven excerpts from Prokofiev’s three suites of Romeo and Juliet were well chosen, to highlight the distinct variations in styles of music, suited to the emotive and violent scenes of Shakespeare. The favourite of the concert, and the most popular movement of the ballet, was the Montagues and the Capulets from Suite II, no.1, more commonly know as The Dance of the Knights. Where the strident opulence of the marching Soviet-sounding melody is interspersed with the delicate trills from a magical flute. The majestic movement is instantly recognisable and is often used in advertising, films and even by football clubs and the NFL.
The music is emotive throughout, musically depicting Shakespeare’s tragic story of the tribulations of the illicit affair between the two young lovers from vying families. Prokofiev utilises the col legno buttuto method (Italian for hitting with wood) of striking the stringed instruments with great effect through many of the movements. During Romeo at Juliet’s Grave (Suite II, no. 7) violent pizzicato (plucking) is demonstrated on the double bass, where the musicians were plucking using the strength of their whole arms. At the Death of Juliet in one of the final scenes of Suite III, the music is heartbreaking, plucking at the audience’s heart strings, as well as the violins. So tragic was the ballet, that the premiere at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre was rescheduled, and Prokofiev was asked to reconsider his tragic musical ending. The melody caused the dancers to be “a little afraid” of the music, according to the esteemed Russian ballet dancer Galina Ulanova. Prokofiev’s decision to not bow to the pressures of the elite was controversial, resulting in the artistic director and the proposed conductor of the Bolshoi to be arrested and shot! This frightening outcome caused the ballet to be shelved. However, it eventually premiered with the original musical ending in the Czech city of Brno in 1938 and eventually premiered in Russia, with the approval of Stalin, in 1940 at the Kirov theatre. Fortunately, times have changed and no-one was arrested for playing the tragic musical ending to Romeo and Juliet at the QSO performance, although the incredible talent of the orchestra and the soloist Marie-Pierre Langlamet was arresting!
Concert Hall, QPAC. March 15, 2019
Dr Gemma Regan