SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

 Schubert, Brahms, Hindemith, Rachmaninoff: Duo Vivo (Christos Marinos and Nikos Adraskelas), piano,  Horto Museum of Folk Art, Mt. Pelion, Greece 29.8 2009 (BM)

Picture of Horto © David Potts

Music is nowhere near the top of anybody’s political agenda in Greece, not even at the Ministry of Culture, which might as well be called the Ministry of Archaeology judging by their website. Fair enough, you may say, and indeed Greece has an enormous amount of archaeology to offer, but I suspect that many a Greek Minister of Culture since the unforgotten Melina Mercouri has been secretly grateful to the British Museum for refusing to surrender the Elgin Marbles: The emotion attached to the issue helps keep people’s minds off what is really wrong with the Hellenic cultural landscape, not to mention the country in general. The promotion of classical music relies almost entirely on private sponsorship, and although there is a great deal more on offer in the capital than there was just a few decades ago, thanks to the relatively new Athens Concert Hall, the Greek countryside is almost as barren as ever in this respect. Which is why organizations like the “G. Angelinis – P. Hadjinikos Cultural Foundation”, which has been bringing music and more to the tiny fishing village of Horto for the past 25 summers, deserve a little more attention.

One of the highlights of this summer’s program was a recital by Duo Vivo, who changed their program at short notice in memory of Margarita Dalmati (1921-2009), a distinguished Greek musician and poet who passed away this July. Dalmati was a kind of Hellenic Myra Hess in her day, albeit on a smaller scale, serving in the Red Cross during World War II and traveling to the Greek islands with her harpsichord to bring the music she loved to the remotest corners of her country.

The duo opened with Schubert’s Great Funeral March D 859, written on the occasion of the death of the Russian Czar Alexander I, and perhaps not one of the composer’s most inspired works, but naturally it fit the bill. Fortunately, the two pianists succeeded in conveying its air of solemnity without sounding overly pompous, although it did come across as somewhat dry, all in all.

This was soon forgotten, however, when they launched into Brahms’ Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann, op. 23. What was possibly lacking in pedal throughout the Schubert was slightly overstated here at first, though only during the main theme, a “wistful, softly spoken word of farewell”, as Brahms himself described it. It was the last theme Schumann wrote down, at a time when he was already subject to intense aural illusions and mental instability, leading him to believe that it had been dictated to him by angels, when in fact it was derived from the principal melody of the slow movement of his violin concerto (deemed substandard and concealed by his wife Clara, so that it was not published until years later, in 1937). Brahms’ variations on this delicate theme were not intended for public public, and in fact meant to be played by four specific hands, those of Clara and her daughter Julie. As a result, the technical challenges lie in the ensemble playing, at least to a greater extent than in the individual parts, which is precisely Duo Vivo’s strong suit. Their interaction is highly perceptive, so much so that one can almost see them listening to one another. Their rapport allowed them to attack this set with a sensitive passion worthy of the composer (and these were variations, not always the most mesmerizing of compositional forms) right through to the concluding funeral march and ultimate restatement of Schumann’s ‘angelic’ theme.

Following the interval, Hindemith’s four handed Sonata for piano, composed in 1938, was a special treat and a lesser-known part of the piano duo repertoire. Produced during his later expressionist period (if this can be said of a composer whose work clearly defied any sort of classification) when he had developed a leaner, contrapuntal style, this piece is full of graceful ideas. The individual voices, progressions and fughettas were adeptly brought out – the two having obviously rehearsed the sonata under the tuition of their mentor, George Hadjinikos (read about him here) an authority on contemporary music. This work was chosen as a tribute to Dalmati precisely because of her love of Bach and the Baroque masters.

Rachmaninoff’s 6 pieces for piano duet, op. 11, were a little more predictable, but no less enjoyable, and perhaps the many affinities between the Greek and Russian soul - Dalmati was also an eminent translator of Russian poetry] – the shared melancholy and the longing, but also the spirited strength of character that defines both of these nations made this such a striking rendition, particularly in the final two pieces, ‘Romance’ and ‘Slava!’.

The encore, the ‘Lullaby’ from Fauré’s “Dolly Suite”, was an apt wrap-up of this affectionately planned tribute - not least for bringing to mind the days of the BBC Home Service’s “Listen With Mother” - performed by two promising young pianists from whom one would hope to hear more in the near future.

Politicians in Greece are forever keen to describe the country as the cradle of Western civilization. No-one can blame them for that but evenings like this are a welcome reminder that our culture is made of more than marble(s). Let’s hope that at least some of them will dare to bear this in mind in the wake of the upcoming general election in October.

Bettina Mara

Note: This year’s summer events in Horto also included an admirable staging of Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ by participants of the Theater Workshop under George Biniaris (in Greek, I might add – which did not dissuade a considerable number of foreigners from attending, who reacted almost gleefully when they finally made out one word towards the end, this being Puck’s “kalinichta” to them all), with Mendelssohn’s music performed by the amateur Utrecht Symphony Orchestra under the baton of George Moutsiaras, who was also enlisted to help with the acting. Find out more at www.horto.net