www.haenssler-classic.de
{"Spanish Night," guitar concertos by
Rodrigo, is on Hänssler CD 98.349}
The notes relate how
Zamfir’s first instrument was the banjo.
At the age of 14 he went to the Bucarest
Academy to enter the accordion class,
but it was full, so he was deferred
to the panpipes class - and the rest
is history. It’s been 2000 years since
the Great God Pan was declared "dead,"
but today Great Pan lives again, and
Zamfir is his royal musician. Like Zamfir’s
previous compositions this work is full
of bright orchestral color, Rumanian
flourishes, and drama, along with the
fascinating sound of the panpipes. The
guitars make occasional comments but
always seem to be accompanying Zamfir.
It’s his concerto, he can do whatever
he wants.
Garcia’s concerto is
tuneful, atmospheric, colourful, and
very idiomatic and makes abundant use
of the virtuosity guitar soloists (track
3). Bäcker’s Rhapsody is intriguing,
also colourful, and idiomatic, and makes
good use of the orchestra, an effective
wind-up to our concert (track 12).
The notes tell us "...For
his composition From the Depths I
Cry Out To You, Lord Bäcker
won the prize of the De Profundus
composers’ competition in Cologne."
[sic] Right. Also we read how Romania
and Spain have "close cultural ties
... through the Moors" — rather like
Manchuria, Kazakhstan, and Finland have
close cultural ties because the Czar’s
armies occupied all three? Who am I
to disagree. And even though Dale Kavanagh
is one-half of the Amadeus Guitar Duo
(and, one assumes, the mother of Kirchoff’s
child), she and the Duo are consistently
referred to as though they were completely
different people. Contract stipulations,
no doubt, but a bit confusing at times.
The often heard Rodrigo
concerto uses themes of the Spanish
composer Gaspar Sanz (1640-1710). This
Rodrigo work has always suffered by
comparison with his justly much more
famous Concierto de Aranjuez,
but these performers capture the Renaissance
atmosphere and in general turn in a
more effective performance than any
I’ve heard (track 8). The guitars are
recorded very close, but the orchestral
sound is natural and the performance
idiomatic.
Canadian-born German
resident Kavanagh has some fun with
the Duo’s official portrait: Her female
characteristics restrained only by a
low slung knit dress, her hair artfully
disarrayed, she smirks at the camera
like a Carmen who has just spit out
her cigarette while Kirchoff glowers
in the corner like a Don José
who has just about figured it all out.
In the cover photo they strike more
of an elegant out-for-an-evening-in-Buenos-Aires
mood. I hope Kirchoff and other mod
European men who travel realize that
a man wearing lipstick on the street
in many US cities will quickly attract
a rowdy, jeering crowd and he’d be lucky
to get back to the hotel to wash it
off without being assaulted.
Paul Shoemaker
Amadeus Guitar Duo: Dale Kavanagh and Thomas
Kirchoff, guitars 