Live music concerts are slowly coming back bit by bit, and one of the first to do so was broadcast live this afternoon from St Luke's Church in London, in a special concert in the Summer Shorts season given by The London Symphony Orchestra. Yes, it was only two musicians on stage, and only a handfull of audience members, and yes, the audience were socially distanced and wearing masks, but it is definitely a huge step in the right direction.
The two musicians were both violinists with London Symphony Orchestra, and this afternoon they played three short pieces of music written especially for, or in the final case, arranged for, two violins.
The first piece was written by contemporary composer Daniel Kidane, who has had and continues to have a good working relationship with the orchestra. Composed whilst in lockdown, and being given its World Premiere performance this afternoon, the piece was called, "Dappled Light". I guess the idea being that sunlight on stone immediately after a rainfall is 'dappled' and becomes stronger the fewer rain drops remain on the stone. A kind of metaphor for our lives in isolation. At first we were all grey and stone and solid, secure, not going anywhere, but alone; and as the lockdown progressed and we became more accustomed to the situation our moods improved, and then as one or two restrictions were eased we began to see more light, and our moods were lifted more. This was excellently reflected in the short piece as it starts discordant, slow and melacholic, and builds to a much more hopeful, louder, brighter and more melodic and harmonic conclusion.
The second piece took us back to the first half of the 1800s, and to Belgium, for the longest of this afternoon's three pieces, Charles De Beriot's Duo Concertante no1 (opus 51). The work is in the classical style in three movements, starting with a moderato, continuing with a slow, stately and thoughtful adagio, only to finish with a shorter rondo allegro, bringing the piece's opening mood into the open air and brightening it. I have not heard of this composer before, however his output was large, and was an accomplished violinist and composer. Living as he did at a time when great changes were being made to instruments, and the violin as we know it today would take form. It's audially at least, an unremarkable work, reminiscent of very much of that period's music, but it was, nonetheless, interesting to listen to, and to learn a little about a composer hitherto unheard of ny me.
The final piece, and a piece of music of which I am very familiar, although not in this arrangement. Piazzolla is a contemporary Argentinian composer whose trademark fusing of classical music styles and influences with his own country's folk dances, especially tango, is somewhat legendary. His most famous piece, the Libertango, is what was performed this afternoon. This arrangement for two violins was by Mark O'Connor with the addition of a fantastic solo improvised riff from violinist Julian Gil Rodriguez. A great finish to this concert, and as Rodriguez commented, music is esentially a live medium, and although the LSO, like many other ensembles have been recording and uploading online material throughout lockdown, there is nothing like experiencing music live, an audience makes all the difference.
The two soloists this afternoon were Julian Gil Rodriguez and Maxine Kwok. I truly enjoyed their playing and musicianship, and can't wait for more venues to open and more music to be played.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 17/7/20
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