Day Two: Concert Duo '78
During the lunch concert, the stage was the domain of Duo ’78: Ivette van Laar, vocals and Jaap Majoor, guitar.
They started in Spanish style with music which was very close to Flamenco music: four songs by the writer/poet Federico Garcia Lorca (1898 -1936). His dying day looks familiar, and yes it is, he shared the fate of Antonio Jose. He was killed by the followers of Franco because of presumed leftist sympathies.
The songs presented many moods and atmospheres, with a strongly Spanish sound. Considering Lorca’s history, I found it a pity that I do not understand Spanish.
Back it went to the time of the Elizabethan melancholy: the sadder the better. Flow my Tears by John Dowland. It’s quite true, this is a depressing song, but it is a beauty at the same time. This song is rightly considered one of his best works. After the tears there was the hope for return: Come Again, by John Dowland as well. This song was far more hopeful.
It is told that Schubert conceived quite a lot of his song accompaniments on the guitar before noting them down for piano. Listening to Nachtstueck, this hypothesis seems true. The piece included some typical Schubertian turns plus a lot of Romantic melancholy, because the song described a death scene in which the victim breathed his last after a final glance towards the stars in the nightly sky.
After the nineteenth century lyrics, it was time for twenty first century poetry, set to music. Jaap Majoor had arranged four poems from the compilation Zee van Willekeur (Sea of Wilfulness) for voice and guitar. It was striking how at home he felt in his composition, how he supported the song and executed the solo passages. The composition did offer quite some space for dynamics, and he took this opportunity well. I could not completely follow the texts of the poems, but the arrangement was very effective.
After the Zee van Willekeur it was time for the non-arbitrary music theory. Ivette van Laar sang and recited a Sonate voor Stem (Sonata for Voice) by Theo Loevendie, in which she a capella exemplified the theory behind the sonata in an imaginative way.
In the last century, Benjamin Britten -with guitarists well known because of the Nocturnal on a theme by Dowland- arranged a lot of English-, Irish and Scotch folk songs and wrote quite contemporary accompaniments to them. I remember one of his arrangements -Down by the Sally Gardens- which I was meant to play together with a singer when I had enjoyed just three years of guitar instruction. Unfortunately the structure and complex rhythm of the piece were a bit too much for my humble capabilities.
Ivette and Jaap played four folk song arrangements by Britten and performed them forcefully.
Their last piece -Bachianas Brasileiras Nr. 5 by Villa Lobos- has the status of national anthem in Brazil, everybody is able to hum it along. Originally Villa Lobos conceived the piece for six cellos and voice. The structure of the piece, however, beautifully fits the guitar - voice combination. The performance of this piece featured various singing techniques for the melody, only the middle section actually had lyrics. The long melodical lines a la Bach -the piece’s name is not Bachianas for nothing- were very well performed.
Conclusion: This concert was a joy to my ears. And... all the pieces of the recital are recorded on the CD called Zee van Willekeur, together with a number of bonus tracks.