Day One: Concert Ulrich Steier
Ulrich Steier has the lectureship classical guitar at the Artez Conservatory, here in Enschede. Last year I attended a master class with him, and I remember him as a capable and motivating teacher. This year it was his turn to open the Twenthe Guitar Festival as a player with the first lunch concert.
His easy and clear announcements were enjoyable. It’s good to hear something about the pieces and their composers. Ulrich Steier was rightly indicated as a good example in the Workshop Stage Presentation.
His first piece -Prelude Nr. 1 by Villa Lobos- was a reunion with a good old friend. The years may pass, but this piece keeps its song, irrespective of the modern guitar trends.
He continued his recital with Suite Castellana by Moreno Torroba. This suite presented a homage to the Spanish Zarzuela, a opera/operetta genre which is still popular in the theatres of the Iberian Peninsula. The typical Spanish modulations in the melodies were characteristic for the piece and passed on the atmosphere of such an operetta-like play quite well.
The third piece brought us back to modern times. Five Impromptus by Benett. Despite the fact that Ulrich Steier played the pieces well, the music itself did not appeal to me. I am no real devotee of this musical genre.
Ulrich Steier proceeded with a piece of his favourite composer. Unfortunately this man never composed anything for the guitar, so an arrangement was the only way to play the music. The composer was Ludwig van Beethoven, the piece was the first movement of the Mondscheinsonate. Quite a venture on the guitar, because the characteristic sound of this Adagio Sostenuto is caused by the sustain of the piano. Steier made it a very guitaristic performance in its own right. It makes me curious how the second part of this sonata -the Allegretto- sounds on the guitar. Maybe next year?
To play the next pieces, Ulrich Steier changed his classic Spanish guitar for an Alto Guitar, an invention by the Swedish luthier George Bolin. On this guitar you can play lute literature without the tedious double string courses (which saves you a lot of tuning work!) The instrument has eleven strings, so the head alone is a remarkable example of luthier’s technology. I guess it’s quite a challenge to strike the right bass string on a poorly illuminated stage.
Steier proceeded with one of the most moving lute pieces by Silvius Leopold Weiss -it is moving me already with the first chords anyway- the Tombeau sur la mort de M. Comte d'Logy. It was a wonderful interpretation.
The next piece on the Alto Guitar was one of Ulrich Steier’s own compositions -Pictures- which appeared pleasant to my ears. It is quite exceptional to hear a modern composition on a lute-like instrument like this.
You would not expect the following piece to be played on a lute. Nevertheless Eric Satie’s Gymnopedie Nr 1 appeared on the boards very well. The extra low strings gave the slow rocking motion of the piece an extra dimension.
Ulrich Steier closed his recital with two pieces from the lute literature, twice John Dowland. The joyful Lord Strang’s March was the first piece, in which a simple catchy theme unfolded itself in multiple complex divisions. The final piece was Dowland’s masterpiece, the Fantasia.
In my early twenties I heard this piece for the first time on the LP Tabernakel, a (not quite successful) lute experiment by the rock guitarist Jan Akkerman. Well, Ulrich Steier played it much, much better and with great consistency among the musical lines.
In brief: this recital was a successful and enjoyable way to open the festival.