Concert Duo Niehusmann
Just like last year, the evening concert of day two was a shared experience. Before the break we would hear Gitarrenduo Niehusmann, after the break it was the turn of Andre Manuel.
The duo Judith and Volker Niehusmann continued last night’s tradition set by Duo Melis, they were on stage as a couple too. Their clothing provided a little hint concerning the music they were going to play, they elegantly adorned the traditional sober black with a nicely wrought jacket. A sign of a bit of a lighthearted approach, I guessed.
Their first piece was Sonata RV85 by Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741), originally for basso continuo, violin and lute. They played the three movements on a lute guitar.
This instrument had the form and the shape of a baroque lute, but missed the courses and (fortunately) the eternal tuning problems of gut strings, the lute was strung with nylon. A few extra bass strings enhanced the range of the instrument.
The outer movements had a nice swing because of their adorned bass line and the slow middle movement offered Judith all possibilities to lift the (violin) to high levels.
The next pieces were composed by the Spaniard Padre Antonio Soler (1729 - 1783). Soler marks the transition from late baroque to the early classical period. He composed his music in combination with his hard work in the convent of El Escorial. He spent his days with prayer, contemplation and labour on the convent’s fields, yet he found time for quite a repertoire of original compositions.
Just like Scarlatti he used themes from Spanish folk music (e.g. the Fandango) in his harpsichord sonatas. He followed the example of the famous Italian concerning his output, he composed over five hundred works -including about 150 Sonatas for harpsichord- yet he could not beat Scarlatti’s prolificness.
Duo Niehusmann played three arrangements of harpsichord sonatas. The Spanish idiom was quite clear indeed. The first two sonatas were new for me, the last one I remembered from an old recording of the duo Presti-Lagoya.
The following subject became an own composition by Volker Niehusmann, a suite on the paintings by Paul Daugin, painted during his stay in Tahiti. Daugin had some love for the guitar. Even though he died in poverty, his humble estate included an old guitar besides some brushes and canvas. The colours under the Caraibian sun delightfully reflected in the music, the four movements of the suite each showed a different set of tones from this palette. I started to long for a nice and sunny holiday destination!
The last piece was a composition by the legendary Ida Presti herself, the famous guitarist of the duo Presti-Lagoya which had its prime in the seventies of the last century. Presti was renowned for her powerful solo playing, she liked best to play the first guitar in the duo and Lagoya supported her as the flexible accompanist.
An old guitar teacher of mine used to sigh that she had died much too early (she died at an age of 43 in 1967). Her particular right hand posture was imitated by many guitarists, which in many cases caused injuries because of the obstruction of the tendons in the wrist.
The piece had a more contemporary character and explored the options and limits of a guitar ensemble. To be honest it did not appeal to me that much.
The oncall was a surprise with humour: a duo by John Dowland -My Lord Chamberlain, His Galliard- riding in pillion. Both partners operated the single guitar quite satisfactory.
After the concert, the duo Niehusmann came up with something new, bringing in the youngest spectator (<1 year of age) after the break. A beautiful baby who attended the concert of Andre Manuel sucking a comforter and observing the world with curiosity.
With some luck we might see a Trio Niehusmann on stage after three lustra of this festival!