Concert Eric Franceries
Eric Franceries was quite unknown to me so this concert was a perfect opportunity to hear more from him.
Internet is really helpful for the background information. Writing the reports for the festival, Firefox with Google and Youtube are my trustful companions. Franceries’ web site has something playful with its minimal design and the photograph with the blink of the eye.
As a classical guitarist he connects the worlds of the formal classical music and the ‘light’ music like the jazz. This mix reminds me a bit of Roland Dyens.
This mixture clearly showed from his programme.
He opened the first recital of the festival with Capriccio Diabolico by Mario Castelnuovo Tedesco. This homage to Paganini has all the characteristics of the work of this violin- and guitar virtuoso. Paganini was famous because of his Caprices for Violin and his nickname Il Diavolo, so I guess you will understand the point in Castelnuovo Tedesco’s piece: Nomen est Omen.
It was an omen for the musical content too, because Capriccio Diabolico is awfully hard to play. Franceries put a lot of elan in this piece, which combines a beautiful melody with speedy runs.
A Sonate by Domenico Scarlatti followed, it was one quite unknown to me. Well, I do not know all 550 of these Sonatas, so I asked Liz Day -our uncontested Scarlatti specialist- if she recognized the theme. Surprisingly she did not. Would it be recently discovered matererial?
The Aires de Sevilla by Jose Maria Gallardo Rey connected flamenco elements with contemporary jazz. There were some beautiful modulations in the piece.
Next was a surprisingly ingeniously arranged piece of film music, Variations Impossibles by Denis Mortagne. The theme of Mission Impossible with the swinging bass line was elaborated in all possible ways. Nice piece of music!
Alexander Vinitsky signed for the next piece, Waiting for News. What a delighting piece of Latin swing! A few chord changes in this piece gave me a sense of total bliss.
Temptation of the Renaissance by Stephan Rak is quite well known to me, I am trying to learn it as one of my few contemporary pieces. (;-) So my teacher did succeed after all!) After Franceries’ performance I found that I ‘ll have to practice a lot before it’s completed!
Emilio Pujol composed Guarija with it characteristic 3/4 - 6/8 movements. A nice and cosy piece to listen at.
The last part of the programme was Lamentos do Morro by Garoto (a pseudonym of Annibal Augusto Sardinha). The piece had a remarkable start with a church bell like sound and a morbid atmosphere. Quickly, however, the atmosphere changed into a pushing Latin swing with brisk virtuoso passages. A strange piece in which the sadness of the lament was hidden in the melancholy of the chord progressions.
After the well deserved applause, Eric Franceries brought us an oncall, the well known Nuages by Django Reinhard. How many have arranged this jazz standard! Franceries added this jazzy element and made a lot of all the variations.