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Last Saturday evening at Benaroya, the Seattle Classic Guitar Society presented the second installment of their International Concert Series with a solo recital by the famed Uruguayan guitarist, Eduardo Fernández. Now in his mid-fifties, Fernández has established a reputation for being a musician’s musician, and we were eager to finally see this great musician in a live concert.
With the first notes of Mauro Giuliani’s Giulianate, op. 148, though, it was evident that the recital hall was swallowing the sound of a soft-styled playing, with only occasional moments of accentuated punctuation escaping the acoustical smothering. The second movement of the Giuliani appeared to be problematic for Fernández, especially in some of the quicker passages, but these meager signs of fallible humanity were soon forgotten by the expressive interpretation of the third movement "La malinconia." The acrobatic jocularity of the fourth and final movement cemented the confirmation in our mind that before us was a consummate professional--delightful and virtuosic.
The next piece on the program was the Fantasy no. 7, op. 30 by Fernando Sor. The sound within the hall began to expand, a combined function of the ears adjusting to the guitar’s more hushed tones, which demand a quiet attentiveness from the audience, and Fernández’s growing confidence and vigor. This Fantasy by Sor is a truly magnificent composition, with variations on a theme that are not blatant displays of various guitaristic exercises, but rather profound explorations of shifting sound-worlds, each blending seamlessly but inextricably into the next. Fernández became more radiant as the piece drew climatically to its close.
The four compositions by Johann Kaspar Mertz reminded us of David Leisner, a past guitar professor who was extremely passionate about this composer and strongly encouraged--practically forced would be more honest--this music on his students. With its snappy rhythms, the Tarantella became in our mind the pirate song, a friendly jab of a title for a thoroughly enjoyable and dramatic work that begins with great intensity and yet rapidly and consistently intensifies. Dressed all in black with his neatly trimmed beard, Fernández seemed to physically embody our imagined piratical role.
After a brief intermission, the second half opened with Manuel Ponce’s Sonata Romantica, which is an homage to Franz Schubert. (The guitarist Marcin Dylla, who has also recorded this piece, will be performing at the Frye Art Museum on February 15th at 2:00 p.m. Admission for this concert is free, but do show up early so as to ensure a seat in the museum’s intimately sized hall.)
Returning to Fernández, although his interpretation of the second movement of Ponce’s sonata was beautiful and very personal, our ears longed for more rubato in the opening passages and succeeding repetitions of this lovely section of music. The harsh contrasts in this movement were a little too harsh and lacked clarity. But in the third and most exciting movement of the sonata, Fernández did not disappoint, managing to dance while still engaging a brisk tempo.
The final piece in the program, Sonata, op. 47, by the brilliant Argentinean composer Alberto Ginastera appeared, by the opening strumming of the instrument, to have taken its inspiration from the sound of the guitar’s open strings. The second movement of the sonata is a scherzo, which is a musical term that literally means "a joke," but who was laughing, save for a few giggles by audience members behind my left shoulder, who giggled not out of mockery, but rather as an uncontrollable reaction of pleasant shock and surprise. The scherzo is a perpetual stream--rapid at that--of compositional genius, colorful, daring, and unstoppable. The sonata’s finale was a brazen and violent burst of energy, which closed and contrasted a program that was otherwise restrained and eloquent.
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