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Touring the Americas 2008

This tour has its origins in talks with old friends from various places, who nostalgically remembered the times of my live performances years ago. They constantly urged me to visit them, with the excuse of a performance.

By 2005 I had already finished a phase in my life -Principal at an Institution of Higher Education. By 2006 I turned back to my faithful companion, the piano, and by the end of the same year, I was ready -almost without having noticed- to resume my old life on the stage with the audience I missed so much.

Therefore, with the support of Celtrus Music Design International, the tour arises. The plan includes a premiere by the end of 2007 in my city, Rosario, to commemorate the Week of Rosario and on my birthday, October 5th.

The performance shall be recorded live for the production of the CD and DVD of the tour.

“Amongst the authors I have chosen we find Mozart because of the undisputed magic of his art and his utter commitment to the instrument, and because he requires of the performer an unusual ability since his sonority is atomic and individual, lacking a great mass of sounds, and compels the performer to set a limit to the use of the pédale harmonic (pedal tone), demanding because of all this and more, an impressive musical performance. On this occasion I have chosen the Sonata K310 which suited best, since it is the piece that breaks traditional molds in Mozart.

Beethoven is always amongst my repertoire because he is so richly significant that I cannot dare omit him. In his Appassionata (Sonata Op. 57), and in his Ninth Symphony – Choral, Beethoven breaks traditional molds in an outburst of creativity, acuteness and knowledge, imposing his immortality.

Just as Mozart and Beethoven represented their time, the first through formality, the second, through description; Frédéric Chopin represents the universal seal of romanticism. And it is the first time that a compositor represents so sentitively his inner condition through the piano, as well as Rubén Darío through poetry. An example of these are his Nocturnes. One could easily state that they are poetry “recited” by an instrument. His Waltzes are true dances endowed of great beauty- I shall comment about that later- and have the acceptance of all audiences. Even though the Scherzos are something like “playing” on the keyboard - as the name shows- the Op. 39 N° 3 has a tragic color because of its tone in C sharp minor since the compositor is now mature, and the piece requires a higher ability for the performer. The player must now exceed the limits of strength, of energy, thus creating in the audience the sensation of being hypnotized.

I hope you all enjoy the musical evening to come, for my performances generally differ from the ones usually heard. You may feel surprised, unaccustomed to my ways as a performer, nevertheless you shall sense how I keep closely to the notes of the compositor, to the latest chapter and verse. This different ways of performing have to do with the changing nature of human beings, that continually evolve, so there comes this need to evolve, to change with the years, to add technology, when performing the classics. Beethoven agreed to this for he wrote down notes on the margins of the scores, notes that looked uncomprehensible, he would say to the astonished witnesses: “do not worry if you do not understand my notes, future generations will”.

PROGRAMME

FIRST PART

- Wolfgang Ammadeus Mozart: Sonata K310 E minor. (Allegro maestoso; Andante cantabile con expressione; presto.)

In this work, brillant Mozart reveals himself absolutely independent from language. Evidently, he enjoyed french music in Paris, and this turned out to be quite an experience for him. Nevertheless, this sonata is only an stimulae, a suggestion, a soft anxiety, a richness of chiaroscuros, and an exhuberant pianistic language. He makes us recall Johann Schubert’s sonatas and concerts. Nevertheless, there is nothing more typically mozartian than this great piece.

The introduction is immediate, with great embossment: repeated chords with the left hand are the rithmic cell of the movement, a constant flow of images. The melodic line, of unaccustomed promptness, impatient, anxious to reach the conclusion. The dim, tragic tone of the movement, is also highlightened by the double intervention of the left hand in a tematic game, a little after the repetition of the main topic, imminent. It is the deliberate quest of a more intense sonority, more passionate, more vigorous.

The Andante cantabile con espressione, calm in tone at the beginning, quiet, with an almost stately movement, richly embellished becomes dim, the atmosphere grows darker- almost unnoticeably, and the amazing episode starts in C minor, agitating, trembling, trusting in part of the grave area of the keyboard. Then it goes back to the initial color, with an embellishment every time more clashing.

The final Presto is an extraordinary page: it has the pathetic anxiety, the melancholic and agitated mood, the romanticism, the dream-like tone of Shubert. Arising from an elemental rhythmic and melodic cell, all the passage develops intense cohesion: cohesion that does not break, not even in the central episode in A minor. The pianistic scripture takes effect, with the richest revelation of harmonies, with awesome multicolor display, highlightened once again with frequent recurrence of the theme with the left hand. The quest for contrasts is evident on the last phrases: the theme returns twice, but carried to the superior octave, and is every time interrupted by the somber and intense sonority of deep chords. A brief cadence closes the sonata with a blazing breath, nearly orchestral.

“In order to perform the whole of a Mozart’s sonata beautifully, one needs the highest and not at all frequent ability. The absence of great sound masses, of powerful and supreme chords, of passages of amazing juggling, of strong and repeated pathetic strokes and the presence of magnificent freshness and brightness of sound on his scores do not give much leeway to use impressive interpretative resources, but it all gives way to a government, a regency of subtlety. Therefore, we can assure undoubtedly, that Mozart is the true acid test for any player. Arturo Rubinstein stated –when he had acquired certain maturity in his career- that he could not go back to the naivety and freshness of Mozart. Nevertheless, we should not brand his work as simple. The absolute stillness and clarity of mozartian sound neither excludes elegance nor spiritualit, nor even the most exquisite musicality.” Amadeo Mainero (1928-1983).

- Ludwing Van Beethoven: Sonata Op. 57 in F minor “Appassionata”. (Allegro Assai; Andante con moto; Allegro ma non troppo/Presto)

Dedicated to Countess Therese Von Brunsvick, married to one of the three Beethoven’s life-long friends, Appasionata opens the great creative stage in Beethoven’s career, when the big traditional molds turn out to be scanty and coercive for his musical speech. And, apparently, as he breaks them, he reaches the highest point of the sonata.

The two themes of the first movement (“Allegro Assai”) are different in character only, as the second simply stems from the first –it is in fact an inversion of the first. During the first movement the two themes pondered alternate in free variation, modulating. This movement, characteristic of a huge stregth, opens and closes with the same motive, pianissimo.

The “Andante con moto” follows calmly, though this is slightly altered to the end of the second part with a small, sharp, pathetic turn that develops later as three variations, each of them intensified by a true poetic fury. When back to the initial theme, in which the meditation thread is underlined, there comes the third movement “Allegro ma non troppo” through two arpeggio-chords: the first pianíssimo, the second fortíssimo. Here Beethoven, in an act tremendous for his time, destroys all traditional molds changing a brillant dance-like end for a movement even more tragic and pathetic than the first. And we can see that Beethoven was right for here he reaches the peak, the true climax of all the sonata that closes in a virtual outburst of all forces of nature.

Now the Sonata could never be what it used to be until then, neither with Beethoven himself nor with others. The “Appassionata” is not only important in itself, but it is one of the milestones in the history of music.

SECOND PART

Frédéric Chopin:

- Nocturne Op. 9 N◦ 1 in B minor. (Larguetto)

- Nocturne Op. 9 N◦ 2 in E (Andante)

- Nocturne Op. 15 N◦ 1 in F (Andante Cantabile)

- Nocturno Op. 55 N◦ 1 in F (Andante)

- Vals Op. 34 N◦ 2 in A minor (lento)

- Vals Op. 64 N◦ 2 in C sharp minor (Tempo Giusto)

- Scherzo Op. 39 N◦ 3 in C sharp minor (Presto)

The name Chopin is engraved in the history of Poland. By the end of XVIII, resounded the shout of victory. Tadeusz Kosciuszko, who had heroically fought for independence in the northamerican revolution was summoned from Poland to lead his fellow countrymen in the emancipation venture. Amongst his volunteers there was a frenchman, Nicholas Chopin. These plans plummetted after an incredible defeat, nevertheless Nicholas survived and joined other idealist and indomitable men who endowed the agitated country with a different style of life: a future founded upon principles and values that endure: education, science, arts. That was the atmosphere and the environment in which Frédéric was born. So it is not at all unusual to see in him -a lot more than in other artists- the passion of patriotism.

Positively and beyond any conjecture, he was the most significative musical poet of the romantic school. No one mastered pianistic language the way he did and his art, settled on the cornerstone of the classic tutors -having created several masterpieces that are now specimens considering their melodic beauty, originality, rithmic subtlety and harmonic blaze.

We know as well that no other compositor endowed with such national identity was ever able to display art with such universality.

Chopin’s music is a challenge to the soul and the mind of the pianist. Not an angle of music and of life are left unexplored by this individual. His delight of life beats in each note; but it is his music that lures and in it he exudes intense charm.

The performance ideals Chopin put forward as teachings were the following: a legato cantabile, infinite variety of colors, emphasis, touche, and quallity of sound; moreover, the use of the pedal that produces a rich harmonic background and expressive ornamentation that adorns delicately without darkening the cantabile.

Chopin stated “An artist should never lose sight of the context of things. A performer highly interested in detail shall find that the thread breaks up, and instead of having a collar, the gems shall be spread all around the place”. In everyday practice there must be a shrewdness in order to seize the essence of an idea, in order not to miss the point of the whole thing. This quality is characteristic of Messulam.

The most well-known, the most played and –we should well say- the most tormented page of Chopin is the Nocturne in E minor. This languid and sensual evocation of a moon landscape, delicate and almost untouchable, composed by the year 1830 along with two other Nocturnes from the Opus.9, that is to say at the beginning of his parisian period, comes with Chopin’s triumphant entry to the most refined ballrooms of the french ranchs. Undisputedly successful. To these nocturnes is added the myth of the performer, that is to say: to play just like he did, he was crudely imitated by mediocre pianists, harming the authentic greatness of the polish artist’s music.

Schummann said: “Imagine a wind harp with all the variety of sounds, and a player’s hand displaying in bulk all these sounds in fantastic arabesque…By the end of the piece, there seems to be a radiant image transfigured like in a dream, to which we want to stick when we awake… The same way Chopin’s music is a quality of sound, a non-descript color, an evanescent arabesque, all natural, and lacking all morbid languor”. Schummann’s statement is the best guideline to asess this page once more, the charm of which is never destroyed.

Though with apparently very different emphasis, the waltzes relate to the nocturnes because of that special tone of ballroom music, sweet, cuddling, slightly streaked with melancholy, that nevertherless suddenly resembles the colonial arabesque. “The Waltzes -Vincenzo Terencio wrote- seem to sprout from a mundane and a little sensual motif, giving rise to colorful desire”. Shummann: “One of his most spontaneous and characteristic pieces”. A Chopin that faces much wider forms, though always full of freedom, and devotes deeply to a strong and tragic structure. Some outstanding characteristics arise: certain languid atmosphere (Nocturne), certain rythmic outbursts from the Mazurcas , the constructive insistence of certain Polonesas, and finally the transcendental giftedness of the estudios. But all is strongly concentrated in forms of very bold style, in a kind of scherzo vigorously molded. Here we have, complete, the portrait of the musician, that is –as we can see- richer than the regular worshippers of the nocturne, moon-like, languid atmospheres would want us to believe. A Chopin closer to the virtual account of Delacroix or to the cosmic breath of Leparodi than to certain undisputable images –ghoulishly decadent- given to us by George Sans. And all this maturity, magic, beauty and musical strength are conveyed in the Scherzo Op. 39 N◦ 3 in C sharp minor, that closes the concert Touring the Americas 2008.