Sunday, March 1, 2015

GREAT PROGRAMMING I





Our ACO year kicked off with marvellous flair as Richard Tognetti brought in the Coptic Egyptian/Australian Brothers Tawadros (Joseph on oud; James on riq', bendir) to spice up Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, mix it up with other Baroque wonders, introduce works from Joseph's new album and remind us that 'Venice is but a boat day from Cairo'.

Venice and the Islam - cross fertilised for centuries and though few examples of musical influence are overt, the links are there 'in no insubstantial way' Mr Tognetti believes, and hence his programme.


        (Venetian painting: The Reception of the Ambassadors in Damascus, 1511 - as shown in the programme)


Here's the programme ......


Gabrieli             Sonata XXI 'con tre violin'
Tawadros           Kindred Spirits
Vivaldi               The Four Seasons: Spring
Tawadros           Slight of Hand
Vivaldi               The Four seasons: Summer
Tawadros           Constantinople

Vivaldi               Grave from Concerto per la silennita di s. Lorenzo
Vivaldi               Presto from Violin Concerto in A minor
Tawadros           Permission to Evaporate
Tawadros           Give or Take
Vivaldi               The Four Seasons: Autumn
Marcello            Andante from Sinfonia to il pianto e il riso dell quattro stagioni
Tawadros           Point of Departure
Vivaldi              The Four Seasons: Winter
Tawadros           Eye of the Beholder


......  and it was brilliant. Mesmerising. Dazzling. Outstanding playing with Mr Tognetti in splendid form. Critical rave here.

You can glean some idea of the oud ('twang') and riq' ('zing') and the ensemble together:




And one more of the Joseph and James (in Sarajevo) and Joseph's thoughts on the music:







2 comments:

Susan Scheid said...

Two incredibly imaginative programs, no question. Loved your own reports, and thanks, too for the links to the reviews. The news about David Robertson just gets better and better. Lucky Sydney, lucky you!

wanderer said...

Very fortunate indeed we are. Thanks for reading Sue.