More notes from the 2019 Eilat Chamber Music Festival: Dmitry Sinkovsky (Russia), La Voce Strumentale and soloists perform Baroque instrumental and vocal works

Maestro Dmitry Sinkovsky (photo: Marco Regrave)

Catering to early music aficionados, two of the most special events of the 2019 Eilat Chamber Music Festival were the concerts directed by Moscow-born violinist, singer and conductor Dmitry Sinkovsky with his ensemble La Voce Strumentale. Taking place in the Big Blue Hall of the Dan Eilat Hotel, both were Baroque concerts featuring several concertos and one vocal work, with Sinkovsky both conducting and soloing in each. Sinkovsky is no new face to the Israeli concert scene, but this was the first visit of La Voce Strumentale - a multinational group of award-winning musicians playing on period instruments. Their Eilat concerts were musical events of high energy, strong emotions and virtuosity, with artists and audiences inspired. The first concert, “Ariadne’s Lament” on February 7th opened with Francesco Geminiani’s Concerto Grosso ”La Folia” for two violins, strings and basso continuo Op.5, No.12 (1727), Geminiani’s arrangement of a violin sonata of his teacher Arcangelo Corelli, Soloing in the variations that use the widely-used modal harmonic progression known as “La Follia di Spagna” or ‘The Folly of Spain”, Sinkovsky offered a contrasted and vividly virtuosic performance of them, the ensemble’s ‘cellist Igor Bobovich also featuring brilliantly in one. Sinkovsky was joined by violinists Elena Davidova and Svetlana Ramazanova in Georg Philipp Telemann’s Concerto for three violins and basso continuo in F major TWV 53:F1, the soloists engaging in performance that was both informed and visceral, fresh and vital, coordinated in its imitative agenda and supported by fine continuo-playing, the latter well anchored by La Voce Strumentale’s solid bass contingent. And to Pietro Locatelli’s concerto grosso “Il pianto d’Arianna” Op.7 in E-flat major (1741), where emotions ran high as Sinkovsky, soloing on the violin, took on the almost vocal role of the weeper to evoke Ariadne’s grief over the abandonment by her lover, Theseus. In what has been referred to as an “opera for strings”, Sinkovsky’s reading of it was shaped with dramatic pauses, flexed, spontaneous and, indeed, heart-wrenching. Two works by Antonio Vivaldi followed, the first presenting Maria Krestinskaia soloing on the viola d’amore in Vivaldi’s Concerto for viola d’amore and string orchestra, RV 393 in D minor. The Baroque-era viola d’amore, an unusual instrument of the violin family, characterised by a seductively charming sound, has 12 (or 14) strings, half of them played with the bow, the others resonating; the instrument produces a thin and wiry sound or one eerily lush...at times, even evoking guitar effects. Leading and soloing, Krestinskaia gave a singing, articulate, highly coloured and sincere performance of the work, her careful use of vibrato reserved to endorse specific long notes. Here was a fine opportunity to delight in those sonorities peculiar to the instrument and in Vivaldi’s figuration and embellishments in a virtuosic work rarely heard in the concert hall. The viola d’amore also featured in the performance that concluded the concert - Vivaldi’s motet “Nisi Dominus” - a work in which the composer’s integration of text and characteristic musical devices is fascinating. In this piece, Sinkovsky both directed the players and sang the countertenor role. In the opening “Nisi dominus” (Unless the Lord build the house), he gave effervescent expression to its lively concerto style, enlisting some vocal vibrato, melismatic singing and embellishments, its precipitous leaps contrasted by his tender, gently ornamented singing of “Vanum est vobis” (It is vain for you) in the company of harp and viola d’amore. Eying his audience, Sinkovsky displayed his marvellous pianissimo vocal control in the unique “Surgite” (Rise up) movement. The "Gloria Patri" was sympathetically partnered by the viola d'amore obbligato, Krestinskaia’s playing of it signing out with an elaborate flourish. The slow, gently swaying siciliana style of “Cum dederit” (When He shall give sleep) was a felicitous opportunity for the audience to appreciate Sinkovsky’s large, expressive vocal palette An interesting aspect of Vivaldi’s writing here  was the  “Sicut erat” (As it was in the beginning) its text cleverly paralleled  by a return to the music of the beginning movement...As to the final “Amen”, a separate movement, it was presented with vocal panache on the part of Sinkovsky.

 

Twenty-four hours were just enough time to catch one’s breath before “Passione, tradimento e vendetta, l’arte del contrasto nel barocco” (Friday February 8th) in which, once again, the audience met Dmitry Sinkovsky, La Voce Strumentale and soloists. Following a festive, full-blooded performance of Franz Richter’s Adagio and Fugue in G minor, we were treated to a selection of concertos and one cantata. Specialist in performance on historic harps, Margret Koell (Austria) soloed on a triple harp  in George Frideric Handel’s Concerto for harp and strings in B flat major HWV 294. The cadenza was her own, improvised on the spot! Considered old-fashioned by Handel’s time, he nevertheless loved the sound of the triple harp, a type of multi-course harp employing three parallel rows of strings instead of the more common single row. Sinkovsky was back on stage to lead and solo in Jean-Marie Leclair’s Concerto for violin and strings in D major Op.7 No.2, delighting the audience with ethereal, cantabile playing of the work’s two Adagio movements, with the maestro’s dapper, consummate playing of the Allegro ma non troppo thrilling and his celebratory playing of the closing Allegro entertaining in its dialogue of short statements of the solo violin answered by the tutti violins. Sinkovsky’s reading of Antonio  Vivaldi’s Concerto for violin and strings in D minor Op.8 No.7 RV 242 “Per Pisendel” (one of the composer’s 230!) is yet another reminder that Vivaldi himself was a famed violinist; Sinkovsky’s  playing of the opening Allegro was as richly melodic as it was virtuosic, its upward leaps adding to the drama, with the closing Allegro bold, irrepressibly energetic and increasingly dazzling in its demands. Sandwiched between these two outer movements, however, was the artist’s leisurely-paced, highly ornamented and moving rendition of the Largo, reaching out to the listener in personal utterance and warmth.  The first French composer to write a concerto for solo instrument and making the most of current trends and what was popular musical taste of the time, Joseph Bodin Boismortier wrote his Concerto in D major (from 1729 or earlier) to be played by ‘cello, viola da gamba or bassoon. ‘Cellist Igor Bobovich’s unmannered playing of it brought out the music’s charm, elegance and direct appeal. In Vivaldi’s secular cantata “Cessate, omai cessate” RV 684, combining moments of melting beauty with compelling directness of utterance, Sinkovsky drew inspiration from the Italian words to present a theatrical work both biting and coloured in effect, as the text’s scorned lover laments his pain and suffering, then swearing revenge against his hard-hearted love. Adding beauty to the singer’s vehement and masterful singing was much interest in Vivaldi’s instrumental writing. For an encore, Dmitry Sinkovsky gave an exquisitely delicate performance of “Dove sei” from Handel’s opera “Rodelinda”:

‘Where are you, my beloved?
Come and comfort my soul.
I am oppressed by torments
and my cruel sorrows
I can only bear when I am with you.’