 |
| Maestro Michael Alexander Willens (Yoel Levy) |
The Felicja Blumental International
Music Festival was established by Annette Celine in May 1999 at the Tel Aviv
Museum of Art. Ms. Celine, an artist, singer and daughter of the prominent
pianist Felicja Blumental, served as artistic director of the festival for the
first 19 years of its existence, with Avigail Arnheim as executive director.
Since Annette Celine’s death in 2017, Avigail
Arnheim has been directing the festival’s musical program together with Idit
Magal. Offering an interesting variety of events, the 2021 Felicja
Blumental International Music Festival (August 3-7), took place at the Tel Aviv
Museum of Art.
“A Musical Garden of Eden'', Madrigals,
Canzonettas and Other Summer Delights'' (August 4th) featured four singers
of the Kölner Akademie (Germany) joined by Ensemble Barrocade (music
director: Amit Tiefenbrunn), with Kölner Akademie director Michael Alexander
Willens conducting. Kudos to Israeli singer Doron Florentin, who stood in
admirably for the Cologne ensemble’s tenor at a week’s notice, making up the
vocal quintet.
In keeping with Willens’ dedication to performance of music of lesser-known composers, the concert opened with selections from “Lustige Madrigalen und Canzonetten” (Jovial Madrigals and Canzonets) of Sebastian Knüpfer (1633 - 1676). One of the most distinguished predecessors of J.S.Bach in the office of Cantor at the Leipzig Thomaskirche, Knüpfer was a composer of mostly sacred music. The “Lustige Madrigalen und Canzonetten” (1663) stand out for their overtly secular texts, the pieces, effusive in their amorous content. The singers gave splendid expression to the composer’s versatile use of voices and vocal colour - the volley of interjections making up the texture of “Weg Mars, mit deiner Faust!” (Away Mars with your might), the exuberant play of single syllables in “Meer, Erd’ und Sonne trinken” (Sea, earth and sun drink) the gorgeous weaving effect of voices in the mournful “Ade, du Tausendschatz” (Adieu, you dear treasure). Add to these qualities Knüpfer’s inspired instrumental writing and you come up with a sparkling opening item for a festival concert!
Several of
G.Ph.Telemann’s many instrumental suites are furnished with extra-musical,
programmatic- and other associations. Although Telemann never ventured much
further out of Germany than across the Polish border and one visit to Paris, he was one of the most
cosmopolitan composers of his day. Indeed, his Suite (Ouverture) in B-flat
Major (TWV 55:B5), commonly known as “Les Nations”, could be said to reflect
the broad-based ambiance of the city of Hamburg, where Telemann spent some of
his most productive years. The suite takes its title from the short character
pieces that follow the French Overture and the Minuets. For audience members
not travelling out of the country at the moment, Maestro Willens and the
Barrocade instrumentalists offered a whirlwind overseas tour,
Telemann, in effect, mostly describing the national characteristics of various
peoples - “The Turks”, portrayed with heavy textures in a raucous romp, the
Swiss, as each calm and dignified phrase was punctuated by an elegant, light
dance episode, the Portuguese as exuberant and dancing. As to the Muscovites,
Telemann here presents an image of the city - heavy and bleak, its church bell
bourdon sounding throughout. The suite closes with two enigmatic pieces - “Les
Boiteux'' (The Lame) and “Les Coureurs” (The Runners) - in which the composer
might be evoking human conditions common to every country. Presenting
Tafelmusik at its most colourful and entertaining, the Barrocade Ensemble’s playing
was suave, subtle and finely detailed. A new face joining the Barrocade players was
competent young recorder player Bar Zimmermann.
Henry Purcell’s
compositions for Queen Mary span her brief reign, from her coronation (April
11th,1689); to the formal celebrations of her birthday (April 30th) and to
her funeral (March 5th 1695). Of the three anthems for Queen Mary (SSATB choir
with optional organ - Yizhar Karshon-organ, Amit Tiefenbrunn-viol) heard at the
Tel Aviv concert, “I was glad”, a joyful and elaborate setting of verses
from Psalm 122, was (probably) performed at James II and Queen Mary's coronation in Westminster Abbey. Articulate in diction, the singers gave
expression to the work’s variety and word-painting. Then, two of the funeral
anthems: “Lord, how long wilt thou be angry?” (Psalm 79), its writing
influenced by Byrd and Gibbons, but coloured with Purcell’s distinctive
harmonies, here, its lines beautifully sculpted by the singers as it moved from plangent, pleading
intensity, through the silvery tones of supplication, then to the brightness of
affirmation. In “Remember not, Lord, our offences” (Order for the Visitation of
the Sick), the singers highlighted Purcell’s striking use of consonance juxtaposed to dissonance, homophony versus counterpoint, to express the soul’s unease, with blazes of chromaticism, moments of major-mode brightness, evoking a world in
which sin does not exist. Conductor and artists addressed every turn of the
texts, giving immediacy and beauty to these marvellously-written sacred anthems.
Leaving behind the
frailty of humankind as expressed so poignantly in Purcell’s Restoration
anthems, the program moved to German secular songs of Melchior Franck
(1579-1639). Kapellmeister to the Duke of Coburg, Franck was a hugely
prolific composer of Protestant church music, but his oeuvre also includes 13
secular vocal collections. Michael Willens chose to end the concert with a few Lieder
from Franck’s “Paradisus Musicus” - songs of love, dancing and plenty of drink.
Well entertained, the audience followed the carefree, exuberant spirit of the
songs, Franck’s whimsical word play, the fine blend and intonation of the voices,
vibrant continuo playing and some hearty settings offering a-capella
verses alternating with instrumental stanzas.
Welcome back to members of the Kölner Akademie
(the Cologne Academy), an ensemble that performs repertoire from the 17th- to 21st
centuries and on period instruments. In order to fully realize the composer’s
intentions and present historically informed performance, the ensemble performs
from Urtext editions. Based in Cologne Germany, American-born conductor Michael
Alexander Willens is no new face to the Israeli concert podium. Musical
director of the Kölner Akademie, he studied at the Juilliard School of Music, with
Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood and choral conducting with Paul Vorwerk. Maestro Willens engages in performance of
repertoire from the Baroque to today, but he is also at home in jazz and
popular music. Willens is dedicated to performing works of lesser-known
contemporary American composers, premiering several of them.
 |
| Yoel Levy |
 |
| Yoel Levy |
 |
| Yoel Levy |
No comments:
Post a Comment