Where did all the music come from?

Weeks can go by when there isn’t a single classical music concert that really grabs my attention. Then suddenly there are so many that difficult choices have to be made. March is going to be one of those months. There are top orchestras, big names, great music, and sometimes a combination of all three, on offer.

The choice at the Bozar in Brussels this week includes the world-renowned Budapest Festival Orchestra, which is acting as a cultural flagship during Hungary’s EU presidency. For a different Hungarian flavour, there’s also an evening of Liszt’s music and words focusing on his musical settings of poets as well as his own writing.

Another name to jump out of the March offerings is Russian violinist Vadim Repin, who in 1989 became the youngest-ever winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. He’s playing Sibelius’s violin concerto this Friday and then Grieg, Elgar and Franck sonatas later in the month.

Always keen to hear chamber music, I noticed that there are two well-known quartets playing in Belgium this month: the Pavel Haas quartet in Ghent and the Hagen Quartett in Brussels.

And this selection doesn’t even include the Bozar gala concerts, whose programmes always have big musical names. The March concert boasts Antonio Pappano conducting the Orchestra dell' Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 and Boris Berezovsky playing Liszt’s concerto for piano and orchestra No. 1. The only downside to this series is the number of “VIPs” who are there as much for the networking as the music (cue more chatter, coughing and mobile phones than usual).

While the Bozar is the venue for a large proportion of the classical music concerts in Brussels, there are of course other places and a good selection can be found here. That said, when there’s a bumper crop of offerings like there is in March, the incentive to go hunting elsewhere is limited.

Only When I Dance: Rio Teenagers Pursue Their Dreams

Only when I dance is a documentary that follows two teenagers from rough, working class areas of Rio de Janiero striving to attain their dream of becoming professional ballet dancers - unsurprisingly it has been dubbed the Brazilian Billy Elliot. I enjoyed Billy Elliot; I loved Only when I dance.

The key to the film’s appeal lies in its two stars, 18 year-old Irlan Santos da Silva and 17 year-old Isabela Coracy. Director Beadie Finzi chose to follow these two dancers not because she could somehow tell where their lives were going to lead, but because of their personalities. 

Speaking in Brussels yesterday evening, Finzi explained how she was immediately drawn to these two particular dancers and could tell from their body language that it was going to work well. True, Finzi knew these two had a lot of potential to succeed in the world of dance, but so did other students. She chose Irlan and Isabela because she could sense their magnetism and warmth - worthwhile characteristics not just for the film, but also because Finzi and her crew were going to spend a year, on and off, with the two dancers and their families, filming the ups and downs of their lives.

Both dancers attended the Centro de Dança Rio, a school set up by former Brazilian ballerina Mariza Estrella in order to give the next generation a chance to succeed in a city where too many young people succumb to the easy temptation of drugs and crime. Mariza acts as the link between the poor neighbourhoods of Rio and the bright lights of New York and other western cities where the young dancers dream of working.

On the one hand the stories of Irlan, who lived with his family in Rio de Janiero’s most violent favela, the Complexo do Alemão, and Isabela, from a poor neighbourhood on the outskirts of Rio, are a million miles away from those of us watching the film yesterday in Brussels. That was part of the documentary’s appeal, an insight into another world, another way of living.

Yet for all the differences, the story had universal appeal because it was a tale of two children striving to realise their dreams and their parents doing everything within their means to help them. The human emotions, real warmth and sense of truth in the film were what made it. It was impossible not to be moved by the film. And because it was a film about real people and real lives, it was all the more compelling.

Of course a documentary chooses to include only certain elements of the characters’ lives and leave out others, to follow one particular narrative more closely and leave another undeveloped. These are the essential choices made during production in order to condense the real lives of two families filmed over a year into a work lasting less than an hour and a half. I accept that a documentary uses techniques that you find in a fictional film, but for me there’s something about the truth and the reality of a documentary that I find irresistible and inspiring. Only when I dance certainly fell into that category.

The Brussels screening of Only when I dance was organised by the United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe.

Hungarian National Orchestra Takes on Liszt and Bartok Under Kocsis’s Baton

Hungarian music, art and culture seem to be everywhere you look in Brussels at the moment as arts organisers make the most of Hungary chairing the EU presidency for the first half of 2011.

My first taste of the classical music offerings will be tomorrow evening (Jan. 26) with the Hungarian National Orchestra playing Liszt’s Hungarian Coronation Mass and Bartok’s Concerto for orchestra. Speaking at a press conference in Brussels today, conductor Zoltan Kocsis said that he had chosen these two particular Hungarian composers because Liszt is generally considered a Romantic composer and Bartok a radical modernist. And yet, to Kocsis’s mind, the opposite is almost the case as Liszt broke new ground and Bartok’s music includes many “classical phenomenons”.

Kocsis went on to describe the inventive and fantastic way in which Liszt brought Hungarian rhythm and religious music together in the Coronation Mass and how, in general, Liszt is a much more important composer than he is often given credit for. “Liszt is definitely a first-rate composer,” Kocsis said.

As for Bartok’s Concerto for orchestra, Kocsis highlighted two interesting features in the five-movement symphony, firstly the play between pairs and later trios of instruments, and then the homesickness of Bartok’s exile in the US evoked in the third and later movements. “You can hear how he desired to back to Hungary, which he wasn’t able to do,” Kocsis said.

An inspiring introduction by the conductor. Can’t wait to hear his orchestra.

Kicking off 2011 with Chinese Culture

Happy New Year. 

2011 got off to a great start as I was on tour in China with the Bruocsella Symphony Orchestra. As well as performing concerts in Shanghai and towns in the surrounding provinces (Yixing, Jiaxing, Nanjing and Suzhou), we also had plenty of time for sightseeing. 

The cultural highlights for me were the Suzhou Museum (built by architect I. M. Pei), the Shanghai Museum and Shanghai’s Moganshan Arts District. The buildings were amazing in themselves and the exhibits/artworks had me spellbound, in particular the bronzes, ceramics and jade carvings.

I hope to have an article or two published in the coming months based on my trip – as soon as that hope becomes reality, I’ll post the links on this blog. In the meantime, you can always read published articles about my trip to China last year by clicking here (The Independent) and here (The Bulletin).

Here’s wishing you a year full of inspiring cultural discoveries.

EU Prize for Literature: reaching out for more readers

I have to admit that it’s a slightly odd feeling to look down a list of literary prize-winners and not recognise a single author, but in this case that’s kind of the point.

The prize I’m talking about is the European Union Prize for Literature, the 2010 winners of which received their awards just a few days ago. The aim of the competition is to throw the spotlight on new and emerging authors and to increase awareness of writers outside their home country. This year’s winners come from 11 countries including Denmark, Romania and Slovenia.

The idea of multiple winners is to ensure, in good old EU style, that during a three-year period there will be one winner from each of the 35 countries taking part*. Twelve nations participated in 2009, 11 this year and the remaining 12 will do so next year. It’s a European project: no one expected it to be straightforward.

But for all its cumbersome rules, not to mention the number of other literary prizes that already exist, I think this one probably does have a place. The EU is a region with 23 official languages, three different alphabets and about 60 regional and minority languages. If this competition allows an author to reach a wider readership, be translated into a more widely spoken language and be read beyond the book’s home base, then it gets a thumbs-up from me. Opening one’s eyes to different cultures and different perspectives has to be something to be encouraged.

As the EU’s Culture Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou says, “Each of us has only one life, but literature opens up many different lives to us, and access to the work of foreign authors opens up entirely new worlds.”

* The participating countries are the 27 that form the EU, the 3 EEA countries Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, the EU candidate countries Turkey, Croatia, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, as well as Serbia and Montenegro. 

Cafe de los maestros: Bozar transformed for tango spectacle

Last night the Bozar’s concert hall, renowned as a top classical music venue, transformed itself into Buenos Aires of the 1940s and 1950s for the final stop of the Cafe de los maestros tango orchestra’s European tour.

Tango legends, who first performed in the music’s heyday in Buenos Aires more than a half century ago, took to the stage and proved that those in their seventies, eighties or even nineties still have the energy to put on a dazzling show. Then again, these were the same musicians who starred in Gustavo Santaolalla’s 2008 documentary film ‘Café de los Maestros.’ Film, international travel, concert tours – who said life slows down at a certain age?

Never before have I seen or heard so much joy during a performance in the Bozar concert hall. The showmanship of one of the pianists, who finished his pieces with flamboyant flourishes and winked at the audience as if to share a joke, caused the house to burst out with laughter. World champion tango dancers Daniel Nacucchio and Cristina Sosa added a ‘wow’ effect, as they impressed with their passionate dancing and daring kicks. And as soloist Juan Carlos Godoy shuffled onto stage, he had won over the audience’s hearts before he even started to sing.

The orchestral numbers were interspersed with songs by Godoy and Nina Miranda, the only female musician in the group, as well as solos to show off the bandoneón, guitar and double bass. The violin was showcased by the leader of the ensemble, Fernando Suárez Pas, who used to play in Astor Piazzolla’s New Tango Quintet.

As an Argentinian sitting next to me in the Bozar last night said, part of the wonder of the live performance was seeing these tango musicians playing the music of their youth for what might be one of the last times. An inspiring evening. Now, where was the number for that tango dance course again?

Concertgebouworkest gets top marks; audience falls to bottom of class

The Concertgebouworkest played its opening concert as orchestra-in-residence at the Bozar in Brussels on Friday. The music was fabulous. If only the same could have been said of the audience.

As Bernard Haitink brought his baton down on the final chord of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7, some smart alec shouted out ‘bravo’ the instant the chord was struck and completely ruined the atmosphere. Instead of being able to savour the last note resonating around the concert hall and maybe even a fraction of silence to take everything in, the moment was spoiled by someone seeming to play a game of ‘who can shout first and loudest?’

Haitink had already expressed his displeasure with the audience when between the second and third movements there had been so much coughing and talking that the Dutchman used his baton to ask for silence. And when he didn’t immediately get it, he simply put his baton down and refused to start the third movement until he had the requisite silence. When the audience (well, one of its members at any rate) interrupted the ending too, I got the distinct impression from the tightening of his shoulders, his look to the ground and only the briefest of bows towards the audience that he wasn’t too impressed either. Just my impression, and possibly coloured by own reaction, but that’s the message that came across to me.

But enough of audience etiquette (or the lack of it). I must include a note about the music too. The highlight of the concert for me was Beethoven’s piano concerto No. 3, played by Till Fellner. I hadn’t expected it to be, not knowing the concerto or the pianist, but I was completely blown away. It was like listening to a fascinating conversation between the soloist and the orchestra and between the different sections of the orchestra. I was being told a story in the most beautiful tones, colours and dynamics and found myself physically moved by the music. The Bruckner also had wonderful moments from the opening of magical strings to a mighty cymbal clash, not to mention all the fantastic lines for the cellos and French horns. But it didn’t move me in the same way as the Beethoven. That said, that may well have been down to some audience members’ behaviour.

The Concertgebouworkest’s residency at the Bozar is for three seasons. The next concert is on April 8 with a programme of Messiaen’s Les offrandes oubliées, Franck’s Symphony in D and Dutilleux’s Tout un monde lointain. After that, there will be more concerts in the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons. Let’s hope the audience doesn’t let the performance down next time.