This concert was marketed as Virtuose de la Harpe Xavier de Maistre, with the subtitle From Rome To Argentina tacked on like an afterthought. To all intents and purposes, French harpist Xavier de Maistre, the first Frenchman to join the Vienna Philharmonic’s ranks, was a globally recognised name and the evening’s legitimate selling point. De Maistre had given a very successful solo recital at Victoria Concert Hall three days earlier, and further fuelled his legend by giving the Singapore premiere of Argentine Alberto Ginastera’s Harp Concerto with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. However, that was only part of the story.
Other than his Danzas Argentinas and a sonata beloved by pianists, Ginastera’s music is hardly heard or performed in Singapore. The elements that made those piano works very popular were clearly evident in the Harp Concerto as well. Grinding dissonances, driving rhythms, insistent ostinatos and percussive violence were par for the course in the opening movement’s malambo dance. No way was de Maistre going to stand down seven very busy percussionists! So this was a case of “if you can’t beat them, join them”, the resonantly percussive timbre of harp’s repeated chords being very audible above the throng. When it came to expressive and lyrical passages, the orchestration thinned accordingly for his sensuous playing to be heard.
The slow movement’s spectral quality and ensuing cadenza, titled Liberamente capriccioso for good measure, defined the concerto’s expressive heart. One could hear a pin drop, as well as light brushes over the strings, which ushered in sweeping glissandi leading into the finale’s frenetic pentatonic dance, another belligerent malambo. De Maistre’s mastery was breathtaking, the rapturous applause rewarded with two encores previously heard in his recital: Felix Godefroid’s Carnival of Venice and Francisco Tarrega’s Recuerdos de la Alhambra.
The welcome harp diversion was balanced by two thirds of Ottorino Respighi’s Roman trilogy, scored for huge orchestra. Pierre Bleuse, Music Director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, mustered his forces well to deliver the veritable aural spectacle. The Fountains of Rome opened the concert to rapt stillness of dawn over the Valle Giulia, then rising like an arch-like edifice in development. The massive crescendo encompassed the French horn calls of Triton’s conch and the climactic majesty of Neptune on the Trevi Fountain (cue brass and mighty pipe organ into the heady mix). The gentle decrescendo for The Fountain of the Villa Medici at Sunset was the perfect musical representation of recession.
Respighi’s famously sumptuous orchestration and tolerance for decibel excesses came to fruition in Feste Romane (Roman Festivals), concluding the evening’s sonic feast. For Circenses, three offstage trumpets (placed in the choir gallery) led the way for gore and mayhem in the Circus Maximus. For all its bluster, this was still a very nuanced performance. Contrast the procession of penitent pilgrims of Il Giubiloso – fine cor anglais and viola solos heard – with the celebration of L’Ottobrata where solo French horn and mandolin stood out. No detail was left to chance. And what could eclipse the orgy of sound that was La Befana, a finale that had literally everything and the kitchen sink? Raucous songs and rude dances sat cheek by jowl, with intoxicated carousing and revelry to the very final bar. Some decry Respighi’s most vulgar work, but when performances boil over without apology as this one did, nobody really cares.
