The beguiling Dances of Gal`anta are arrangements of existing material that composer Zoltan Kodaly may have encountered as a child in the Hungarian town of Gal`anta ( today Slovakia). One is tempted to say that he simply took the folk music and put it into a fancy concert-hall dress. But this would be to minimise his genius as an orchestrator.
In 1933, when commissioned to create a work for the 80th anniversary of the Budapest Philharmonic Society, Kodaly took these specific melodies from a volume of Hungarian dances published in Vienna a century earlier.
The structure consists of a three-part lass`u (the orchestral introduction, the clarinet’s cadenza and the luscious subsequent andante maestoso section) followed by a friss that begins allegro moderato and then erupts into four fast dances, separated by brief references to the andante maestoso.
Conductor Steven Hillinger spun gold leading the North Sydney Symphony Orchestra into a spellbinding performance with clarity and verve.
The second tier of the performance was the Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquin Rodrigo performed by guitarist extraordinaire, Vladimir Gorbach, renowned for his dazzling virtuosity and musicality. He certainly made his presence felt. His international career gained momentum after he was selected as a soloist for the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation’s Live Music Now program in Germany. His debut at Carnagie Hall in 2013 was inspirational as was his interplay here with the NSSO.
He combined technical brilliance with a deeply expressive sound, a blend of lyricism, precision and poetic intensity, notwithstanding his profound connection to the Spanish repertoire.
Joaquin Rodrig’s Concierto de Aranjuez captures the evocative colours of Spain with a sense of timeless grace, romanticism rich with courtly elegance and Andalusian flair. The concerto is structured in three movements:
I. Allegro con spirito – rhythmically bright, it brims with vitality and Spanish dance rhythms. The guitar delicately trading musical ideas with the orchestra in a sonic weave.
II. Adagio – opens with an unforgettable English horn melody, which the guitar soon takes up with heartfelt intimacy.
III. Allegro gentile – light and gracefully, the final movement returns to a more classical spirit. The music dances foreword with elegance and charm.
Interestingly, despite the prominence of the soloists guitar, Rodrigo did not play the instrument himself. He wrote the concerto through dictation and meticulous collaboration between the intimacy of the guitar and the fuller timbers of the orchestra.
The concert finished with Pyotr ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.2 in C minor, op.17. He earned praise from his peers for this symphony’s bold use of Ukrainian folk songs. It is a revered, most often performed and under the baton of indomitable Steven Hillinger and the North Sydney Symphony Orchestra brought the house down with rapturous applause.
The concert took place on Sunday 27th July at 2.30pm at the Smith Auditorium, Shore School, North Sydney.
