Respighi: Roman Trilogy (Philharmonia / Valcuha)

16th April, 2015
Royal Festival Hall, London, United Kingdom

OLGA NEUWIRTH Un posto nell'acqua
OLGA NEUWIRTH locus . . . doublure. . . solus

Mei Yi Foo (piano)
Philharmonia Orchestra
Clement Power (conductor)

RESPIGHI Fontane di Roma
DE FALLA Nights in the Gardens of Spain
RESPIGHI Feste romane
RESPIGHI Pini di Roma

Ingrid Fliter (piano)
Philharmonia Orchestra
Juraj Valčuha (conductor)



I AM DEAF. I think I have just heard all the live music I need for the next 10 years. The evening started with two uncompromising works by Olga Neuwirth, an "Oiseaux exotiques"-esque piano concerto (very colourful and dynamic stuff), and an ensemble work that challenges every auditory sense one has. I cannot describe it fully, but it started off with a "Pli selon Pli"-esque bang, full of "atmosphères" sound mass, in microscopic descending figures with some strings in natural harmonics and/or microtones lurking in the background perpetually, with parts for electric guitar and amplified electric celesta (?). It was quite uncomfortable to listen to after a bit, but it was a surreal experience to hear it live. The main event was Respighi's Roman Trilogy performed by Philharmonia conducted by Juraj Valcuha (stepping in for the late Lorin Maazel). Yes, I got a seventh row ticket bang in the middle of the hall seeing the conductor at face level at the last minute. That meant I had 80 people including 11 percussionists, the new RFH organ, multiple on- and off-stage brasses, taped bird songs and a mandolin blasting at full volume about 20 steps away from me at me the whole evening. It was physically painful, but really, what are the chances of hearing "Feste romane" live? The real winner for me this evening, actually, were the serene "Fountains of Rome" and de Falla's "Nights in the Gardens of Spain". I have never ever heard the de Falla this exhilarating. Moreover, you know the soloist totally absorbed the music when you can see her (Ingrid Fliter) banging to the dance rhythms, swinging to the viola groove, playing toccata on the right hand, dueting with the upper strings on the left hand whilst tapping her feet in high heels at the same time. If you think about it, both the Respighi and the de Falla are some sort of musical magic transforming the static to the dynamic. Absolutely breathtaking music through and through. The sheer volume and density of content of the past four hours were overwhelming. I think both my body and mind need to rest for a very long time to recover from all these.



This entry was originally published in my private Instagram account.