Alberto Bachmann, in his classic An Encyclopedia of the Violin (1925), maintains that the success of the Spanish Symphony, Op. 21by Édouard Lalo, lies in the fact that “it offers a display of virtuosity while remaining deeply musical.” This Geneva pedagogue adds precise observations about the version he heard of this work for violin and orchestra, composed in 1874, by its dedicatee, the legendary Pablo de Sarasate: “No other violinist has managed to play it with such prodigious art, combining grace, clear brilliance and disconcerting vitality to such a remarkable degree.”
It is especially revealing to relate Bachmann’s observations with the impressive performance offered by the young violinist María Dueñas (Granada, 22 years old) last Friday the 14th at the Zaragoza Auditorium. A performance part of an international tour with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe (COE) under the direction of Antonio Pappano, which began on the 11th in Valencia and will culminate on the 22nd in the Austrian town of Eisenstadt, after passing through Madrid, Seville, Ferrara and Berlin.
Dueñas imposed his character from the first solo of the cheerful not too much. He did not fail to fantastically accentuate the triplets that run through the entire movement, giving them an unmistakable Spanish flavor. However, his impeccable displays of virtuosity did not overshadow the tenderness of the second theme, where he insisted on the dolceextreme the dynamics and coloring his phrases with exquisite behaviors. At the start of the next movement, jokingevoked the refined glide on the second string that, according to Bachmann, Sarasate used to perform, and flew over the rest with a mixture of fantasy and weightlessness typical of the seguidilla air that permeates the piece.
He dazzled again in the interlude central. His naturalness in singing this evocation of the habanera before the opera Carmen —and surely also inspired by The arrangement by Sebastián Iradier—was simply prodigious. Impeccable in the multiple cascades of notes and bow strokes, he endowed his musical speech with subtle dynamic nuances admirably projected with the Nicolò Gagliano violin he plays, on loan from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben. In the fourth movement, andanteonce again fascinated by his fantasy in phrasing and coloring the sound, but also by his poise in facing the brief and demanding cadence.
However, this unforgettable interpretation of the Spanish Symphony It still lacked the culmination of vitality that the rondo end. It was another dazzling display of virtuosity, with passages of extraordinary clarity and admirable precision, but without ever renouncing to enhance the musicality of the work. We see this in the calmest passage, where Lalo evokes a passionate malagueña and Dueñas expanded his expressive palette until reaching a pianissimo almost whispered in the ear of each viewer.
The immense applause from the public led to two tips. The first was an elegant deference to the orchestra’s excellent strings, with an arrangement of The song of the birdsthe traditional Catalan Christmas carol popularized by Pau Casals as a symbol of peace, although on this occasion with solo violin to which was added a small final solo by Pau Codina from Barcelona, principal cellist of the COE. The second was the Vals sad (1913) by the Hungarian virtuoso Franz von Vecsey, performed without piano accompaniment. A final sample of Dueñas’ rhapsodic style, with his unmistakable way of wriggling with tempo and dynamics, which has so fascinated in his most recent recording for Deutsche Grammophon, where he musically magnifies the devilish whims of Paganini
An important part of the success of the first half of the concert, centered on María Dueñas and the Spanish Symphonywas based on the excellent accompaniment of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, conducted by Antonio Pappano. A luxury orchestra and an exceptional conductor who knew how to enhance the character and multiple musical inflections of Lalo’s work. Pappano himself alluded to this excellence in a video recorded in Bologna during the preparation of this tour, in which he evoked the survival of the spirit of Claudio Abbado in this orchestra founded in 1981, as well as the imprint of Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
The second part of the program was limited to eight Slavic dances op. 46composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1878 and orchestrated by him after the publishing success of the original version for four-hand piano. Common works such as tips, but infrequent as the sole core of a program. In any case, the interpretation was impeccable within a coherent approach, unified by the evocation of Spanish and Czech dances.
Pappano successfully managed the contrasts of the raging initial, alternated melancholy and vivacity in the dumka who followed him, and found lightness in the polka. The pastoral and warm character of the neighborly was convincing, there was no lack of a touch of effectiveness in the frenetic jumpy in A major, and the rustic elegance of the following was underlined neighborly. To the seventh dance, another jumpy but in C minor, it lacked theatricality, and the cycle concluded with an impetuous and well-articulated raging.
Confirmation of the monotony of this program dedicated entirely to the Slavic dances of the first Dvořák came with the tip, introduced by Pappano himself, who addressed the audience in Spanish to thank them for their warm welcome and added: “we have one more dance and it may be the most beautiful of all.” Then the beautiful mazurka in E minor, second of the Slavic dances op. 72composed between 1886 and 1887 by a more mature Dvořák from a symphonic point of view. Without a doubt, it would have been a more attractive cycle due to its more elaborate orchestration and greater musical richness. In any case, this piece offered as a tip was the best of the second part, thanks to the melancholic inflections in the strings and the naturalistic turns in the wood, where Clara Andrada, solo flutist of the ensemble, stood out.