EPO concert review: A fine night of the music of Spain
The Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra took the audience at the Victory Theatre on a delightful musical tour of Spain on Saturday.
Guest artist Angél Romero of the world-famous Romero Guitar Quartet performed the magical second movement of the "Concierto de Aranjuez" and regaled the audience with stories of his father, Celedonio Romero, and of his political and musical past.
Before exiting the stage to a boisterous ovation, the 76-year-old virtuoso performed one of his father’s compositions, "Fantasía."
Local life:These 48 food trucks and restaurants opened in the Evansville area in 2022
As EPO Music Director Roger Kalia told the audience, the first selection was written not by a Spaniard but by a Russian. But that composer, Rimsky-Korsakov, had a long-standing love of Spanish folk tunes which he brought to musical life in "Capriccio Espagnol." That Rimsky-Korsakov was a superb orchestrator was evident in the skillful balancing of sections of the orchestra and the frequent and often virtuosic writing for various instruments.
The smoky, sensuous sound of the English horn (featured throughout the concert) was heard first in this piece, and Bonnie Farr played beautifully all evening.
The music of Rodrigo came next. Interestingly, Angél Romero was a friend of the composer (who died in 1999), who treated the much-younger guitar player as his grandson. Romero played the slow, melancholic second movement of the concerto, and there was just enough mesmerizing orchestral support behind him. His instrument, particularly the lower register, sounded sonorous in the Victory. Romero became visibly moved and emotional as he performed, endearing him and his performance all the more to at least some of us in the audience.
The second half of the concert opened with a performance of "Intermedio" by Gerónimo Giménez, prolific Spanish composer in the late 19th Century. Kalia pointed out that the Spanish dances of that composition nonetheless have a Rossini-like sound, light and buoyant. He was right.
The concert concluded with a suite derived from "The Three-Cornered Hat" of Manuel de Falla, the doyen of 20th Century Spanish composers. The lush, imaginative orchestrations of these dances make great demands of all the instrumentalists. For the entire concert, the percussion section was expanded (I counted four players), and Falla’s score kept all of them busy. There were great moments with the brass choir, too — until the furious finale when, like the fiery conclusion of a flamenco dance, the piece ended with a great decisive stomp.
The music may have stopped, but the enchantment did not.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: EPO concert review: A fine night of the music of Spain
