Photographic highlights of the Classical
Guitarists Concerts at Bahamas Historical Society and Ocean
Place. Photos: K. Larry Strachan
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Nassau, Bahamas -
Under the patronage
of Governor-General Sir Arthur Foulkes, the Nassau Music Society audience
on Friday night was treated to a true “Guitar Heroes” concert, given
by the utterly charming classical guitar duo Marco Tamayo and Anabel
Montesinos at the Historical Society Museum on Shirley Street. They
played to a full 150-person house, which demonstrated the love that
so many Bahamians have for the instrument.
Marco Tamayo
was born in Cuba, where, having begun to play at three years of age,
he studied first with his father and then with Maestro Leo Brouwer of
the Philharmonic of La Habana among others. He later studied with Joaquin
Clerch at the University of Music in Munich, and with Eliot Fisk at
the Mozarteum University of Arts in Salzburg. Mr. Tamayo went on to
win the Michele Pittaluga International Guitar Competition in Italy
and the Andres Segovia International Guitar Competition in Spain. He
is currently Professor of Classical Guitar at the Mozarteum University
of Arts in Salzburg.
Anabel Montesinos
won the Francisco Tarrega International Competition in Spain as well
as the Michele Pittaluga International Guitar Competition in Italy.
In fact, Mr. Tamayo met Ms. Montesinos at the competition where, as
a 14-year-old prodigy, Ms. Montesinos won the junior division first
prize and Mr. Tamayo won the adult division first prize! Knowing a good
thing when he saw it, Mr. Tamayo introduced himself to Ms. Montesinos’
mother and married Ms. Montesinos when she came of age. Their beautiful
relationship was evidenced in their playing, as they looked into each
other’s eyes for barely perceptible cues to keep their duets in sync.
In their performances
here, both Tamayo and Montesinos played custom-made Australian Simon
Marty guitars, which feature one-piece (as opposed to sandwiched) wooden
fronts and curved (as opposed to flat) backs. This construction enables
the sound to project extremely well, with microphones neither needed
nor wanted. Of course the fine acoustics of the Historical Society Museum
enhanced the exquisite tone quality of the guitars, making listening
even more pleasurable for the audience.
Mr. Tamayo
and Ms. Montesinos have recorded multiple CDs on the Naxos Classical
label as well as on the Voice of Lyrics label. In fact, one of Ms. Montesinos’
Naxos CDs was chosen by British Airlines for its music programme on
international flights.
This delightful
duo, dressed from turtleneck to toe in black, opened the program with
Concerto BWV 972
in D Major
after A. Vivaldi by J.
S. Bach (1685 – 1750), originally written for organ and cembalo and
transcribed for two guitars by Eliot Fisk. The classical guitar can
easily emulate the sound of a cembalo (a.k.a. harpsichord) because the
strings of a cembalo were plucked by quills, just as the strings of
a classical guitar are plucked by the musician’s fingernails. The
sound of the guitars was delicate and refined on the whole, although
the dynamic range was considerably greater than what I expected.
In the first
Allegro movement, trills embellished the melodic line, again reinforcing
the fact that hearing a classical guitar piece is like hearing a keyboard
piece, with scales, trills, ostinato basses, tremolos, and arpeggios
as well as chordal accompaniments to the melodic line. These artists
are no mere chord strummers; their melodic line technique is as refined
and as difficult to master as that of a concert pianist or violinist.
In fact, Mr. Tamayo confessed to practicing 11 hours per day in order
to achieve professional status. The
Andante movement was touching
in its feeling of antiquity, allowing us to experience first-hand what
it must have felt like to live in the time of Vivaldi and Bach. In the
final
Allegro movement, Mr. Tamayo’s swiftly-moving left-hand
fingers fairly flew as they moved on the neck of the guitar as a pianist
would move on a keyboard, while his right-hand fingers absolutely danced
as they plucked the individual strings.
Anabel Montesinos performing in Nassau in January 2012.
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Next on the
programme was
Prima Sonata, di Centone di sonate by Niccolò
Paganini (1782 – 1840), written for violin and guitar and transcribed
for two guitars by none other than Mr. Tamayo himself. As Mr. Tamayo
said, “More beautiful than one guitar are two guitars!” This work
comprises two parts: the first of great dramatic intensity and volume,
and the second considerably more sprightly, with comical pauses and
changes in tempo and mood. Our two guitarists alternated playing the
melody, going back and forth in a musical conversation. The last section
had a veritable avalanche of scales and slides, and we were off to the
races! This work was as taxing to play as any Paganini piece, with no
quarter given just because it was being played on a guitar and not on
a violin.
The first half
of the concert closed with Ms. Montesinos playing the well-known and
loved
Asturias by Isaac Albéniz (1860 – 1909), a departure
from the printed programme which had promised
Variations Op. 9 on
a Theme of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart by Fernando Sor (1778 – 1839).
Ms. Montesinos’ fast-flying melodic line alternated with sharply punctuating
strums. It was truly amazing to hear both the melody and the accompaniment
being played by one person on one guitar. Part of the drama of the piece
was the insistence of the
ostinato bass note that tethered the
melody. Then suddenly, like a sigh, the song was gone.
During the
interval, I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Judson Eneas of Doctors
Hospital, Founder of The Gentlemen’s Club in Nassau. Dr. Eneas escorted
to the concert 42 of this year’s 53 high school seniors who had been
recommended for the honour of participating in the cultural, educational,
motivational, social, spiritual, and philosophical enrichment activities
sponsored by the club. Dr. Eneas and his youthful charges received a
warm welcome from the Nassau Musical Society, and the young gentlemen
comported themselves well, as future leaders should.
Marco Tamayo Belgrado performed in Nassau at the end of January, 2012
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The opening
portion of the second half of the programme featured Mr. Tamayo, who
also exercised his artistic license by playing three very interesting
and more contemporary songs in place of the listed
Sonatina Meridional
by Mexican composer Manuel María Ponce (1882 – 1948). The first song
was
El Vito by Basque composer José de Azpiazu (1912 – 1986).
This is a lively Andalusian dance with traditional strumming that is
actually supposed to remind us of St. Vitus’ Dance that was rampant
in 14th – 17th century Europe and was later
diagnosed as chorea, a symptom of the nervous system.
Next we heard
Lágrima (
Teardrop) by Spanish composer Francisco Tárrega
(1852 – 1909). Here, rubato and vibrato were employed to evoke the
sweet sadness of the mood, which evolved into wistfulness and finally
acceptance as it faded away. The last selection in this group was another
work by Tárrega,
Recuerdos de la Alhambra (Memories of the Alhambra),
a tremolo study that was arranged for the soundtrack of the film
The Killing Fields. As in all their offerings, our guest artists’
remarkable independence of fingers and mandolin-like tremolo plucking
along with their dramatically soulful expressivity were one again in
evidence in this song as performed by Mr. Tamayo.
The remainder
of the programme was devoted to the musical collaboration of Duo Tamayo
Montesinos, starting with a remarkably entertaining transcription of
three Beatles songs by Leo Brouwer. The first offering was
Fool on
the Hill, a graceful piece with elaborate and complex harmonies,
followed in succession by
She’s Leaving Home, an expressively
poignant rendition replete with pauses and rubato to bring out the harmonic
shifts, and finally
Penny Lane, a favorite played with sprightly
insouciance, a boldness of tone, and rhythmic and melodic riffs by Ms.
Montesinos.
Next we heard
Los Ojos de Pepa (The Eyes of Pepa), a contradanza from Spanish
colonial Cuba by Cuban composer Manuel Saumell (1818 – 1870). Saumell’s
contradanzas were written in two parts: “a
prima in classical
style, followed by a
segunda in creolized Cuban folkloric style.”
Last on the
programme was the delightful
La Serenita, which is Ariel’s
Theme from Walt Disney’s
The Little Mermaid, transcribed spicily
by Mr. Tamayo to a salsa beat. He explained that his beautiful wife
as a young girl had been fascinated by Ariel and her song, so this transcription
was truly a gift of love.
Thunderous
applause led to a very amusing encore of
Rondo alla Turca by
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791). Prior to playing this piece,
Mr. Tamayo assured the audience that the performance method they were
about to see was perfectly acceptable, since he and Ms. Montesinos were
a married couple. With that, as Ms. Montesinos remained seated and held
the guitar, Mr. Tamayo proceeded to stand behind her and then envelop
her in his arms so that both could pluck the strings and finger the
notes on the guitar’s neck in tandem. The following link will enable
you to see this extraordinary technique, but the museum’s audience
had the added benefit of seeing Mr. Tamayo not-so-surreptitiously steal
a few kisses from his bride as they played:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=GXJiBVGHU5s&feature=related
If that
grand finale doesn’t convince you that “It’s better in The
Bahamas,” nothing will!