Guitar virtuosos

Recognized and sought after artists on the international guitar scene put on a great show for the Kastav audience, who enjoyed various guitar styles

By: Maša Bogojeva Magzan

This year’s 12th Triglav International Guitar Festival, traditionally held as part of the Kastav Cultural Summer festival, once again presented a varied programme with some of the biggest names in the guitar world. With the exception of the concert entitled “The Greats of Classical Guitar”, reserved for soloists on the acoustic guitar and held in the Church of St. Helena in Kastav, the leitmotif of all the concerts held between 9 and 14 July 2007 was the beautiful outdoor stage on the ruins of the massive 17th Jesuit church at Kastav’s Crekvina.

Recognized and sought after artists put on quite a show for the Kastav audience, who had the opportunity to enjoy various guitar styles. In addition to the two traditional programmes, flamenco and classical guitar, this year’s repertoire also include artists such as the talented and lively Torsten Goods, a young man with an impressive mature performance, who has a fantastic voice to accompany his excellent soul jazz from the 1960s and 1970s. This 26 year old “wonder child” performed fresh reinterpretation of several jazz classics such as I’ve Never Been in Love, Avalon and Equinox, in addition to his own compositions. This concert was well worth attending, as the talented and soloist was not alone on stage, but was accompanied by an excellent band, with Martin Gjakonovski on the bass, Alan Jones on the drums and Olaf Polziehn on keyboards. The pianist himself was a special attraction, with his virtuosity and fantastic improvisations arousing awe, and leaving the audience breathless.

The festival was opened with a performance by singer/songwriter Céline Rudolph. In an intimate atmosphere with Rüdiger Krause on guitar, Martin Gjakonovski on bass and Alan Jones on drums, she performed pieces from her last album entitled “Brazaventure.” In addition to traditional Brazilian songs such as Samba de mi Tierra and Samba em prelúdiom, the French-Brazilian singer performed playful songs in Portuguese, English and French, all the while playing with the rhythmic qualities of language and styles.

The festival programme continued with a double concert by the flamenco group “Miguel Sotelo y Grupo”. Due to the popularity of this genre, on the two concert evenings, instead of the usual dancers, the organizers gave the audience a real show with Jorge San Telmo, dancers whose speed and powerful galloping footsteps won the crowd over. Unlike the gracious female movements to the flamenco rhythms that the audience has seen in previous years, this male quartet from Andalusia showed a very different, more “macho” version of flamenco, charged with power and masculine expression.

Alvaro Pierri, one of the best guitarists of our time and who has been compared to the guitar greats such as Andrés Segovia, John Williams or Julian Bream, performed in the final concert of the festival entitled “The Greats of Classical Guitar”. The distinctiveness of this concert was its spontaneity as no printed programme was made up in advance, leaving the repertoire up to the mood and inspiration of the soloists themselves. Given his musical knowledge, Pierri’s introductory mini-lectures before each piece were both interesting and instructive. Like most of the greats, Alvaro Pierri succeeded in capturing the public’s attention with the very first notes, and in complete silence, performed his repertoire from Renaissance ricercaro to the modern compositions of Ginastera and Ponce. Not only does Pierri fundamentally comprehend what he is playing, but his interpretations are stylistically convincing. Due to his rich musical experience and his attitude towards music, he has a distinctive energy that melds with the instrument and is woven through all the segments of the music, without any excessive emphasis in gesture or in sound. This concert by this true guitar great, whose performances reflect his deep plunge into the musical structure, analytical interpretation of the score and powerful personality integrated into each of his pieces, ended this year’s 12^th annual International Guitar Festival in Kastav.