Classical Guitar Magazine16

UNLESS the proceedings took place in one of thoseOrwellian communities that sprung up across

England in the wake of the New Towns Act (1946), you’regenerally on safe ground in referring to a location as ‘his-toric’. But the Czech city of Brno can truly justify thelabel. With records dating back to 1091, this medievaladministrative centre of Moravia boasts a wealth ofnoble architecture, each structure with its own story totell. It is without irony that the refurbished 18th centurycivic building where most of this year’s concerts wereheld is referred to as the New City Hall.

But the dominant feature on the Brno skyline isunquestionably the Spilberk Castle, which has occupiedits elevated site since the 13th century. Now it doesn’ttake a world-ranking military strategist to figure out whycastles tend to be built on top of hills, and whoever chosethe location for this one was taking no chances. But itwas worth the arduous climb through endless cobbled

streets to be present for the opening concert by a fla-menco team fronted by guitarist José AntonioRodriguez. It seems I wasn’t alone in feeling this way, theestimated audience figure being in the region of 1200.With a fully-equipped outdoor stage erected at the lowerend of a sloping courtyard, sound and lighting were ofthe highest order. The large video screen, despite prompt-ing the inevitable references to ‘stadium rock’, proved tobe a desirable piece of kit, the camera catching detailsthat couldn’t be seen with the naked eye.

And there was much to see and hear, Rodriguez soonestablishing himself as an outstanding practitioner ofthe modern school. The evening also served as a timelyreminder that audiences and reviewers don’t always per-ceive a performance from the same standpoint. A briefintroductory sequence from dancer Rosario Toledo wasgreeted with hoots of approval, whereas an extended andat times quite brilliant solo from Rodriguez prompted

Scott Tennant, Juan Francisco Ortiz, Andrew York and Juan Falu.

BRNOINTERNATIONAL GUITAR FESTIVAL

9th – 15th August 2009By PAUL FOWLES

Classical Guitar Magazine 17

little more than the customary round of applause. But letit also be emphasised that Toledo went on to emerge asa class act in her own right, the intricate footwork beingcomplemented by that all-important capacity to walkacross the stage in a meaningful way.

Although Andrew York will perhaps always be bestknown for his long and illustrious stint with the LosAngeles Guitar Quartet (LAGQ), let it never be forgottenthat he was active as a solo guitarist and composer both

before and during that celebrated innings. A sell-out con-cert at the New City Hall provided a timely opportunity tocatch up on York’s recent offerings, the Celtic soundscapeof Skerries and the nocturnal imagery of By Candlelight(from the seven-movement Kinderlight) leaving the mostlasting impressions. And it was surely fitting that Yorkshould end the programme with a triumphant restate-ment of the evergreen Sunburst, in much the same way asDave Brubeck still signs off with Take Five.

Jose Antonio Rodriguez.

Milan Tesar.

Anna Slezakova-Zuniga Marcos.

Maria Linnemann and Student.

Ramiro Martinez Pina and Vladislav Blaha.

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To describe Franco-Hispanic guitarist JuanFrancisco Ortiz as one ofthe old school is no insultbut it’s certainly a fact.Fielding a programme subti-tled La Guitarra de GarciaLorca, Ortiz transported usback to those days when theSpanish guitar was per-ceived as an instrument ofquiet contemplation thatenjoyed regular cameo rolesin the nation’s literary her-itage. The performer’s pen-chant for reciting breathySpanish texts over themusic may have been a littletoo theatrical for sometastes, but retro recitals likethis are nonetheless aresource to be treasured,the finest moments of allcoming in the cycle ofPreludios Lorquianos.

By this time, the pro-gramme of lectures andmasterclasses was under-way in an elderly but well-equipped school building. Inaddition to those who hadgiven concerts, this year’steaching staff included gui-tarist and composer MariaLinnemann, whose book oflyrical miniatures accompa-nied me to many a restau-rant gig during the 70s and80s. A tour of the roomsrevealed a noticeably largequota of students fromCosta Rica, whose presencewas to prove significantover the next few days.

Back at the New City Hall, all seats were taken in antic-ipation of the solo recital by Scott Tennant. As a foundermember of the LAGQ who still remains part of the crew,Tennant’s appearance in the same series as York markedsomething of a reunion. Eduardo Sainz de la Maza’s ethe-real and under-rated Campañas de las Alba foundTennant on impressive form, as did the ensuing Weisssonata and a wonderfully evocative setting of WildMountain Thyme presented as an encore. Elsewhere, itgradually emerged that not every scheduled item wasgoing to appear. Programme changes can be an irritantfor the audience and a minefield for reviewers, but I haveto say that Tennant’s decision to put Rodrigo’s incurablylame Pequeña Sevillana out of its misery and replace itwith Torroba’s infinitely more robust Suite Castellanawon my unquestioning support.

An established part of the Brno mix is the GuitarTalent competition for young players, thus providing ashowcase for the more ambitious among the hundred or

so resident students, mostof whom were of school orcollege age. A natural off-shoot of this is the series offree daytime concerts bypast winners from Brno andelsewhere. The 2009 rostersaw highly promisingappearances by OndrejPavlicek, Vit Dvoracek andAnna Slezakova, the latteraugmenting her pro-gramme with the surprisearrival on stage of ZunigaMarcos, a charismaticyoung tenor currentlybased in Switzerland.

By the latter stages ofthis year’s competition, itwas clear that we wereheading for a photo finishbetween Daniel Espinozaand Matteo Guayazán, bothfrom Costa Rica. Despite acool and funky slice ofGentil Montaña fromGuayazán, a jury chaired bycomposer Milan Tesardecided that Espinoza hadgiven a stronger all-roundperformance. He was dulyawarded first prize by a nar-row but decisive margin.The dark horse wasAleksandra Sapok fromPoland who, despite suffer-ing some anxiety in the firstround, came back to takethird prize with a barn-storming Elogio de laDanza.

But perhaps the name toremember most is that ofHedvika Svendova, whosetidy and rhythmic Candombe en mi from the CincoPreludios by Maximo Diego Pujol earned her victory inthe junior section. Having shown no fear of performingbefore the adjudicators, this disarmingly mature 13-year-old was every bit as composed when invited to take a lapof honour in front of some 200 people at the New CityHall. It’s early days, of course, but the future for HedvikaSvendova could prove very interesting.

Now I have to confess that I often spend the first fiveminutes of a concert listening rather than watching. SoMexican guitarist Ramiro Martinez Piña was well into hissecond piece before I realised he was performing on aten-string guitar. A backstage conversation revealed thatPiña’s teacher was an admirer of Narciso Yepes andencouraged his students to uphold the ten-string tradi-tion. The fact that I was genuinely unaware of the addi-tional strings certainly established that Piña’s sound,unlike that of Yepes, matches the balance and clarity ofa conventional instrument. But it also shows how little

Ondrej Pavlicek.

Daniel Espinoza.

Anna Slezakova.

Matteo Guayazan.

Hedvika Svendova.

Vit Dvoracek.

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impact those extra basses actually achieve. Only in thesetting of the popular song Cielito Lindo was the rangeeven close to being fully utilised, the rest of the pro-gramme, including a fluid El Decameron Negro, beingessentially the work of an engaging and smiley guitaristwhose choice of instrument makes little differenceeither way.

Sharing the bill with Piña was an earnest battalionof players operating under the collective title of theSilesian Guitar Octet. Tempting though it is to dismisssuch a configuration as ‘four too many’, it has to beconceded that the tightly-drilled presentation ofGershwin’s An American in Paris, arranged byFranciszek Wieczorek, was a major undertaking thatproved considerably more convincing than might havebeen feared.

A flyer handed to me in the street revealed the intrigu-ing coincidence that this year’s guitar festival over-lapped by two days with the annual Motor Fest Brno.More alarmingly, the final evening’s concert was going toclash with, wait for it, the Miss Grid GP beauty pageant.Could this really be the reason why Juan Falú was theonly performer of the week who didn’t quite attract afull house?

A legendary figure on the folk scene in his nativeArgentina, Falú is a musician whose work illustratesthe lack of boundaries between the classical and folk

guitars in his part of the world. Presenting his ownpieces alongside works by Ariel Ramirez, CarlosGuastavino and Atahualpa Yupanqui (no, it’s not an ana-gram), Falú performed on a nylon-strung instrumentusing a technique that was classical in all but name.Nostalgic in melody and harmony, never too hectic inrhythm or tempo, Falú’s occasional moments of dramararely ventured beyond brief bursts of neatly-choppedchord strums. Exhilarating he may not be, but subtlycompelling he most certainly is, the free and lyrical set-ting of Alfonsina y el Mar served up as the secondencore emerging as a premier-league reworking of atruly great tune.

No festival would be complete without the studentconcert, and this one distinguished itself by fielding nota single player who was attempting repertoire beyondtheir technical means. Finest of all was Lubomir Kopkas,who was unable to give a full daytime concert due to anarm injury but was back in harness on the final afternoonto present the cutting edge soundscape of MelateBinario by Enrico Chapela. A senior student of festivaldirector Vladislav Blaha, it was fitting that the talentedand motivated Kopkas should be chosen to close pro-ceedings.

My sincere thanks to Vladislav and his team for theinvitation, and special thanks to ‘Martina the Highlander’for her time and toil as my translator.

The 10thNewYork Guitar Seminar at Mannes

The Cutting Edge:New Visions in the Art of Guitar

July 7 – 11, 2010Featuring:

David Tanenbaum, David Starobin,John Schneider, Mark Ribot, Marco Cappelli,ClariceAssad, Newman &Oltman Guitar Duo,Atanas Ourkouzounov, StephenAron, Duo 46,

Andrew Lee, among many others.