MY GYPSY SOUL @ THE GREAT SYNAGOGUE
MY GYPSY SOUL was an exquisite quartet performance of Romani-inspired music. From the start, you knew it was going to be a fun and magical performance when cellist Umberto Clerici tipped his head to his instrument revealing his skull cap with the red-white-green Italian flag on it.
The musicians: Umberto is the Chief Conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Andrew Haveron is the first violinist and concertmaster with the Sydney Symphony. Konstantin Shamray is a renowned pianist much in demand for his fearless command of the keyboard. Stephanie Farrands plays viola with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. They were enjoying themselves, smiling and nodding cheerfully to one another. They were having fun – we were having fun.
The music: Kodály’s Dances of Marosszek opened the evening. In the 1920s the young Kodály went tramping through Transylvania. He used a wax cylinder recorder to capture performances by Hungarian country gypsies and then wrote this energetic piano piece based on his recordings. Next was Brahms’ Piano Quartet No 1. Brahms often travelled to hear gypsy folk music. This quartet’s first three movements have very little gypsy in them but the fourth is brimming with it. It is as if the first three movements are disconnected from the last. The final piece was George Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody, written in 1901 and Enescu’s best known works. This was the perfect ending to a magical evening…pure gypsy. The fast tempo the quartet set maintained the full-range of balance and timbre. Has any quartet ever played this piece so fast? The audience’s standing ovation and calls for ‘more, more’ answered that question.
The Romani: The Romani (Roma, gypsies) originated in the Punjab region of India in probably 500 BC and immigrated in waves to central Europe and Turkey. Many became nomadic entertainers. Because of the distances they travelled, they were influenced by Greek, Arabic, Indian, Persian, Slavic and Spanish musical forms.
The ambience: The Great Synagogue is a good setting for this music – bold lighting, good acoustics, friendly introductions to each piece and a bit of good old Jewish humour. What’s not to love?
The producer: Live At Yours is the brainchild of pianist Vladimir Fanshil and opera singer Eleanor Lyons. It began as a modest project with the couple performing in lounge rooms to audiences of 20 guests and quickly grew to venues such as cafes and art galleries. It has produced events in Bowral, Yass, Cowra, Bathurst, Orange and Queanbeyan. Their next event is ‘Eight Seasons, Vivaldi vs. Piazzolla’, June 27.
Review by Carol Dance