DAY 4: Tuesday (22 August 2017)
The
ancient viking settlement of Haithabu (now in Hedeby) gets a visit. One of the
most scenic ways is to take the Heim boat from Schleswig's little harbour and a
pleasant 20-minute walk through the woods, on ancient earth-mound ramparts, and
past grazing cattle. The “village” is now “occupied” by unshaven men in viking
outfits, their wives making jewellery, and children busily baking biscuits.
There are no horned headwear in sight. Also visited was the Holm, the old
fishing village on the opposite side of the Schlei fjord, with its quaint
houses and double-doors.
Recital 5 (7.30 pm)
NADEJDA VLAEVA
In
her third visit to Husum, the elegant Bulgarian who now resides in New York has
also heartily embraced the Husum philosophy. She opened with three movements
from Godowsky's Renaissance Suite, and in the case of the wonderful Elegie,
she played the original Rameau Gigue before the same melody is slowed
down in a quite remarkable transformation.
I cannot claim to be enamoured of
Robert Volkmann's busy Fantasie, which eventually putters off quietly,
but am ever receptive to whatever Vladimir Drozdow and Sergei Bortkiewicz have
to offer. Both are Russian contemporaries of Rach, Scriab and Medt, and their
music carries their harmonic imprimatur that we associate as Russian and East
European.
The
Droz pieces are charming little miniatures, including a somewhat clumsy
transcription of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Trepak (not a sniff near
Pletnev), but the Sonata Lacrimosa is a wonderful essay out of the Medt
copybook. I certain hope the highly sympathetic Vlaeva records them. She had
already done the honours for Bortkiewicz's Schumanesque Fantasiestücke
for the Hyperion label, and her playing makes me want to hear that CD again.
This is the Rach you haven't heard before.
From her homeland comes Pantcho
Vladigerov's Spanish-accented Nocturne-Serenade and Toccata, the
latter filled with earthy folk rhythms and drumming, and a hint of boogie
woogie towards its spectacular end.
Vlaeva's
six encores could constitute a half-recital on their own. In tribute to
festival director Peter Froundjian's Armenian heritage, she offered a
bitterweet waltz by Babadjanian (himself soon to lose rarity status), and then
two more Bortkiewicz miniatures. Deodat de Severac's Music Box, a dance
by Argentine Carlos Guastavino and Alfred Grünfeld's transcription of the Die
Fledermaus Waltz complete a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
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| Post concert at the Husumer Brauhaus: Satoru Takaku with Daniel Berman, Nadejda Vlaeva with Peter Froundjian. |
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