TANABATA concert in Art Museum "Twinkling of Baroque, Vol.2" Held at Hiratsuka Art Museum on July 6, 2005 by Choppara san |
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TANABATA Festival(Vega Festival) in Sendai held around July 7th in Chinese calendar is well-known across Japan. And our town Hiratsuka-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture also has TANABATA festival every year for a few days around July 7th. There are many people dressed in Yukata(Summer kimono) each day since the town centering around the shopping district near the train station are decorated with bamboos. Well children are only focusing more on stands filling the street than such decorations though. It looks like the festival this year was pretty successful even though they had less people sometimes on a rainy day. |
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I went to the baroque concert at "City Museum of Art" projected as the TANABATA eve fest with my fourth grade daughter due in part to the reasonable ticket price like 1,000 yen. Hiratsuka Art Museum is small yet pretty outstanding building. The entrance and the big exhibition hall are connected by the hog-backed hall. It looks like Musée d'Orsay in Paris. And I thought the having a concert in this hall is pretty fancy. I got so excited to just imagine to listen to music sounding in the space surrounded by cold-textured marbles. |
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Orchestra was consisting of 10 something string players including cembalo player and 5 solo players like flute or oboe player in order. I would like to make my remarks on music according to the program in order on that day. The first number was "Canon by Pachelbel". This is well-known number with a repeat of the tender ripple-like melody. However to my surprise the sound came out from the side-speakers. The echo in the hall was dead since the sounds that a microphone was picking up were standing out. The start-up of the orchestra was not so good, so "Canon" sounded pretty dull. The second number was "Concerto G Minor ‘La Notte'" by Vivaldi played by Mr. Hiroaki Kanda, the doyen of flute in NHK Orchestra. And motif of a piece of music sounded disparate and disquieting far from bright "Spring" filled with joys. The thick tone of flute turned into the deep sigh of ghost and blew through the gloomy tunnel. The next number was "Oboe Concerto 3 In Gm" by Handel played by Mr. Katsuya Watanabe, the doyen in Berlin Germany Opera Orchestra. The musical performance was unifying and leading the rest of the orchestra in perfect coordination. The encompassing and powerful yet soft tone was so beautiful. I enjoyed the elegant and relaxed performance very much. The condition of orchestra seemed completely well-regulated. Concerto in G major (Va, Pf) by Telemann played by local inhabitant, Ms. Yuki Momotake. I found the new charm of the instrument, viola, which expresses the feeling well. BWV.1060R by J.S. Bach. I feel the attraction of Bach music is clearly different from other baroque composers. Because his music is not just a paean to God but also filled with deep insight and abundant affection toward the little creatures awing God. The conversation between the concert masters, Mr. Masayuki Kino and Mr. Watanabe, was spectacular and sometimes comical. |
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The first number after a break was the well-known number of Corelli, "Concerto grosso in G minor, op.6-8 : (Fatto per La notte di Natale)". Cello sound stretched out to nooks of the vertically elongated hall and led the orchestra. As if the sound were celebrating the Nativity and praying for peace, it faded away very peacefully. Well. Is it finished? The concert master and the Cello player stood up exchanging smiles with each other. After a short while the applause rippled through the hall. The last number was Die Brandenburgische Konzerte BWV1046 Nr.1 F-dur BWV1046 by J.S. Bach. They say this number played with solo instruments such as violin, flute, oboe and trumpet is very famous for a trumpet teaser and rarely performed. I think they gave us a very valuable program that night with Kenji Tamiya, the former doyen of Berlin Germany Opera Orchestra. I felt that the beautiful sum of 4 solo instrument players was filling the concert hall with "joy of sound". For encore, Mr. Watanabe took a microphone and amusingly introducing CDs of those soloists along with the number introduction. I thought the classical musicians need to do something about marketing as well these days. Thanks to Mr. Watanabe, there was this lady who was screaming "I want a CD of a person who was just talking!" to the sales staffs. As for me, I also bought a Mr. Watanabe's CD with his signature and even shook hands with him. |
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Although I should not complain about the acoustic sound since that hall isn't a musical hall, it is a pity that I couldn't focus on listening until I got used to the speakers there actually. But I think there is still a way out for the better sound in that hall. Anyway the performance was by well-qualified artists and I could enjoy the musical performance itself a lot. I never thought I could spend a night luxuriously this much in such a local place. I left the hall with thinking of these things under the twinkling stars. |