East Neuk Festival: Latin Journeys
St Monans Kirk - 02/07/2023
Sofia Ros, accordion | Morgan Szymanski, guitar
The last day of the East Neuk Festival kicked off at noon in the dramatically-situated T-shaped 14th-century St Monans Auld Kirk on the Fife Coastal Path, with a programme of Latino-inspired music from two performers: accordionist Sofia Ros and guitarist Morgan Szymanski. With pews in the nave and the two transepts, the audience faced the performers on three sides.
This was a second chance for the festival’s concertgoers to catch Sofia, following her impressive festival debut at Crail Church the previous afternoon and, as previously, she began with Scarlatti, reprising the agile K386 in F minor (Presto) and following it with one of my favourites, the slow and achingly sorrowful K87 in B minor. The phrasing and dynamics were absolutely gorgeous. The Italian composer Vincenzo Tommasini included K87 in the music he adapted for the Ballets Russes’ 1917 production of ‘The Good-Humoured Ladies’ and it is the delicious 4th movement (Andante) in his orchestral suite from the ballet, for any reader seeking a musical treat.
The 5th of Enrique Granados’ 12 Spanish Dances, ‘Andaluza’ was up next, played characterfully, followed by Astor Piazzola’ s devotional ‘Ave Maria’, with lovely use of tenuto to heighten the prayerful ambience. Sofia concluded her set with two pieces originally from Isaac Albéniz’ ‘Chants d’Espagne’, ‘Cordoba’ (with unmistakable Moorish-Andalusian influences) and ‘Asturias’ (originally Leyenda, clearly flamenco-inspired). All were delivered with the same glorious bayan tone and evocative narrative style with flawless phrasing and dynamics. An unalloyed pleasure.
Mexico-born Morgan Szymanski, alumnus of Edinburgh School of Music and the Royal College of Music, is a charismatic international artist with a wide core repertoire but a particular mission of advocacy for the music of Latin America and he gave us an eclectic mix of the finest of such music, entertainingly and informatively introducing each piece in the programme.
His set opened with a piece written for him by Mexican guitarist / composer, Julio César Oliva, in the style of a folk dance, ‘Danzón No.1 – Valle de Bravo’, named for the composer’s hometown, famed as the destination of the annual migration of monarch butterflies. The melody recalled that of the song ‘Tulips from Amsterdam’ with a genial Hispanic flavour. It was followed by a charming Scherzino Mexicano in triple time by Mexican composer Manuel Ponce. Equally charming was Cuban composer Leo Brouwer’s ‘Cancion de Cuna’, an arrangement of a Cuban lullaby, an interesting muting effect achieved with the right palm on the strings below the bridge. ‘Four Venezuelan Waltzes’ by Antonio Lauro followed, the first with a melody like McTell’s ‘Streets of London’, the second slightly Bachian, the third brisk and genial, and the last festive. The music of Brouwer returned with his ‘Danza del Altiplano’, evocative of the dance music of the Argentine/Bolivian border and imitative of Andean melodies, and it was virtuosically played. Prolific Paraguayan composer / arranger Agustin Barrios Mangoré’ s final work ‘Una Limosna por el Amor de Dios’, was inspired by the death of a beggar woman and its dramatic minor-to-major transition represents her entry into Heaven. The set closed with Brazilian Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Preludio No.1, written for Andrés Segovia. Unsurprisingly Bachian at first and imitative of the composer’s instrument, the cello, it also evokes Amazonian birdsong, the main melody in the major making virtuosic demands on the player, all met of course.
This was a super concert in very agreeable surroundings and the applause was very enthusiastic. However, as the next event was starting at 2 pm in Anstruther Town Hall and some of the audience were walking along the Fife Coastal Path, any plans for an encore had to be abandoned. This issue is, perhaps, worthy of consideration when planning the timings for future festivals?