Music at Paxton: The Katona Twins
27/07/23
Peter and Zoltan Katona, guitar
Hungarian guitar duo, the Katona Twins, have been critically acclaimed on their world-wide appearances. The full house which greets them at Paxton obviously includes some long-time fans judging from the interest in the CD stall. Their versatility in all styles of guitar playing and their easy-going personalities attract many new admirers by the end of the evening.
They begin with a ‘Chaconne’ by Handel, originally written for the harpsichord, and, like many of their pieces, arranged for two guitars by Peter Katona. Here they share the notes between their instruments, while in the more ambitious second piece ‘Tarrega for Two’, Peter takes three of Spanish composer, Tarrega’s pieces for classical guitar and gives them a modern twist. Zoltan plays in Spanish style while Peter plays the contrasting, sometimes discordant, modern part, often with percussive effects. It turns out that the familiar Nokia ringtone was developed from a piece by Tarrega, and a mobile phone duly starts their version of ‘Alhambra Variation.’ Later in the programme two piano works by Albeniz are arranged by Peter, with ‘Asturias’ played in a full-blown flamenco style, with castanet sounds on the wood. This was my personal favourite in the programme.
Two works by Piazzola, explore the sounds of the tango, including one of the composer’s ‘Four Seasons of Buenos Aires,’ a Southern Hemisphere take on Vivaldi’s idea. Romani guitarist Django Reinhart’s pieces, ‘Nuages’ and ‘Minor Swing’ are given an authentic Hot Club of Paris presentation which provides a foot-tapping end to the first half of the programme.
Peter’s skills as an arranger are on show in virtually every work tonight, and his composing talents get a full airing after the interval when the duo play ‘Scandal’ from his ‘Karamazov Suite.’ This is the longest work in the programme, and despite any misgivings that a work based on Dostoyevsky’s novel might be hard going, Peter’s introduction mean that the narrative is easy to follow. The music is well-written to show off the players’ techniques, sometimes playing separately, at others moving the music from one instrument to another.
A recent piano piece is their tribute to Scotland, as well as reminding us of the anti-nuclear inspiration for Peter Maxwell Davies ‘A Farewell to Stromness.’ They give it a delicate treatment with a beautiful quiet ending. A recent concert trip took them to Key West, which provided their inspiration for the ‘West Side Story’ selection, as Leonard Bernstein used to holiday there, and enjoyed listening to Cuban and Puerto Rican music. The four songs from the poignant ‘Somewhere’ to the fiery ‘America’ allow them to employ a variety of styles and rhythms, with Zoltan’s skill in extracting different percussive tones from the guitar playing a prominent part, especially in ‘Mambo.’
After much appreciative applause, the encore takes us back to the baroque with a piece by Telemann, transformed in Peter Katona’s ‘Metamorphosis of Telemann,’ into a vigorous upbeat version which features a short ‘drum duet,’ with both players knocking on wood.
