The evening began with a very sweet presentation by harp students of Mariana Schwartzbart (Jerusalem Academy of Music, Israel Conseratory - Tel Aviv, Beer-Sheva Conservatory). They set up two harp quartets in the lobby of the concert hall and gathered quite a crowd. The students seemed really well prepared and very excited to play, though the audience was a bit unruly (it seemed like there were many proud aunts and parents loudly discussing just how proud they were).
Concerto in A minor for 4 harpsichords – JS Bach
For the first half of the Gala Concert, all twenty contestants were made to sit in an area behind and above the stage, facing the audience. I'm happy to report that they were all very well behaved, despite having to find a lady-like way to climb over seats in skirts to get to a higher bench once they discovered that theirs was wobbly. They didn’t even slouch!
The concert began with several speeches commemorating 50 years of the Israel Harp Competition, including a pre-recorded one from Zubin Mehta. Then the orchestra played the Israeli national anthem. Truly, I have to say that it is the most beautiful national anthem I have heard. The melody is very simple, yet the harmonization of it has dissonant suspensions and beautiful Fauréan cadences. Also we just discovered that it is based on the folk melody that Smetana used in The Moldau!
Then we heard a speech from Shimon Perez, the President of Israel. He was very presidential indeed. He even quoted Psalms and talked about King David.
Shimon Perez, President of Israel (red harpist, fifth from the left, El)
It was very touching and exciting to see a harp event be so politicized, in the good sense of the term. After all, does anyone imagine Barak Obama showing up at Bloomington, or an even less likely picture: Sarkozy at Laskine?!
As for the concert itself, the program was ambitious:
Gwyneth Wentink, Julie Bunzel, Julia Rovinsky, Natalie Tal Glaser
Concerto for Harp and Orchestra, Aviv – Haim Permont
Sivan Magen
Concerto in E flat Major K365 for 2 pianos – WA Mozart
Marie-Pierre Langlamet, Isabelle Moretti
Intermission
Concerto in C Major – FA Boieldieu
Alice Giles
Danses sacrée et profane – C Debussy
Naoko Yoshino
Concerto in C minor – H Renié
Letizia Belmondo
I really enjoyed the Aviv harp concerto (actually, a shortened version of a previously written harp concerto) created especially for the occasion - just good, lyrical, un-obnoxious contemporary music. And Sivan Magen is a beautiful player, I had never heard him live (other than those amazing youtube videos!), and I’m glad I have. Being part of a harp duet, I am always especially attentive to arrangements of things for two harps. Hearing Marie-Pierre Langlamet’s work on the Mozart was very satisfying. I just can’t wait until we have a chance to play something like this! Moretti and Langlamet play very well together, especially since their conception of the character seemed to be naturally the same. Also, they have a very similar technique at the harp, which gave a sense of unity to the duo. But what I loved the most about their performance was that they were not afraid! Everyone knows that classical music, especially Mozart, is very difficult to play on the harp. In consequence, I think everyone is a bit fearful of it somewhere deep down inside. It was so refreshing to see two harpists bring out the humorous and lyrical side of Mozart’s music instead of being fixated on clarity and fast trills. Also, on a side note, Marie-Pierre Langlamet won the crazy shoes award for the night – extremely strappy black heels. Sadly, she had already changed out of them at the reception so I could not photograph this feat of pedal-wear for you, sorry.
In the second half, I was particularly impressed with the conductor, Nir Cabaretti, and his ability to bring out something I had never heard before in the Debussy Dances. He managed to keep the phrases of the danse profane very long and with almost no breaks between them. The consequence was, that it actually sounded like a dance, a waltz, because of the continuity. It was certainly different from many interpretations out there. And I appreciated how serene Naoko Yoshino’s playing was. She seemed to communicate fully with the conductor and the orchestra (the Israel Philharmonic) in a sort of generous partnership, rather than being a tyrannical soloist (or being dragged along by a tyrannical conductor).
After the concert (22:30…), a reception was set up in the lobby. There were speeches from the mayor of Tel Aviv, various competition chair people, and Victor Salvi.
To conclude, an artistic photo entitled: The shutter button on my camera is unpredictable.
And now, the photo I was actually trying to take, entitled: Moretti says “courage!”. This photo I am specifically posting for all of the contestants to see, because as El puts it “we will need all the courage we can get.”
Isabelle Moretti, Lauyee, Gwenllian, Meredith, El
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