Intimate voices and magical sounds with the Bari International Music Festival. Sherezade Panthaki and Liya Petrova shining “stars” in the Bari night

 
by Enzo Garofalo

For three years a new constellation, continuously renewed, shines in the Bari nights. It is the BIMF – Bari International Music Festival, organized by young musicians, with recurring artists and new arrivals. They managed to create one of the most beautiful chamber music festivals in Italy. I talked about them on the occasion of their debut at the Auditorium Vallisa, on 24, May, and am again focusing on them after the second admirable concert held last night in the baroque church of Santa Teresa dei Maschi, which will be home of the festival until its conclusion next June, 7. The formula is very simple: this festival has all the ingredients to thrill the audience, something that has been regularly happening for the past three years with sold out on every date; musical offerings of great refinement and beauty; young but of recognized talent artists; desire to create a link with the community in which they perform, also by taking internships during the festival period; they live music not simply as a profession but as a moment of joy and art to share with others.

Last night the “voces intimae”, that give the title to the 2014 edition, occurred in all their awesomeness with a selection of highly emotionally involving pieces, as always presented by Stefania Gianfrancesco, the Management director of the Festival. The concert started with four famous lieder by Richard Strauss (Ständchen, Morgen, Die Nacht, Amor) sung by the soprano Sherezade Panthaki, we have already heard during the opening concert. Despite the different acoustic environment, in some ways more ”difficult” given the redundancy of sound fortunately mitigated by the presence of the public, the artist has confirmed her excellent quality: soft roundness and clarity of sound, homogeneity in the registry, secure and resonant top notes, elegant phrasing, perfect pitch and clear and sculpted pronunciation.

The lieder by Strauss are part of a long series of compositions based on poetic texts of evocative beauty, in which the composer is able to delineate the intimate imaginary as effectively as he did in his most complex compositions. Sherezade Panthaki performed with a greatly expressive empathy, although the result can be further refined by subtracting a little “lulling sweetness” in favor of a more austere tone, more consistent with the romanticism of Strauss. The accompaniment for piano solo was entrusted to the skilful hands of Australian pianist David Fung who is also the Artistic director of the Festival. For three years Fung has been being a guarantee of artistic quality, profuse in his personal performances as well as in the choice of artists and programs that animate this Festival. He performed the lieder by Strauss with sensitive touch and elegance, rendering the atmosphere sometimes rarefied sometimes passionate of this extraordinary musical poems.

No texts to be recited, but only one vowel to modulate on the notes of a haunting melody, Vocalise, written by Sergei Rachmaninoff in 1912 and dedicated to Antonina Nezhdanova, a great coloratura soprano of that time. An exaltation of the beauty of the human voice that found in Sherezade Panthaki the perfect interpreter, as well as excellent and carefully-gauged was the piano accompaniment entrusted to Fernando Altamura, who is also the Executive director of the Festival. The dreamy lyricism of the piece has captivated the audience transporting it into an ethereal dimension, in which everyone will certainly have heard the echo of their own “voces intimae.” After all, the music is just that, a means to get in touch with our inner world even before with the author’s.

Even more rarefied the atmosphere has become with the song Spigel im Spiegel (Mirror in the Mirror) for violin and piano by the famous Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, a rare example of a contemporary author whose deep musical knowledge is at the service of a personal and absolutely original aesthetic. Eschewing any form of convoluted language, he preferred to move in the direction of a simplicity full of emotions and meanings, as in this extraordinary “portrait” of musical infinity, in which sounds and chords are repeated as the reflection of a mirror into another mirror, giving the feeling that the music could go on forever. The performance was an opportunity to discover the Bulgarian Liya Petrova, who brought the “voice” of her violin up to unusual beauty, showing absolute control of the instrument in a piece that demands the maximum pitch and expression, both perfectly guaranteed. Impeccable understanding with the pianist Fernando Altamura, which gave further evidence of his good qualities as a performer.

We found Liya Petrova also playing the last piece of the program, the long and complex Quartet in D minor, Op 56 , Voces Intimae, by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, in which the violinist showed an expressive force and an absolutely stunning temperament. She performed the piece along with three other esteemed musicians such as Dennis Kim (violin), Molly Carr (viola), and Jonah Kim (cello) . The group has achieved an excellent accord that has allowed us to catch all the subtle nuances of this piece, including those three minor chords – named “voces intimae” by the author –, designed to reveal a small fragment of Sibelius’ inner world.

Upcoming concerts: May 31 , June 4 , June 7 , Church of Santa Teresa dei Maschi (4, via Lamberti , Bari Vecchia, nearby the Cathedral)