Eleftheria Kotzia
Sunday
26th May 2002
South Hill Park
A review by Jeremy Allison
Eleftheria Kotzia recital
There was a good-sized audience of
about 50 for the Eleftheria Kotzia concert on Sunday 26th
at 2-30, which included 10 children, so the policy of
cheap tickets for under 16s is justified and with a
concert titled 'Song Dance & Tango' there should be
something of interest for everyone.
Eleftheria started with 3 Preludes
from the set of 5 by Maximo Pujol - an Argentinian
guitarist/composer who has come to the fore in the last
10 years with compositions influenced by the traditional
music of his homeland, using enough rhythmic &
harmonic bite to sound fresh. The 1st prelude lacked
structural clarity but by the 3rd Miss Kotzia had warmed
up and was playing with plenty of verve and precision.
This led to 4 pieces by Villa-Lobos
including a recently discovered Valse by the then 17 year
old, a very good piece
exhibiting all the hallmarks of his
later music. I found that I would have liked more
on the beat playing in the Choro no1 and a clearer
rhythmic sense in the Study no 12 ( 9/8 ), but then
Villa-Lobos can be played many ways and still
be enjoyable. Where would the guitar repertoire be
without his contribution, all his pieces are good,
original and well worth playing whereas composers like
Maximo Pujol have their moments, at best only
occasionally.
The 1st half finished with 3 Spring
Songs by Boudounis, written for Eleftheria. I had
reservations about these pieces, the first one starting
with a simple melody accompanied by arpeggios which was
most attractive to listen to but then came rapid runs
& semi strident chords with no apparent
development from the initial music . The 2nd
was more coherent and satisfying while the third piece
was like the first, packing too much material into it's
structure. On reflection structurally the 3 pieces
were akin to a 'Sonata'. I failed to detect any
significant Greek influence in the music (or what I take
to be Greek musical influences) and was overall somewhat
disappointed.
In the 2nd part of the concert we
heard 'Chant' by John Tavener , one of England's leading
composers whose music is invariably influenced
spiritually by the Greek Orthodox Church. 'Chant'
is a simple reflective song accompanied by guitaristic
figurations which intensify somewhat but never to the
point of over-complication and maintain a calm and static
mood - Eleftheria puts this piece over very convincingly.
After this came 'Hommage to Pink Floyd' by Casterede
which started off O K but it seemed to me to become just
a mess of notes - perhaps the title should be 'Hommage to
Fink Ployd'.
Fortunately, this led onto 'Asturias'
- everybody's favourite Albeniz piece which was played
very nicely and at a smart pace.
Lastly, Eleftheria returned to music
by her compatriot Dimitri Fampas (her teacher) playing 3
pieces from his 'Greek Suite no 4 '. I thought this
was the best music of the afternoon - creative, tuneful,
full of twists and turns and in the 'Syrtaki' allowing
Eleftheria to show what a nimble and precise player she
can be. The 3 movements where played with excellent
concentration & clarity.
To sum up, a satisfying concert for the audience. Under the heading 'Dance' I found myself longing for an elegant ‘Minuet' to counteract some the harshness of the music played. Another observation - why can't people who turn up late wait until there is a suitable time to enter? Finally, it was very nice to see Jim & June back in the fold, with Jim chirpy as ever but not, as yet, quite in control of his wheels
Jeremy Allison