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http://www.accordions.com/news.aspx?d=26-Aug-2016&lang=ru&s=12163
http://www.accordions.com/news.aspx?d=26-Aug-2016&lang=ru&s=12163
26-Aug-2016
by Harley Jones
|
 Published by Chicago Tribune, 20 August 2016, by Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune critic.Bizet's "Carmen" has inspired uncounted interpretations, revisions and reinventions, but none quite like the one that played Bennett Gordon Hall at the Ravinia Festival on Friday evening. To say that Ksenija Sidorova reconceived the landmark opera on deeply personal and thoroughly idiosyncratic terms would be an understatement. For the Latvian accordion virtuoso and her sextet took snippets, themes and turns of phrase from "Carmen" and made something radically new of them. The mere fact that an accordionist was leading the charge signaled unmistakably that whatever happened wasn't exactly going to follow Bizet's script. But the boldness of Sidorova's concept, the thoroughness with which she and her colleagues deconstructed the original and the flights of improvisation that peppered the performance made this a singular experience. Anyone expecting to hear pleasant variations on Bizet's famous themes, in other words, was in for a surprise, considering how far from the original Sidorova and friends ventured. "Don't follow the (printed) program," she warned the audience, which proved to be very good advice in light of the freewheeling "Carmen" fantasy she was about to launch. "It's not a legal document." If it had been, Sidorova might have faced statutory problems, for this performance took "Carmen" in multiple directions that no published materials could have adequately foretold: Classical, gypsy, world music, jazz and other idioms converged in Sidorova's ultra-eclectic "Carmen." Her accordion, of course, was positioned at the center of the instrumental sound. But for all of her obviously fluid technique, that's not what stood out. Instead, it was the musicianship of her playing that left the deepest impression during her Ravinia debut. Rare is the virtuoso of any instrument who will be bold enough to play extended passages of simple, single-note melody lines. The way Sidorova shaped her phrases, toyed with her tempos and shaded her tone colors made even the most understated gestures satisfying to hear. Her colleagues followed her lead, valuing musical expression over technical ostentation. And yet there were ample fireworks on display. Reentko Dirks' flamenco guitar solos emphasized the nobility of the form via taut rhythms and dramatic gestures. Itamar Doari's hand-held percussion invoked methods unique to him, the velocity of his finger work and clarity of his articulation quite something to behold. Add to this Claudio Constantini's wholly elegant playing on piano and bandoneon, Alejandro Loguercio's sweeping lines on violin and the warmly resonant low notes of bassist Gonzalo Teppa (a last-minute substitute for Roberto Koch), and you had "Carmen" as Bizet surely never envisioned it. In all, a tour de force of imagination, instrumentation and improvisation. Though Sidorova's "Carmen" was the main event, she opened the evening with a solo version of Ernesto Lecuona's "Malaguena," dusting off its cliches with the pervasive musicality of her work. The evening's first of two shows lasted barely an hour, but it contained enough musical ideas to ponder for quite awhile. Still, this performance suggested that Sidorova ought to be heard here in a full-length program, the sooner the better. |