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NEDERLANDSE
VERSIE |
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The
Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium
for Sciences and Arts
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The
official presentation of
"Harmonie du soir"
April
22, 2004
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x
Rene
Jochems xxxxxxxx
Hans Rombaut
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At
7 p.m. the audience was welcomed by Rene Jochems. They were 93 friends,
colleagues, organizers and people from the press to attend this
official presentation.
Hans
Rombaut of The Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Sciences and
Arts expressed his satisfaction that the event could take place
at this prestigeous venue, a palace build in 1772. He explained
proudly the meaning of the ornamentation that matched perfectly
the period of Mertz and Giuliani as well as the Mirecourt and Roudhloff
guitars.
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Odair
Assad admires Raphaella's instrument
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After
a brief biography of Raphaella Smits, Piet Andriessen introduced
her CD 'Harmonie du soir':
Let
me tell you something about this musician by means of two CD's -
the one issued today and the first one Raphaella recorded for the
Accent label about 15 years ago. Both recordings are devoted to
the work of Mauro Giuliani and Johan Kaspar Mertz, who was some
25 years younger. Giuliani, from Naples, was a contemporary of Beethoven,
Schubert and Von Weber. Mertz, from Bratislava, was a contemporary
of Schumann and Mendelssohn. Both worked in Vienna, so Viennese
early-Romanticists.
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Compliments
of Baron Eugene Traey, former president of the Queen Elizabeth Competition
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For
the first CD Raphaella Smits played her beloved 8-string guitar
by John Gilbert, a Rolls-Royce, the Steinway of the guitar: sonorous,
beautifully well-balanced from top to bottom. Quite rightly the
title of the CD is 'The Romantic Guitar'. It's perfect for a dinner
by candle-light or for later. I don't mean to run it down, it's
just a fact that one of the greatest qualities of this recording
is its pure beauty of sound, a richness I would describe as sensual.
Linked to the absolute serenity of Raphaella's playing, the feeling
that 'everything is under control' which you get listening to her,
that even the hardest parts are easy, and all that, combined with
a matchless rhythmic timing, makes this CD, even today 15 years
later, pure joy. A German critic once wrote about a concert: "In
zwei Stücke von Mertz ging es schwelgerisch zu. Gelegentlich
meinte man Chopin auf die gitarre zu hören." ["In two pieces
by Mertz things were sumptuous. From time to time one thought that
one was listening to Chopin on the guitar."] Right, but then again,
Chopin played by someone like Horovitz on a modern grand piano.
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Chatting
away with Paul Rans & Walter Couvreur, both producers of radio
Klara
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The
new CD sounds totally different. The grand piano is moved aside
and replaced by a Viennese fortepiano, smaller, lighter, with leather
hammerheads instead of soft felt. And yet, this is anything but
the replacement of a rich instrument by a 'precursor', by an older
and less voluptuous example.
From
what I know of her, Raphaella is not the person to retreat for a
long period to study historical tracts and sources. She prefers
to go the way of the interested musician with wide open ears. She
bought old instruments because she was fascinated by them, and maybe
because she had experienced how it helped people like Jos Van Immerseel
to get closer to the authentic sound. Then she listened to the instrument
itself. She didn't think of the Mirecourt as a mini-Gilbert; she
let herself be guided by the specific characteristics of this 'other'
instrument. A guitar, sure, but a guitar with its very own capabilities
and colours.
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Toasting
with Andreas Glatt,
producer of Accent Records
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The
quest for a beautiful sonority on an historic instrument is one
thing, a difficult challenge, but it's only half the story. When
one listens carefully - and that is what Raphaella has done and
what makes her a great musician - when one listens well, the instrument
tells you how to handle the music from its own age, and then the
music will tell you a whole new story. Also Romantic, sure, even
without candle-light. It must have taken her a lot of time and a
lot of patience, but the new CD is fundamentally different, and
in my opinion richer. The magic may be a little less, but it allows
one, without being overwhelmed, to listen to the musical message
of two composers that are well worth the effort.
Pieter
Andriessen,
Brussels,
22 april 2004.
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After
the presentation of Piet Andriessen, musicologist and former head
of Radio Klara, Raphaella played on het Roudhloff guitar.
Then
Françoise Emanuelle Denis, musicologist and producer of GHA-Records,
gave an intereting lecture about early 19th century instruments
and how the way of playing evolved in that period.
Finally Raphaella played her Mirecourt guitar.
The
elegant evening ended with a glas of good wine ...
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