2018.11.11

NANKAI Concert Vol.65

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ブローウェル : 11月のある日／大萩康司[Gt] ロドリーゴ:アランフェス協奏曲／大萩康司[Gt] ムソルグスキー=ラヴェル:組曲「展覧会の絵」 大阪フィルハーモニー交響楽団 http://lovelyhall.com/event/2018/181111_nankai/181111_index.html

【Message】

Before the encore piece, I announced to the audience that I wouldn’t abandon myself to pleasure, but the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra would! Oh no, I couldn’t control my passions in the end! To end the piece, I slipped off my jacket to whirl it around, then some paper money fluttered from the inside pocket like butterflies as if this had been all planned. Yes, I’m reflecting on this happening…, but I’ve already devoted half my life to this kind of mischief…

All the orchestra members gave their best performance of “Pictures at an Exhibition” and exceeded my expectations. Our performance was well done in a lively style. This piece provides us a wide range of possibilities to interpret, as we can play it following the original composer Mussorgsky’s musical intentions, or pursuing the orchestral sound sought by the arranger Ravel. As the arranger is a first-class musician, I myself have conducted this work for a long time from his viewpoint. Actually, when we perform “Pictures at an Exhibition”, the difference between those musical ideas of the two composers is, I believe, the most interesting point. I will play this music with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra next week, too.

As for our performance of the guitar concerto “Concierto de Aranjuez”, Mr. Miura, the former conductor of the chorus associated with the orchestra, praised us. He came to the concert as an audience member, and said to me: “I’d never listened to this concerto live with perfect balance of sound, but today’s one was just right, I really enjoyed your performance”! (Mr. Miura is a talented, outstanding leader who can inspire musicians, but he is in a wheelchair now. I felt for him.)

Indeed, I had to acquire a lot of experience before finding my way to this sound balance. As the composer Rodrigo wasn’t able to play the guitar, an enormous dilemma faces soloists: this concerto is extremely popular but the solo part is difficult to play. The soloist of today Mr. Yasuji Ohagi is a guitarist who is usually very smiley and original. Today, he seemed to be, I don’t know why, nervous, even if his performance was amazing. I take full responsibility for that, though being nervous and having stage fright aren’t the same things... It may indeed be that he and I belong to the same management agency, however we aren’t usually associated on close terms. This is especially true of concerts held as parts of music festivals. I mean when it comes to concerto performance, musicians don’t know each other as well as the audience expects them to. The world is oscillating between the poles: tension and familiarity.