Spanish Dancer, Music Blend Perfectly
Allegro’s “Fandango” Friday at The Met
What a great way to end a season, and what a splendid way to spend an evening. Allegro did everything just right - programming, performing and the inclusion of the dancer Clarita - and it all came together into a winning combination of spirit-lifting entertainment and quality chamber music.
Spanish classical dance accompanied by Spanish classical music was the order of the evening, and Clarita, a specialist in Spanish court dances of the 1700s, was a sensation. With her incredible castanet playing and quick heel work, you could even say she clicked with the audience.
Clarita was stunning. She had poise, control and rhythm. The last of these attributes was what made the performance exceptional. The fandango, the panaderos and the vito she performed are all very rhythmic dances. Clarita constantly moved and twirled with elegant grace, but snapped with clockwork precision on the beats.
Maybe it wasn’t so much that Clarita was always with the music as the music was always with her. The musicians on stage had a living metronome to follow who phrased the music with her assured motions.
Clarita was visually stunning as well. For each of her four appearances, she donned an entirely different costume. Each was dripping with ornament and lace, and all were colorful and elegant. Her poise, her appearance, her obvious expertise in these dances and her gracious and humorous description of her art captured the approbation of the Allegro crowd.
The music and musicians were an absolute pleasure to hear all evening, as well. The first half of the program began and ended with Antonio Soler’s riveting “Fandango.” It was a stroke of genius to program it twice - once to listen to Beverly Bigg’s uninterrupted intricacies at the harpsichord, and once to hear and see how the music intertwined with the dance.
The instrumental selections ranged from simple and gorgeous to flashy and capricious. Tarrega’s “Lagrima” and Mompou’s “Cancons i danses, No. 5” were on the gorgeous end of the scale. Allegro’s arrangement of the Mompou for marimba, oboe, cello and harpsichord worked very well, adding new depth to one of my piano favorites.
On the flashy end was Fernando Sor’s “Variations on a Theme of Mozart.” David Dutton always plays his oboe lyrically, but he also made music out of the high-wire variations. His ovation was well-deserved; it has been awhile since I have heard oboe playing with such a combination of beautiful sound, canny phrasing and virtuosic technique.
Cheryl Carney on cello and Martin Zyskowski’s marimba work earned kudos as well. Both are consummate ensemble musicians who listen, blend and contribute to whatever they play. Soler’s “Double Concerto,” putting the harpsichord and marimba side by side, made the marimba as respectable as the venerable keyboard, and the Mompou gave each of the musicians a chance to sing with their instruments.
My one reservation about the evening was the inclusion of “Anazazi,” a recreation of Southwestern Native American music. It is a really cool piece of music, and Zyskowski played it marvelously, moving from the modern marimba to an African folk instrument. It is just the one work that, in my mind, didn’t go with the flow of the rest of the “Fandango” program.