State of the Art (SOTA) is a resoundingly ambitious and meaningful name to give a cultural organisation. Without exaggeration, it was amply at display, and so euphonically, at the ongoing four-day Resonance Music Festival at the beautiful hall in Westin Hyderabad Mindspace.
The combination of string instruments (viola, violin, cello, double bass) and piano – with no mikes and amplification – created a purity of sound and resonance which compounded like an enveloping sheen, as they were played by some of the best western classical musicians in the world today. That they were all young and intent on bringing the deep pleasure and beauty of classical music to common, uninitiated music lovers was the aroma on the sheen.
Driving the festival with his spirited introductions, energy and flair is Timothy Marthand, a reputed pianist himself, and true blue Hyderabadi. He left Hyderabad for Europe at the age of 17 to learn western classical music and piano from the real masters and at the best institutes in Europe and the U.S.
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With his deep exposure to the refined musical culture of Europe and what it does to society and people. Timothy acutely felt the lack of an imaginative spirit pervading the social fabric in India. “Since independence, justifiably too, all our state planning and endeavours have focused on progress and building up material prosperity. In the process, we have discounted the value of the arts as the nourishing fount of human spirit, and the importance of imagination.”
In that sense, this festival could prove to be a watershed. It brings the best of the state of the art. Each of the 11 artistes deserves to be introduced at length on their outstanding calibre and achievements. But when they jam together to play some of the great pieces of chamber music (of Schubert and Schumann), orchestra concert (of Edvard Grieg and Beethoven), sonata (Schubert and Cesar Franck) and etude (of Chopin), you are transported into the power of tonalities and a spectacular exposition of the whole range of human emotions and passions woven into complex dramatic conversations, conflicts and resolutions.
To describe the experience in words is futile. But just one example: The sheer clarity of every note, the masculine power of Beethoven’s composition came through in a very sensitive and convulsive manner in the Piano Concerto No.3 in C Minor played on the second and third days of the festival. Martin Helmchen on the piano brought out something of the original contextuality of the composition which made it seem, and that is how art should work, fully contemporary and real. Daniel Cammarano and Kobi Malkin (1st violin), Tricia Park and Rachel Shapiro (2nd violin), Molly Carr and Matt Consul (viola), Tony Rymer and Oded hadar (cello), and Patrick Dufff (double bass) were the other artistes who came together with their own fluencies and responsive playing to make the concerto a rousing experience. Sublimation of individual instruments and musical talents to evoke a grand musical structure and experience is after all the speciality of western classical music.
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After a day’s break, the last show tomorrow, Saturday (January 6), is going to be an Italian evening with Daniela Cammarano, on violin, and Alessandro Deljavan, a celebrated pianist, performing a Sonatina by Franz Schubert, and a Sonata by Cesar Franck. Deljavan will also be performing on the piano the delectable and breezily complex 12 Etudes (short expositions) of Frederic Chopin.
SOTA will be following this Resonance festival with workshops, trainings and more performances by top notch international artistes in the following months, says Timothy. For a life of imagination! What an ambition!