Every musician wants to play in a great concert hall, a special acoustic. For some, that might be the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, maybe the Musikverein in Vienna. And then there's Carnegie Hall. More distant is the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It took 20 years to build it, but ever since it finally opened on May 25, 1908 with a performance of Verdi's "Aida," there have been numerous reports that it is among the finest opera houses in the world. In fact, one ranking had it best opera house and second best hall for concerts.
Carlos Franzetti was born and raised in Buenos Aires. Both he and his wife Allison Franzetti are musicians. Carlos, a composer, jazz pianist and conductor.... Allison is a pianist with a long list of accomplishments. She is also a much sought after accompanist. I knew when I asked them to participate in our ongoing celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month that the two of them would have memories of Teatro Colón, and definitely opinions regarding the acoustics.
“Well, I used to go very often when I was a student, because there were open rehearsals... so I could go and then go there and listen to the Philharmonic of Buenos Aires rehearsing the ‘Love for Three Oranges,’ I remember… and the ‘Firebird’ with Pedro Ignacio Calderon, a very good conductor,” Carlos Franzetti remembered.
But that was yesterday, and yesterday is gone, as they say. In the 1990s, Carlos got a commission to write music for the 50th anniversary of the Buenos Aires Philharmonic.
“It was a piano concerto that I wrote for Allison, and Allison premiered it in the Teatro Colón, and it was a wonderful experience. I experienced in person the amazing sounding quality of the house,” Carlos said.
Allison Franzetti picked up the story from there:
“Carlos took me to Buenos Aires for the first time in 1994, and it was our honeymoon, plus I was very newly pregnant at the time. He took me to the Teatro Colón and I kissed the walls. I actually did! Because it had been a dream of mine to play there from having read about [Arthur] Rubenstein and so many other people who played there and loved the hall. So Carlos is right. It is one of the most amazing sounding halls in the world. You hear everything!”
I told Allison and Carlos that I know both of them have both love and respect for the Argentine composer Carlos Guastavino, and it must have been such a thrill meeting him for the first time.
“Oh, he was lovely,” Allison said. “He lived in this upstairs, like attic type apartment, so you could take an elevator and then you had to go upstairs, after that. Guastavino spoke excellent English, because he'd lived in London for some time, and he made his living as a chemist. So he had all these vials with these different chemicals on these shelves in his apartment. The reason he did that was because he wanted to be able to write exactly the way he wrote, which was not a popular thing to do at the time that he was the most active as a composer, because he was so tonal and folkloric and things were so ravishingly beautiful, but that's not what people did.”
What do you hear in Guastavino's music that says, “I'm Argentinian,” I asked them.
“Folkloric elements, dance elements that he used very big, very freely, and certain rhythmic things that are very akin to folkloric elements that he did,” Allison explained. “The thing though that really drew me to his music was the lyricism of it all, and... there was just such a beauty and an honesty to what he wrote.”
“I add as well, the melodic aspects, the nostalgia on the melodic aspect, but also he's very carefully designed, beautiful harmonies,” Carlos said.
Allison and Carlos Franzetti singing praises for the music of Carlos Guastavino on today's Momentos Musicales. There'll be more tomorrow.
PLAYLIST:
Carlos Franzetti: Poeta de Arrabal
Carlos Franzetti, Allison Brewster, Nestor Marconi et al
Amapola Records AR9804
Carlos Guastavino: Tres Sonatinas (II. Retama)
Allison Franzetti
Premier 1036
Guastavino: Las Niñas
Allison Franzetti
Amapola AR 9812
