Robert McDuffie and his Rome Chamber Music Festival returns for its 22nd season in the Eternal City.
An eclectic programme for real connoisseurs with the opening night dedicated to the founders of modern day music of the 15th and 16th century. A Devil’s Trill played by the devilish master who had founded this festival in 2003 with the intent of bringing not only masterpieces to the attention of the Eternal City. Above all bringing remarkable young musicians to share their enthusiasm and exhilaration together via The Steven Della Rocca and De Simone Young Professional Programmes.
Returning this year to the Auditorium of Via delle Conciliazione where the genial Robert McDuffie had made his Rome concerto debut in 1994. A hall in the shadow of St Peter’s with the opening programme being a special tribute for the 2025 Jubilee.
Two performances of the Devil’s Trill one in the romanticised version with piano by Kreisler. A monstrous cadenza characterises a performance where the interplay between the sumptuous violin ,which I imagine from the wondrous velvety sound that it must be of a similar vintage, and the superbly discerning pianistic high jinks from Derek Wang’s noble hands. An interplay that was discreet, but not too much so, as his Ravel Trio will no doubt show us in the second chamber music evening.
Robert playing as I remember Sandor Vegh dancing almost like an Irish jig such was his identification with the very song and dance essence of the music
The more staid original that followed was played with much more control and the stylistic restrictions of their time. The Devil was waiting in hiding for Kreisler to come along and no matter how expertly Alessandro Sacchetti and Francesco Romano played they were restricted to the pre Paganini starvation of its age.
The second half was dedicated to the baroque with singing of the crystalline purity of castrati and the extraordinary noises of sackbuts and theorbos.
A wonderful refreshing evening, probably a first for a hall that has for half a century been witness to some of the greatest music making of our age. Heroic programming from a yearly festival that aims to bring freshness and light to the Eternal City.
Of course the ideal place for the music of the renaissance is in the buildings for which the music was commissioned and performed, and of which Italy, the Museum of the world , abounds. It was good for just half an hour,though, to be able to appreciate the artistry and mastery of the players that Robert McDuffie had so bravely invited to share the platform with him.
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 