Cork Orchestral Society Presents...Pavlos Kanellakis

Cork Orchestral Society presents Pavlos Kanellakis (Greece) Guitarist Lunchtime recital, 19th July, 2007 Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, Cork. Sitting in the middle of the stage with nothing but an instrument cloth, a foot rest and a guitar, Kanellakis makes passes through the air, stretching muscles, centring himself, centring us, before starting the concert with music by one of his countrymen, the lovely Love Theme & Variation IV from Excursion by Mamangakis. There is more than a nod to traditional Greek music in this piece, which was an inspired choice as an opener for this lunchtime concert. Following on to the Bach, Kanellakis changes moods to the more formal, and older, music. This is a demanding piece for both performer and audience. Bach can be hypnotic, and not necessarily for the right reasons, and requires skilled interpretation. We were in safe hands. Kanellakis stretched and pulled the music, wrapping it around himself like a cloak, resulting in applause breaking through even before he arrived at the very zippy allegro. Possibly a little too zippy, but that is something for the performer to judge at the moment of performance and reflect on afterwards. Moving on to Grigoreas' On the wind, it appeared to this reviewer that, although a skilled performer of the early works, he is far more in tune and at home with the modern composer. He seems physically more relaxed and lends the pieces a bravado and panache which was not evident in the Early music. Invocation et danse was another wonderful choice, really showing off his lyrical and technical ability. The piece itself is beautifully poised between a prayer and a spell (occasionally bringing to mind scenes from Macbeth). The final piece reviewed (the Fuoko is not reviewed here as the concert ran over and the reviewer ran off), Elegy, a piece dedicated to Kanellakis by the composer, is a sea change in mood from the concert up to this point, being altogether darker in mood, almost black. However, again, Kanellakis brings a lyricism to even the most dissonant of chords, beauty to the musical aggression. Considering the standard and quality of the overall performance, it is a pity that the time-keeping wasn't up to scratch as I would have loved to hear the whole rather than the part. That being said, the C.O.S. is to be congratulated on what promises to be a wonderful series of summer concerts. And for future reference: Pavlos Kanellakis - remember the name. Programme: Love Theme & Variation IV from Excursion - N. Mamangakis Prelude, Fugue & Allegro (Prelude pour la luth o cembal) - J.S. Bach On the wind - C. Grigoreas Invocation et Danse - J. Rodrigo Elegy (dedicated to Pavlos Kanellakis) - G. Kontogiorgos Fuoko from Libra sonatine - R. Dyens