CALLUM SMART AND Richard Uttley AT THE STAPLEFORD GRANARY
Calum Smart and Richard Uttley - Violin and Piano
From the moment these two young players strode on stage a blast of energy blew through Stapleford Granary auditorium. Wordlessly they plunged into a high octane duet which had all the powerful exuberance of a composer in a hurry, a romantic rapturous piece full of vigour. Turns out it was by Brahms - in his prime. The sound was so far from the image of the massively bearded old man of music in those gloomy Daguerrotypes of yester yore, this was the work of a sublime composer about to dazzle the world. Brahms became hugely involved with Clara and Robert Schumann, she the ‘ greatest pianist ever’ and closely guarded daughter of a leading critic, and he the doomed genius of such brilliance it eventually drove him to tragic madness.. Callum and Richard then gave us three romantic Clara Schumann piano compositions followed by Richard with passionate solo piece by Robert Schumann .From his own magnificent keyboard he told us of the threesome’s complex relationship, a deep emotional matrix that makes modern artists’ messy lives look simple. In fact altogether this was an evening of exposés and tales of lives extraordinary. The central feature in the concert was forty. minute work by the little known composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold , a man destined for greatness but finding himself in the end. far from the Mozart status he was named for, and at the centre of American glitz and glamour in the newly emerging film industry.
Erich Korngold at about 27 years old , ready to leave Vienna for a new life
This remarkable figure made a name for himself when at the age of only nine, he came to the attention of Gustav Mahler. His ‘Snowman’ composition became a sensation in the Vienna of 1911, and performed eventually at the Vienna Opera House - feted by the luminary musicians of the day. Puccini thought he was a genius. Despite the reputation of his acerbic father Julius who had irked many of the proudest practitioners of the musical arts of the day, young Erich flourished with his distinctive style, an amalgam of the contemporary trends..
Soon however the young prodigy’s star began to fall and fade. He dropped out of fashion and found that after a stunning debut and dazzling success for over fifteen years, he was spurned by the old guard of traditionalists for his innovative passages, and rejected by the new wave - Berg Stravinsky and Schoenberg, as old hat. In 1934 he accepted an invitation to Hollywood to organise the music for Max Reinhart’s film A Midsummer NIght’s Dream premiered in New York and London simultaneously . Korngold managed to magically wrangle the music of Mendelssohn no less, into a dreamy flamboyant West Coast vision of fairy stylishness. He was hired - and went on to compose some of the most memorable music scores for film including Errol Flynn’s The Adventures of Robin Hood. His reputation for film classics was sealed. Korngold took his operatic tendencies to the new technology and made a stunning impact with movie after movie. But it came at a price for him.
Never again would he find acceptance in the classical music world and he died feeling he had been overlooked forgotten and misplaced.
So it was a triumph that last night we heard two of the most impressive musicians on the circuit today, Callum and Richard, perform Erich Korngold’s sixteen year old four movement composition, with verve and delight.
Stories are the essence of life and context is the heart of understanding anything. it was positively uplifting that Stapleford Granary with their chief speaker and charismatic CEO, Kate Romano managed to give us an evening of top class music from a pair of major musicians - and the truly human tales that accompany them.
