Guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas (from his SFP event page)
Last night in Herbst Theatre, Spanish guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas made his San Francisco recital debut in the latest Guitar Series recital presented by San Francisco Performances (SFP) in conjunction with the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts. The title of the program was Tribute to Segovia, conceived last season to honor the 125th birthday of the virtuoso Spanish classical guitarist Andrés Segovia, celebrated on February 21, 2018. The program was organized to present the music of Spanish composers during the second half, devoting the first half to two South American composers.
The Spanish composers were (in order of appearance) Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados, Joaquín Rodrigo, and Francisco Tárrega, all of whom figured significantly in the Segovia discography. The Albéniz and Granados selections were originally composed for piano, but Segovia usually made his own transcriptions. The Albéniz piece was the most familiar of the evening. It began as the opening prelude of the composer’s Opus 232 suite, which he called Chants d’Espagne (songs of Spain). After Albéniz death, Friedrich Hofmeister Musikverlag incorporated it into a “complete version” of the composer’s Opus 47 Suite española, where it was given the name “Asturias (Leyenda).” This is one of the best examples of Albéniz evoking the sounds of the guitar from a piano keyboard; and Segovia’s transcription restored the “source inspiration” to its proper place. Sáinz Villegas endowed the transcription with all of the fiery spirit connoted by the “flamenco” label.
Granados was represented by two selections from his Opus 31 collection of twelve Spanish dances. These were the fifth (“Andaluza”) and tenth (“Melancólica”) in the set, which was organized as four volumes, each of three dances. Here again the listener was confronted with piano music reflecting on Spanish folk practices with Segovia reflecting Granados’ reflections back to the guitar.
The Rodrigo selection, “Invocación y danza” (invocation and dance) was composed in homage to Manuel de Falla. Rodrigo took as his point of departure the only Falla composition for guitar, “Pour le tombeau de Claude Debussy,” subsequently transcribed for piano solo and later orchestrated as one of the four movements of the suite Homenajes (homages). The “invocation” portion reflects on the Falla-Debussy connection, while the dance shifts attention from France back to Spain, with several thematic references to the richly Spanish rhetoric of Falla’s “El amor brujo” (Love, the magician) ballet. Falla’s choreographic fire then segued into the final selection, Tárrega’s “Gran jota,” basically an extended fantasia on the “Jota Aragonese.” Sáinz Villegas followed these intense selections with a serene encore, Tárrega’s “Recuerdos de la Alhambra” (memories from the Alhambra).
Most of the first half of the program was devoted to the five preludes by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. Due to a last-minute program change, there were no notes for this composition. Sáinz Villegas compensated with his own oral introduction. English is not quite in his comfort zone, but he provided a clear and useful account of both Villa-Lobos himself and the way in which he organized the preludes around sources from both Brazil and Johann Sebastian Bach. Through both his technique and his expressiveness, Sáinz Villegas provided the best possible musical account of all that he had explained in his introduction.
A similar introduction was required for the conclusion of the first half, “Un Sueño en la Floresta” (a dream in the forest), by Agustín Barrios. I am still coming up to speed in my knowledge of this Paraguayan virtuoso classical guitarist, my primary point of reference being “La Catedral,” which marked Barrios as yet another South American composer inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach. Sáinz Villegas explained how Barrios would perform the first half of a recital in formal wear. He would then return after the intermission in traditional Paraguayan dress. His change in appearance was supplemented by a new name, the pseudonym Nitsuga Mangoré. The first name was an anagram of his first name, while “Mangoré” was the title of an indigenous tribal leader. These days he is often known only by that “Mangoré” name. Sáinz Villegas presented “Un Sueño en la Floresta” as a somewhat calming complement to the prodigious technical dexterity encountered in the Villa-Lobos preludes.
Overall, the evening provided an absorbing and stimulating journey into familiar and unfamiliar guitar repertoire, leaving the attentive listener looking forward to Sáinz Villegas making a return visit.
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