Omni Video: Villa-Lobos’ “Guitars++” Concerto

Today at noon the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts released the second premiere streaming of a recently recorded video in its Omni On Location series. The program consisted entirely of Heitor Villa-Lobos’ guitar concerto, but the performance involved a decidedly unique approach to instrumentation. Marcin Dylla was the concerto soloist; but the accompanying “ensemble” consisted of the Kupiński Guitar Duo, whose members are Dariusz Kupiński and Ewa Jabłczyńska. Kupiński was responsible for scoring this arrangement.

The result was a performance that benefited decidedly from the visual element. In the original score the guitar is one of seven solo voices, the other six being taken by flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, and trombone, all performing with a string section with chamber-orchestra size. Clearly, this rich approach to instrumentation easily facilitated the relationship between soloist and ensemble. However, when all of those accompanying sonorities are distilled down to only two guitars, that relationship is decidedly less transparent. The result is the risk that the ear may come away with the impression of a single guitar with a generous number of additional strings.

Concerto soloist Marcin Dylla seated between Kupiński Guitar Duo members Dariusz Kupiński and Ewa Jabłczyńska (screenshot from the video being discussed)

This is where that visual element contributed to the performance. As can be seen in the above screenshot, each performer is in a position to maintain eye contact with the other two. Just as important, however, it that the video work allows the viewer to follow the finger work of all three of them. Thus, while listening may not be able to sort out the individual voices, that task becomes more manageable simply by observing fingering practices, along with a rudimentary understanding of the physical-fingering difference between high and low pitches. In other words, while listening on its own may obscure the roles played by each of the guitarists, the video created for this performance clears away most, if not all, of that obscurity, making it easier for the listener to appreciate that this really is music for a soloist joined by a highly reduced ensemble!