Barcelona's greatest work of Modernist architecture is its Palau de la Musica Catalana, a place we never miss on our visits here. Lately we have been eschewing the tour, preferring to hear a concert instead, and thus having a great musical experience as well as a great architectural experience. The evening of April 10 we attended a concert of the Barcelona Guitar Trio and Dance, a pretty stunning display of Catalan and flamenco music and dance, performed by three guitarists, a percussionist, and two dancers. See illustration. For some numbers, it was the entire company, for some a solo, for some an ensemble. I particularly enjoyed the more recognizable (to me) music of de Falla and Lorca. The guitar work was amazing, as was the hands-only percussion; and the dancing was dramatic and beautiful, as flamenco always is. There was a surprise ending, too: after a rousing finale, curtain calls, etc., they did an encore that went on for another twenty minutes, nearly a second act, including the novelty of three guitarists and percussionist all playing the same guitar...one holding the instrument, one drumming on it, one plucking the strings, and the last doing the chords and incredible melodic passages. See illustration. We took a few pix as we waited for the hall to fill and at the faux finale. Pix from an earlier tour of the Palau are here.
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| In the balcony mezzanine |
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Architect Dominer y Montaner; both the Palau and
his Sant Pau hospital complex are World Heritage Sites |
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| The group (less the percussionist); off the web |
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| Increible! |
1 comment:
Oh, wow! What an evening!
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