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CONCERT AT THE SEA 12/06/09 Cultural Association of Active Citizens

david lane

david plays at kiki’s house

david’s music written for maro

noula introduces the poetess maro blaxaki-boudouroglou

kiki’s music company playing all together

CONCERT AT THE SEA

Skopelos’ Cultural Association of Active Citizens held the first of a series of summer events on Friday 12 June in an evening of music and poetry amid the olive groves and stunning scenery above Glyfoneri.

Kiki Gro-Nielsen, Chair of the Association, invited the English pianist David Lane from Kidderminster and currently living on Skopelos, the Greek poet Maro Boudouroglou-Vlahaki who also lives on the island and members of the audience to participate in a celebration of music and the spoken word.

The English pianist David Lane opened the evening with a recital of three recent compositions he described as “heavily influenced by the late-Romantic school of piano playing and writing”. There was certainly little evidence of English ‘reserve’ in a flamboyant display of virtuosity that was at times both thrilling and affecting.

David plays at kiki’s house

David opened his programme with a short, volatile Prelude “in the style of Scriabin” and at an uncompromising tempo.

The following Scherzo, dedicated to the hostess for the evening event Kiki Gro-Nielsen, could not have been a more appropriate contrast, light and delicate, lyrical and at times displaying an impish humour that complimented the outer works of the recital well.

While both these works were short, the Romance Appassionata in B flat minor – in the style of a Liszt EtÜde – was not. If the intention was to convey the spirit of wild abandonment which can sometimes be found in Liszt’s music, the composer achieved his purpose, while as a pianist David balanced the lyrical interludes with the muscular dexterity of the extended ‘appassionata’ sections to theatrical effect, bringing his recital to a thundering climax with extended and enthusiastic applause from the audience.

Maro Boudouroglou-Vlahaki responded to this music with a recital of three previously published poems of her own and which she beautifully demonstrated drew upon similar threads of emotional expression. The theme of her recital was love, and ‘eroticism’ was clearly at the heart of her response to the music.

Although delivered in Greek, Maro’s delivery of these poems was not lost on those unable to understand their literal meaning. Their lyricism and resonance was appreciated by all, but her gifts as a poet of national and international significance were profoundly in evidence for the Greek speaking audience for who these poems hold a special place.

The evening concluded with the final musical event in which Kiki on the piano, accompanied at times on the violin by Theano and the audience performed a series of traditional Greek songs to the great pleasure of all nationalities. Irene also sang a series of solo songs lending the evening a magical and truly Greek sense of intimacy and familiarity.

The Skopelos Cultural Association of Active Citizens will be holding further events over the summer featuring a variety of artists and media, details of which will appear on this website.