Suddenly, this spring, Italiana is hitting Santa Barbara in various ways. The first annual “La Piazza” Italian festival takes place the weekend of April 10-12 at the Library Plaza, following the CAMA-sponsored concert by the dazzling Venice Baroque Orchestra a few weeks back.
Last weekend, things musically Italian took over the 1000 block of State Street. Most prominently, and proudly advertised on the Granada theater marquee, the Santa Barbara Symphony laid out its Bella Italia program. As a fringe add-on element, the newly opened jazz club, Grand on State — directly next door to the Granada — had its own three-night, loosely Italian-themed set of shows.
And the starring musician on the block last weekend was young Chinese accordion virtuoso Hanzhi Wang. Wang, making her third concert appearance locally after performing with violinist Nicola Benedetti and mandolinist Avi Avital in separate performances, duly seized the spotlight in the first half of the symphony program.
Hearing an accordion in classical settings may be a novelty on American shores. Still, it’s a well-established tradition in Europe, and Santa Barbara has been blessed just in very recent years to hear the grand reed instrument in classical contexts a few times, through Camerata Pacifica and elsewhere.
Here, Wang appeared in musical wardrobes, old (renewed) and new. In her own refreshing new arrangement of that friendly old saw, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (Winter episode), Wang masterfully redressed the original violin solo for accordion. In the ink-still-wet-ish department, she gave the west coast premiere of Italian composer Cristian Carrara’s gamey Red Ferrari Accordion Concerto (with the composer having flown in for the occasion). The new piece was co-commissioned by the SBS, also behind Carrara’s Double Concerto Machpelah for violin and cello exactly a decade ago.
In the second half, the Symphony, boldly led by Kabaretti in his 20th year at the helm, showed its considerable stuff. Keeping in line with the Italian theme, the orchestra nodded obliquely to the imprimatur of Italian opera with Puccini’s Capriccio Sinfonico. It brought things to an ear-friendly climax with the warhorse — but lesser-ridden one — Respighi’s Pines of Rome. Respighi’s vivid pictorial tribute to both nature and Roman urbanity is a pleasure to hear, especially live, when done well. Kabaretti and clan brought a delicate balance of sonic, percussion-pinged might and sentimental pictorialism.
But the real showpiece of this program came with Carrara’s inviting spin of a piece, which he reports pays tribute to two proud Italian subjects — the Ferrari and the accordion, with some Vivaldi-ian winks in the folds of the score. Carrara has created a fine example of contemporary music that manages the tricky balancing act of accessibility and adventurism in a fast-slow-fast three-movement design.
“Velocita (Speed)” opens mistily, then busts into a high gear, with a gush of phrases passed back and forth from the accordion to the ensemble. “Eleganza (Elegance)” opens with airily sustained string tones, over which Wang laid out a searching melody line, first gently, then growing more complex as it goes. Ferrari-esque speed returns in the final “Sogno (Dream)” movement, ending on a literal accordion high note, rising into the Roman sunset.
Semi-romantic airs — no doubt, some residue of the composer’s persona as a composer for television and theater — intermingle with a more concerted and inventive “concert music” seriousness. Musical intrigue and mild boundary-pushing are artfully woven into the fabric, while giving its soloist star a ripe showcase op.
To end the first half, Wang offered a touching solo encore of her own, “My Story,” a bittersweet, wistful tune with a folk-like simplicity and sincerity.
All in all, it was a most satisfying visit to Italian culture, by way of the SBS and the Granada.
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