A year after his first performance with the State Orchestra of Athens, the Italian principal musician Jacopo Sipari di Pescazeroli returned to the Christos D. Lambrakis Hall and conducted the same orchestra, confirming his positive impression.

On November 18, the evening began lightly and cheerfully with Mozart’s Nocturne for Four Orchestras. A composition written for a special occasion would not have had the ambition to survive after the first performance if it had not been written by the hand of this particular composer of genius: Mozart not only did not belittle any of his works, but knew how to give each one a separate meaning. In this particular case, he divides his musicians into four groups, each consisting of two horns and strings. With a theatrical flair that distinguished him, he places these groups in different parts of the space and asks the three to repeat the end of the first musical phrase played each time, thus creating a kind of false reverberation. This elegant musical insight was conveyed with appropriate ease by the musicians of the State Orchestra.

The pianist’s performance showed his detailed participation in solving the problems of the project.

Immediately after that, the mood deteriorated, as there is no Agreement. 6 Duty by Dimitris Dragatakis, to whose memory this concert was dedicated. According to the composer, the title is about “the duty that we all have, and all peoples who fought for their identity.” The handover of Khandaka to the Ottomans in 1669 provides a more specific occasion – the starting point for a piece that is lamented by the insistent lyre song played by Andreas Arvanitis. The style of the work remains gloomy throughout its four parts, which is constantly emphasized by mournful bells, menacing drums and equally menacing trembling strings. Only in the last minutes there is a change of mood and the same instruments – bells, drums – express a brilliant triumph. The clear musical dramaturgy of the symphony was clearly conveyed by the main Italian musician, emphasizing its poignancy.

Titos Gouvelis then performed superbly Brahms’ demanding First Piano Concerto. His performance showed the pianist’s detailed participation in the work and its problems. Gouvelis developed each phrase separately, distinguishing its dynamics at the beginning, in the middle and at the end. He possessed in equal measure that haunting force at the limit of allegory, which many of the musical paragraphs and famous trills of the work require, and that lightness and poetry, which the internal monologues of the second movement need. Chipari di Pescazeroli was constantly with him, drawing tension from the orchestra and expressing the once terrifying emotional power of the music, but always leaving the pianist in the foreground. Footnote: since we, the audience, have to cover the piano, could that be even less of a hassle? Aesthetics is part of the concert.