Concert
A Stradivarius Among Us
St Paul’s Anglican Pro-Cathedral

It is pretty unique when one can enjoy a Stradivarius live at a benefit concert. This was the opportunity provided by two firms active in the field of sophisticated medical engineering. Matteo Fedeli performed music by Astor Piazzolla on his famous Stradivarius.

The instrument is known as the Bazzini – De Vito after two previous owners: Antonio Bazzini, composer and violinist (1818-1897) and renowned violinist Gioconda De Vito (1907-1994), who retired at her peak in 1961 and never played a note again, nor even taught. The instrument was made in 1715, all of 300 years ago, and still has that magic sound, that purity of tone which make Stradivari violins so preciously unique.

With an instrument like that, many would have preferred to hear a wider variety of music such as Paganini, Wieniawski, Sarasate, Viotti, Vieuxtemps and even Bazzini himself. Well, the choice was otherwise: it was limited to works by Piazzolla, most, if not all, not originally for violin and string orchestra with piano.

I would have liked more original works than rearrangements but at the same time when hearing the music, even if it was basically tango, it was difficult not to be seduced by Fedeli’s playing. He was like a magician, his bow was his wand and the music flowed out in wave after wave.

Very often the best musicians do not make the best of speakers. While his manner was very warm, relaxing, far from pompous and very congenial, unfortunately he was not always audible. I was sitting in the sixth pew from the front and could not always make out what was being said.

Fedeli went into detail regarding every piece he played, so in a way it was also like a lecture, with a few short musical examples being given either by him alone or with orchestral backing before the whole work was played.

He performed the Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas or the four seasons as Piazzolla felt them in Buenos Aires. Originally not written as a set and for other instruments, this was probably the arrangement by Desyatnikov with interesting insertions of short quotations from each of Vivaldi’s Le Quattro Stagioni. The music came across with all the vibrant intensity of the various characteristics of each season.

More meditative was the Ave Maria in an arrangement by Mauro Ivano Benaglia for violin, piano, orchestra and mixed four-voice chorus. This work shows a different side to Piazzolla, with no hint of the tango rhythm and who, from a rather indifferent Catholic, had become quite a fervent one when in his late 40s.

The tango came back in more arrangements beginning with Introducción a l’Ángel, in a relentless almost march-like form. It was performed by solo violin, piano, orchestra and choir. The same elements less the choir performed the last of the Ángel triptych Muerte del Ángel. This begins in an atmosphere a bit redolent of menace but dissolves into a beautiful elegiac work, melancholic if you want but ending in serenity and calm.

Adios Nonino followed in an arrangement for violin, piano, chorus and orchestra, Piazzolla’s tribute to his beloved father. The audience’s warm response resulted into two encores. The first was the lovely Oblivion which Fedeli performed walking slowly up and down the lateral aisles of the cathedral followed by Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumble Bee.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.