Brugge 10: Finale

All good things must end, and so this marvelous festival. I'm writing this on my return to San Diego and I'm afraid that the prospects of returning to that mundane existence is positively depressing. What is not to like about Brugge/Bruges? Even the crowds were manageable. Of course, I was very lucky for weather: neither too hot, nor too cold, with minimal rain. I had no cause to break out my high-tech mini-umbrella. I return with a few mementos: Peter Bavington's excellent book about tuning and maintaining clavichords that has already convinced me to try and wean myself off of an electronic tuner, a couple of CDs and an assortment of tuning hammers, a couple going to friends, the fancy ones I'm keeping for myself. Oh, yes: three charming hand painted lithographs of scenes from Brugge. One gets so used to those images that it is difficult to face the realities of bland California architecture.

The Festival ended with two competition finals: one for harpsichord, the other for fortepiano. I'm afraid I didn't take the time to peak in on the preliminaries, which I now regret. The competition final consists of each finalist playing exactly the same pieces. In the case of the harpsichord, there were five finalists. Each played one contrapuncti from The Art of the Fugue (Contrapunctus 6, in the French style) and two of Rameau's Pièces de Clavecin en concerts, 1741 with a violinist and gamba player: that took 3 1/2 hours, which left only a half hour for dinner before the fortepiano finals! Repetition of the fugue held my interest, although there was almost no difference between the players. The Rameau was too much, and about the fourth time around I really wanted to walk out and get dinner. However, I was sure if I left early I would later discover I had missed the one exceptional performance of the group.

All five harpsichord finalists performed very well, but I don't think there was any divine inspiration, no electric experience. I don't think in the same league as Benjamin Alard (or Mahan Esfahani, who has not competed in Brugge, yet.) However, there was fabulous technique and I think great musical sophistication and many fine moments. To be fair, it was very difficult for me to make a fair judgment based on one fugue and then mostly ensemble music. In fact, the jury didn't award a first prize this year, which I'm sure was a disappointment to the contestants, but demonstrated overall wisdom by the jury.

Contestants are allowed to choose their instruments the exhibition and I couldn't help but note that three of the five chose the Blanchet by Hamburg builder Martin Kather. It had a big, rich sound. (One of the others was a similar instrument by Burkhart Zander of Köln that I very much liked at the Exhibition. I'm afraid I couldn't see what the other instrument was. It seemed that Kather's harpsichord was the best sounding of the lot.) Attending such an exhibition for five days was an exercise in continual temptation. Harpsichords are getting very expensive and when one is hit by our horrible currency exchange, shipping and duty, any one of these fine European instruments become a significant investment in America. But, it is fun to dream.

Returning the the program: it was technically demanding. I overheard someone say that it was intentionally so to reduce the number of contestants. Listening to the same fugue five times was enlightening. Listening to the Rameau five times began to wear on me, although it was marvelous music and I thought the violinist and gamba players did a very fine job.

I found the fortepiano competition both problematic and easier to sit through. Problematic, because the exhibition pieces didn't align with my idea of fortepiano repertoire. The pieces were a prelude and fugue by Mendelssohn (in e op.35 nr.1) and a trio by Beethoven (V in D op.70 nr.1, 1808), all played on a copy of a Graf fortepiano by Paul McNulty that represents something of a transition from fortepiano to modern piano. (I heard another rumor that the builder was shocked that it was selected by the contestants; he had brought it to serve more as a practice instrument.) To make matters worse, the finalists were all of the "Russian school" of piano playing (I think at least two were Russian). They had powerful technique, playing the Mendelsohne like it was Liszt and making the Graf sound like a modern piano. Marvelous music played marvelously, but I have a difficult time reconciling it with an "Ancient Music" festival. Again, the jury showed wisdom by declining a first prize, apparently on the basis that the performances didn't reflect historical principles.

I heard a story that one of the jurists proposed a rule that in the future all of the fortepiano contestants should be required to demonstrate that they can actually tune their instrument. Sadly, this idea was shot down; I think losing the concept of instrument "self maintenance" was a part of the shift from fortepiano to modern piano. For the earlier instruments, one tuned, just as they did for harpsichord and clavichord. I believe that the American fortepianist Malcom Bilson requires each of his students have fundamental proficiency in not only tuning, but servicing fortepianos. I had the feeling that not one of the four contestants could tune a piano, let along regulate it, to save their life!

Having made that complaint, it was my sense that the least of these Russian pianists had much more "raw" technique than the harpsichordists--truly amazing. Of course, there is much more to music than just technique! There was broad variety in the interpretation of the Mendelssohn, and this kept it fresh when repeated four times; by comparison, the Bach fugue was taken conservatively by all and it tended to vary only in minor details. Two of the peformances of the Beethoven trio were "World class" and all were very enjoyable.

Missing in this festival was either a competition or even solo recital for the clavichord! In talking to builders, interest in the clavichord is on the rise in Europe, and that was reflected in the large number of clavichords being shown in the exhibition. In fact, I would think clavichords would be the rage in Europe, where space is at a premium; walking through Brugge I couldn't help think what an ideal instrument it would be for those compact 16th and 17th century homes. It would be nice to see this added in the future.

I don't know if I would sit through the competition finales again, but I very much wish I had listened in on the preliminaries. There is no doubt that I'll attend the next Brugge keyboard festival in three years: this was an experience of a lifetime. In fact, I'll have to think about the organ festival in a couple of years.